Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1342921
VOLUME 58 ISSUE 8 FEBRUARY 23, 2021 P125 Those were the days of Bob "Hurricane" Hannah, Mark "The Bomber" Barnett and Kent "The Rhinestone Cowboy" Howerton. Don't those names get you excited? "Fast Freddie" (Fred- die Spencer) and "King Kenny" (Kenny Roberts) were taking the world by storm, beating the legendary Barry Sheene and his Donald Duck–adorned helmet right in his own European backyard. It was all so exciting to me. It was a magical world, and I lived it through this magazine. It excites me to this day. Just writing down these names brings back a flood of memories. Now, this is not a shameless plug for the magazine you're reading but rather an introduc- tion to how my life in the pow- ersports industry evolved and how Cycle News played a huge role in that. I was inspired by the pictures, the stories, and the excitement of motorcycle racing through the pages of this publi- cation, and I'm honored all these years later to be asked by Kit Palmer, who's been the back- bone of CN since the early '80s, to write my own column. I consider myself to be one of the luckiest people on the planet because at a very young age I fell in love with something that ended up taking me on a jour- ney through life and into a world that I once only dreamed about while reading the pages of Cycle News. With the exception of "You don't have to be the next Ricky Carmichael or Marc Marquez to have a place in the world of motorcycling—you just have to keep it on two wheels." Barry Sheene, I got to know ev- ery one of the riders that I men- tioned above, plus many more. My passion became my career, my heroes became personal friends, and to this day I have no idea where I would have ended up had I not discovered motor- cycles and motorcycle racing so early in life. From my wife to my livelihood to almost every single friend I have, they all tie back in some way to motorcycles. Now, thanks to this opportu- nity in CN, I hope that I can en- tertain you with personal stories, inspire you to live your dreams, and maybe take someone along for the ride. Motorcycles have given me the opportunity to do things and meet people that I never would have dreamed of. But it wasn't all fun and games. There was a lot of hard work, emotional highs and lows, and tragedies along the way. I'll share some of that with you over the coming months. I'll also give you a glimpse into decision-making at the upper echelon of a major manufacturer and an insider's insight into why the OEs do what they do and how they think. If someone had walked into my small West Texas dealership in the early '80s and told me where my life was headed and how many awesome things I'd get to do and see in the world of motorcycling, I would have never believed it. And the great thing is that now there are more opportunities than ever before in the world of powersports. A pas- sion for motorcycles can open up so many paths. I hope that some kid in some dealership, or anywhere for that matter, will read my columns and the other stories in Cycle News and get inspiration from this magazine the way I did all those years ago. You don't have to be the next Ricky Carmichael or Marc Mar- quez to have a place in the world of motorcycling—you just have to keep it on two wheels. CN Keith Dowdle is a powersports industry veteran with more than 40 years experience working for companies like Pro Circuit Racing and Shoei Helmets, recently retiring from a man- agement position at a major OEM. He also served as a U.S. Marine, as the Chief Instructor for Combat Motorcycles, and rode motorcycles in combat during the Gulf War. You can follow him on Instagram @rkdowdle. -Editor