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/143901
"'~ • ,,,,, 1 __ .... , , , , .. ' • the case machining of the first Maely speedway bikes. Maely and Moon first came up with a four-valve conversion for a speedway engine. The next step was an engine of their own. He talked about how the races and his friends had helped. "I have a little notebook I always carry with me, and whenever an engine would blow up at a race track, I would always go over and find out what kind of engine it was and what the problem was. I would analyze what happened and write it in my notebook. When we did start making our own stuff, I remembered a lot of the things I wrote down. I had a lot of reviewing and reading to do. There are a lot of people and a lot of background in this whole life of mine, I really own a lot of people. "Some of the fellows that lowe a lot of credit to aJ;'e Jerry Branch at Flowmetrics, Jimmy Door from Megacycle Cams, Jerry Fairchild, Dick O'Brien, and Clyde Denzer from the Harley factory, Kenny Roberts, Dick Mann - I can't remember all the names to be honest with you, everybody who ever rode flat track or speedway and everybody who's been in the motorcycle industry. Guys from Yamaha, guys from Kawasaki, Jim Cook from Kawasaki, and I can go on and on. "I've known people in the industry and been friends with them for years. All of them have pitched in and given me ideas; like a lot of times I have four or five engineers from the Japanese motorcycle industry out here. I've had the Harley factory out here, and we're all good friends and have been for years. What one fellow tells me in confidence, what they're doing to their motorcycle, I don't pass on to the other guy, its a friendship thing. "I've got some fellows over in Europe, like Otto Latenhammer from Germany and Phil Pratt from England. Both are famous tuners. Pratt is THE ® er- SERIES AMA SANCTIONED SAYS THANK YOUI To all the RIDERSMECHANICS - PROMOTERS and their staff members ... AMA OFFICIALS and their crews" .. MANUFACTURERSSPONSORS - MEDIA, & FANS! Thanks to you, the Wrangler Supercross Series rookie season was a resounding success! BEST WISHES FOR THE HOLIDAYS, SEE YOU ALL IN 1983! I" BLUE BEll. INC 19B2 '1 • coming over here in January, to spend several weeks with us here, just to help us with the engine. He wants to use it over in England. lowe everybody credit for it, most of all the guy upstairs, he does it all for me anyway. Mike Bast, John Cook and Chris Reichardt are over here all the time, and they help me on little things and make suggestions. "One of the fellows that taught me alot is Erwin Moon.'Erwin has been a wonderfully close friend of mine, he's helped me with a lot of litt!e problems; He showed me a lot about operating machinery. He calls me faithfully all the time; if I need something done, he comes out. I have· another friend by the name of Bob Milray. He'san inventor; he designed a four cylinder V-4, handmade everything himself. Fabulous guy, really fabulous. "I don't think there's a city in the U.S., in fact, I don't think there's a • country in the world, other than Russia or Japan, where we can't go. We usually have a bed, a car furnished for us and all the meals. We can't buy anything. Sweden, Belgium, Germany, England, South Africa, Australia - all over, we've been there, all over we have friends. That shows you how the motorcycle people all over the world take care of each other. That's why we have a large house; in the summertime we have so many people here from Europe our neighbors don't even ask anymore. Last "' year we had people from .sweden, ~ France, South Africa, Australia, England and Germany all here within o'ne month. "In this business, regardless of where you work or what you're working for, if you're working for~KTM, or you're working for Husky or you're working for Yamaha or someonebasically you're still friends regardless of what happens at the race track. A lot of times I have stuff for Honda coming out here to do work on. In the very next box will be work from Yamaha. I'll cover that up, you know what I mean, because it's so.nice to help each other and have a good rapport. "What I like is when I go to a race track, everyone there is a friend, that's what makes it so good. When you sell them a product and you can look them straight in the eye, you're not like a used car dealer when you gotta say 'Oh no, not this guy.' I can walk right up to them, or they come up to me and I know them, and I can shake hands. That's what makes it reward! .,..~ ing. " Ken Maely is a rare commidity. He's a man that Kenny Roberts says, will never be replaced. Head porting wizard; Jerry Branch, told us, "When you have been in this business as long as I have, there are only seven or eight people that you try to impress. Those are people who have been in the bus. iness and know their stuff. Ken is one of the people I try to impress." We found no one with a bad thing to say of him. He and wife Judy raise their own food, Ken makes shoes and other parts, does some foundry work on the premises, is restoring a Model T, hosts a multitude of guests and Speedway schools and spends his spare time working on his new engine. Judy said, "That engine is Ken's hobby and his fun, he doesn't waste his time doing other things for fun." The only things that pry him away froni his engine are business and business errandsJ and a Bible study class he holds with, Mike Bast, Mrs. Bast, Chris Reichardt and Jack Simmons, an old racing friend of the Maelys. He summed up his view of life. "Life is much more than the pocket, it's just like the Bible says. Ilook at it this way, we're only here on this earth for a certain period of time... so if you can build something that has dependability, if I can produce a motorcYcle engine that will have the reputation of our steel shoes and pass it on to the boys after I'm gone, isn't that a wonderful thing to do to help everyone out. Their engine parts will be cheaper, the engines will last longer and then they won't have to spend so much to overhaul it. We can make this sport grow, rather than taking the money and buying property and saying, 'Oh boy; look at all the money I've made here and look at the money I made over there and look at this and look at that.' Isn't it wonderful to pass that on to some other people. Making money isn't what I'm here for. If at the same time I make engines I can pass the Gospel on too, that's a mighty little engine there. I fell that ifI can still help everybody out, that's where it's at and it's So nice to travel everyplace you go and there's ,somebody there who'llshow you around. '. 35.