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/1462250
JoAnn, also Neil Keen and Corky Keener, and we all hung around together. Back in those days, you could race the whole weekend if you were prepared to travel some—and we did. And when Bart and Neil saw Larry's leathers, they suggested I go out to California and meet Wanda Pico. Wanda Pico lived in Los Angeles and made race leathers in the '50s and '60s, didn't she? Yes, she and her husband, Ernie, who owned a motorcycle store after World War II for a while, lived in Inglewood. I went to see my parents in San Jose, then I took a flight down to Los Angeles and met them both. Wanda had been out of the business about seven years and was looking for someone to teach, and somehow, I was the lucky one. She was kind of impressed with my making all the clothes my girls and husband wore. They gave me everything— including the sewing machine Wanda used. All this was way before the internet, so she told me where to buy leather and zip- pers and thread—all the stuff that I would need. Wanda and Ernie were the first people to make dyed col- ored-leather race suits. She was ahead of her time, and she also knew how to make patterns— something I had no idea how to do. So, she gave me a notebook and pen, and I spent three days writing down everything she told me. Everything Wanda shared with me, along with the gift of her sewing machine, got me started making leathers for real. Larry sold his boat and a few other things for enough money to get me started buying leather hides, plus more supplies, and we were in business. Do you still have the sewing machine? Yes, Ernie shipped it and ev- erything else she gave me back to Ohio. It was the only machine I ever used for fifty years! You mentioned that a neighbor was your second customer. Do you remember where it went from there? My third customer was Corky Keener (#62), who raced as an amateur with Larry. Corky had done his national service and lost his professional license. He got it back, and his talent was noticed by Harley-Davidson, who hired him for the factory team. He asked me to make his leathers. Harley-Davidson didn't already have a company under contract that made the factory leathers? No, each rider could have anyone make their leathers. And I think there were only two fac- tory riders I didn't make leathers for. So, at first, I was really ner- vous, but because Wanda made all the early factory leathers and gave me all the info on how to make the swoops, and the little waist band, and the stripe on the pants, I knew what was wanted. What is a swoop? The old-style Harley suits, which they had forever—except for maybe the last 10 years or so—had a little dip around the neck and a small waistband, and the black pants with the white stripe up the leg. They were all the same. Sorry for the interruption. You were saying about Corky's leathers . . . Well, I finished the leathers, and we went to Houston for the February Astrodome races, and I met Harley's race manager, Dick O'Brien, and gave him the bill for Corky's leathers. He said, "Where's the rest of it?" I said that's it. He was obviously happy with the quality and the price, and I made the Harley factory CN III ARCHIVES P124 "Men e a real standd shape, and aft abt 10 minutes the phe with a man, I cld make a set of leaths that fit him pfectly."