VOLUME ISSUE FEBRUARY , P107
"Once I started racing," Haney
recalls, "that was it. It was all I
wanted to do. I did scrambles,
TT events, flat track, desert, and
what we called rough scrambles
because the term 'moto-cross'
hadn't come to the U.S. yet."
Motorcycling became all his
life. In 1957, he landed his job at
Harry D. Foster Triumph, which
was the second-oldest Triumph
dealership in the U.S.
"Harry was the best guy you
could ever meet. He would give
you the shirt off his back," Foster
said. "And he was a great me
-
chanic. I tell people he could
make chicken salad out of
chicken poop."
Foster provided Haney with
steady work but stopped short
when it came to Haney's race ef
-
fort. "He was supportive, but the
only sponsorship I received was
being able to buy parts at dealer
cost," Haney remembers. "I did
the rest of it all by myself."
He had received his AMA
Class C professional license
in 1962, but it would be a full
decade later before he made his
way out of the state for a major
race, the Peoria TT in Illinois. At
the famous TT track, he quali-
fied well and rode hard, narrowly
missing out on a podium spot.
"I had passed Mert Lawwill and
was running in third for most of
the race. Mert wasn't going to let
some no-name like me beat him,
so he passed me back on the
last lap!"
Peoria was a tough track, and
Haney's impressive fourth place
showed the Class C world that
he wasn't just a one-trick pony,
an Ascot specialist who could
only win in his own zip code. But
when the race was over, Haney,
once again, returned to his home
state, back to his job at the Tri
-
umph shop where he made $120
per week.
In the fall of '72, Haney took a
visit to a California frame shop
where they welded up Redline
frames. In the 1970s, every seri
-
ous dirt track racer had a Red-
line frame, which was designed
specifically for competition. He
was chatting with owner Lynn
Kasten, a conversation that
eventually led to the workshop
where Kasten showed Haney a
brand new, race-ready chassis. A
Redline frame was admission to
the show, but it came at a ticket
scalper's price of $410. "That
was a lot of money in 1972,"
Haney says, "especially when
you're making a hundred bucks
a week!"
While Haney stared at the
chassis, likely thinking about the
possibilities, Kasten dropped
(Left) Haney, here leading Eddie
Mulder, cut his racing teeth at his
local track, Ascot Park. (Right) One
of Haney's claims to fame is
winning the Houston TT in 1972.
