CN
III VOICES
W H A T Y O U A R E S A Y I N G
"He wore white leathers and we called him the
'Milkman,' as he kicked our butts."
Archives: Quarter-Mile
Master Dave Schultz
While working the parts coun-
ter at the Yamaha, Honda and
Suzuki dealership here in Ft.
Myers, Florida, I met Dave as
he frequently stopped in. The
week after he had won his first
national he stopped in to buy a
copy of Cycle News, we were
so happy for him we gave him
every issue we had! Humble,
genuine man. Glad I knew him.
Ft. Myers was also home
to AMA Superbike Champ
Thomas Stevens, pro MX/SX
rider Mark Murphy, and Russ
Nyberg, another pro drag bike
rider.
Walt Skewis
So many memories, I have a
few you might have never heard
before. The guy was unique in
many fashions. I was out sign-
ing pictures and he was work-
ing nonstop on his bike—and
that was after qualifying. He
and I were asked to represent
the bikes from USA and NHRA
(he had to race someone, so I
got picked). We went to Japan
and he did some racing stuff in
the staging process that was
so innovative like rolling the
beam as their [Japan's start]
system was not like ours, and
he figured it out. He—and his
just-as-smart wife Meredith—
won so many racers in a row,
there was a bounty on him; we
all put in 100 bucks when he
beat us and the pot got big for
whoever who could beat him.
He wore white leathers and we
called him the "Milkman," as he
kicked our butts.
Before his win in Houston
that many know about, I will tell
you one thing that few know.
At the Houston race, mid-90s,
he crashed (couldn't believe
it; lots of bumps and a short
wheelbase). Anyway, he wore
a Rolex gold watch; dang thing
was big. To make a long story
short, the track cleanup took
20 minutes with an army of
NHRA guys picking up all the
pieces from his bike crashing
at 175 mph. Fenders, wheelie
bars, faring pieces, stuff ev-
erywhere. I asked him, "what
about the watch?" He said, "no
one found it." I said, "Dave, all
the stuff you think of and you
wore your watch for a seven-
second race?" He laughed and
said, "Okay, Steve, not smart, I
get your point."
I struggled emotionally see-
ing him in the hospital. Before
then, he said he thought he
bruised his kidney mowing
the lawn. So Mr. Fix-Anything
drank a lot of water. By the
time he knew he needed to go
to the doc, it [his kidney] was
the size of an orange. Larry
Dixon, a three-time NHRA Top
Fuel champ felt something
weird when he swallowed few
years back—it was cancer.
First stage, though, still all the
treatment kicked his butt, but
he beat it.
Too close and I'm sure you
could see I could go on and
on, the article (and great job,
Larry, I might add), touched on
it. The most remarkable win in
my eyes in the history of, not
just NHRA, but motorsports
(and Reggie Showers is up
there too), was Dave's win in
Houston. If you don't under-
stand competition at the high-
est level (I'm still learning about
it) and you have no idea how
brutal cancer treatment is (no
clue either), you can never fully
respect what the guy did to win
an NHRA nationally televised
race.
We miss you Milkman. Thank
you for the education. RIP.
Steve Johnson
Kawasaki Z900RS
So many retro styled bikes out
recently. I feel young again!
Jim Malyj
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