One the greatest passed on Tuesday ,famous for riding the Kawasaki 2 strokes,a hero of mine growing up

Dar,
Here are a few little things I can tell you about 'our' hero. Going years back when I moved to Ca., I wanted to find a job at either a drag racing shop or roadracing. I was dealer level at the time so I first found a job at a dealer, then could head down to those independents. No openings.

Everything is a cloud now so there will be empty spaces. Went out to a track called Ontario Raceway. Guys in the pits were living in the same apartment complex as this girl. They brought her out, I asked her out, and more or less got in with an independent roadracing group.

If you followed our hero, you'll know the name of Dale/Starr and know that little American tour out of Canada besides the factory ride here. I remember him on the green at Laguna Seca. He threw it away that day. Cloud said something to him. Anyway, here I am, driving to the race track with Dale. So here is Dale in the white pants/shoes. Also note the yoshi logo and that story.
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/73/5a/3c/735a3c1e54122e4585dcdf26683efc94.png

That day, [not the photo] I was as green as it came working a pit. Cloud had me running back to the pit with the stand; Yvon stops the Z1, taps the back seat and we head back to the pits. Thinking, oh shit I have to be in shape to do this racing shit? Because I was 6'2" and dwarfed him; one arm holding the stand out, the other arm holding Yvon's waste and he was one buffed motherfucker.

Starr Struck LOL that just popped in my head. Many years later I was standing around with a cloud of people, Yvon seemed pissed for some reason, brushed past me [not really] but made way between the cloud of us. I can still see his face. The thing is, I never stopped Yvon to say, hey Yvon remember me that day? Naaa, I just let him go about his way.

Found this on facebook. So bulletproof is the roller bearing crank. What's more impressive is the stock rod you're handcuffed to once you throw some heat at it. Still going strong in the vintage classes.

You see big Dale and the yoshi log, pop's son is there, and pops is not around? So you can see Matsu [written on t-shirt] and that brought back a memory. Had no clue who they were back in '73, but here we are in the late 70's and pops is now with his own business and fighting in court for that logo. Court settles the case, Dale with Dale-Starr, and years later, Matsu off on his own and his business was named, 'Escargot' something?

Trying to catch rides and here I am in the shop with a cloud of wonder. Wondering if I jumped on Matsu's bike, or used my rolling chassis? Mem has me grabbing the tires off the bike, so it was his bike. While Matsu is assembling the engine, I catch this bucket just rocking lose in the head. I was going to ride this bike in a national at Laguna. As I pointed that out, Matsu says it's OK and not to worry.

Here we are in the pits. Qualifying was over for the morning and now it's time to head to the grid. Whatever happened that he had to lift the tank to get to something, tank drops down, all is ready and no start. There goes the flag and we are in the pits still.

Come to find out he pinched the wire raising the tank; no spark. Meanwhile, for practice/qualifying I more nursed the bike because the fear of it locking up under me. I was not confident and oh well, might have been in the cards anyway. And when I see whatever year that was watching that Laguna race, I can see the empty grid position and could see how far back I wound up on the grid. Quit superbike and switched to battle of the twins the next year. Caught the last backdoor help from Triumph, and jumped on a gray market T-140.

But getting back to the controversy, an ex-employee mentioned that Dale generally, "was a dick." I don't know, but Dale and I got along when we were together. I was more a volunteer/hanger outer and not on the payroll. If you can imagine, Starr was more a money backer and he too was not happy with Dale.

I worked at a shop and someone mentioned the Dale-Starr shirt I was wearing that day. He said he knew Starr and I said to say hello. Well later that day, Starr (owned a gas station in town) came flying into the shop looking for the guy wearing his shirt. It felt like he wanted to turn me upside down and find his money. That's how livid he was. Really pissed.

Dale already died and Starr was still searching for his... who knows how much he threw at the company? Because family members are still around, I will have to die with what Starr told me and what he thought about Dale. I really don't remember the exact quote, but it was classic.

It's your fault Dar, bringing up those memories.

* Last updated by: Hub on 8/30/2021 @ 10:16 AM *