My (old) Bike!
1984 Yamaha RZ 350
Kenny Roberts edition
My new Bike!
2003 Harley 883r
100th Anniv. edition
My antiques!
1936 DeSoto S1
Touring Sedan
1930 Plymouth Coupe
Melissa's dream ride:
1965 Mustang 2+2
A recent picture of me is to the left. Also pictured is my wife, Melissa.
We were enjoying an evening at Beaver Springs Dragway. Click the image to see a little
more about our hobbies and some other things about Melissa and me.
I became interested in motorcycles at a young age while cars came
later. I went to a birthday party for Mike Potts one year long ago. He got himself
a Honda 50 motorcycle for his birthday. I just thought I had to have one. My parents
didn't go for it though. I had to pedal my bikes. When they finally caved, it was
for a Manco 2-seater go cart. Well, at least I didn't have to pedal anymore.
We spent a lot of our time riding at a local area that was used for coal storage
and a slush dam. Boy, did we get dirty a lot. We learned to hill climb, jump, and
trail ride during these years. Finally, my Dad gave in when I had saved enough money
from cleaning school busses on the weekends to buy my own motorcycle. (Actually,
I caught him half asleep. I think he said yes just to get rid of me!) It was 1978,
we lived close to Zechman's motorcycle shop, and spent many Sunday afternoons pedaling
down to gawk through the window. I knew what I wanted.
I bought an air cooled YZ80 with the new "Mono shock" suspension. I was
in heaven. Donnie Zechman sent Butch, one of his mechanics, out to teach me to use
that hand clutch and foot shifter. We were out for probably an hour at least when
my Dad drove by and had a fit, till he realized he did agree. Well, I got to keep
the bike and FINALLY learned to ride it. It was way different than my friend's Honda
50. My brother bought an MX100 as did our friend with the Honda 50.
This is the period of time that Dave Lehr, another garage club member, had been working
at my Dad's garage. He was always into dirt bikes. He taught me how to ride, much
better than I was doing, by taking us out on Sundays to a place called "Westwood",
a coal mountain. This was motorcycle heaven at the time. An entire mountain of coal
to spend the entire day trying to climb. "Westwood" is no longer there
as it was used to fuel a power plant the last few years. There is an ashbank there
now, but not to the extent of size we saw.
We were happy riding our motorcycles for a few years, upgrading to a YZ100 then a
TT250. I could wheelie that bike for miles! Well, this is about the time we were
turning 14 and Dave now had a cool blue/gold '67 Camaro RS. Time to start thinking
about girls and cars. I was in Boy Scouts and enjoyed camping, traveling, and all
the fun stuff involved. Well, Dave's stories of street racing and the chicks he met
in the process started me thinking about buying a car. This almost cost me my Eagle
Scout awards as I put the scouting on the back burner while I pursued the two subjects
above.
One day at work, my Dad came out to the shop where I was doing something or other.
I used to clean tools, sweep school busses, and pump gas for money. He asked me if
I was interested in buying a car. I said, "sure", and wondered what he
was talking about. Well, he took me out on the lot and there was a guy with this
brown car he was selling. Dad hopped in and said we wanted to go for a ride. Off
we go.
I thought it was the coolest. It had a 4 speed transmission that threw you back when
Dad slapped the gears. It had a four barrel carb that growled when he put his foot
to the floor. It had cool wheels instead of hub caps. I loved it and said I wanted
the car. It was so much cooler than the station wagons I was being driven around
in by my parents. I bought my 1971 Olds Cutlass S at 13, almost 14, years old, and,
wow, it was cool!
Well, I spent a few month looking at old Hot Rod magazines deciding how to build
this car when Dad explained that the car should be "restored". That's what
"we" decided to do. Two and a half years of taking apart, sanding, painting,
rechroming, and rebuilding followed. There were good times to remember and quality
time spent with Dad and my brother Scott. There were bad times that I just felt like
quitting and we fought terribly. In the end, it was ready by the time I was 16 1/2.
Enough time to learn on the family station wagon before turning me loose with the
Olds. Even so, I still lost my license by the time I was 17. Twice.
I drove the Olds every day to school and everywhere else. It was my
driver. We went to Maple Grove for "Cruise Night" several times, pictured
above, and lots of cruises and car shows. After a couple close calls in the snow,
I came to realize that I should probably buy a beater and garage the car in bad weather.
I bought an Old 1974 Ford F100 2wd with a 360. After a couple years with the truck,
I decided to buy my first brand new car and sold the truck. I think the truck is
still running.
Left: This is a picture
from my high school days. Anyway, this was taken by someone in the Graphic Arts department
in front of the school where we all parked and given to me as a gift.
It was 1986. I was working full time. My parents just bought a new Taurus and told
me about a nice convertible Mustang at the dealership. I went down to check it out.
It was white with a white top and a white interior. It had a V6 auto in it. NO THANKS.
The Mustang GT caught my eye sitting on the other side of the dealership. This was
the first year with port fuel injection. It had T-tops and the white paint with the
GT stripes. I loved it and bought it on the spot. The hot cars of the time were the
IROC Camaros and I had a couple friends driving them. After smoking them several
times and many trips down the strip at Maple Grove Raceway, the Mustang GT was an
upcoming muscle car again.
During this time, I decided to start racing three wheelers. I started by running
hare scrambles at the Flying Dutchman, but graduated quickly to many other tracks
and motocross. Joe Heberling talked me into traveling to Trailway Speedway in Hanover,
PA to try a "flat track" race. I was hooked now. After they finally banned
the three wheelers in 1988, I built (from scratch) my own "Frame" flat
tracker and won several races. I upgraded by buying a brand new motocross bike in
1989. I even bought my first street bike, a Yamaha Virago, to ride with the others
when not racing. I did quite well in the motorcycle classes on the 250, 500, and
600, but I made the move to the Banshee where I could really shine.
I had the Mustang till 1990 when I sold it for a new full size Bronco. Wish I still
had it yet, though. The Bronco was what I wanted to pull the race trailer because
we were starting to travel farther and my Dad's flatbed truck wasn't cutting it any
more. The Bronco lasted two years and I finally came to terms with the fact that
I hated big 4 wheel drives. I sold it and bought a new Chevrolet Lumina Z34 in white.
I really did like this car. It ran good, had sharp looks, and was much easier on
gas. I had no problem pulling the quads and bikes with a small trailer, so it was
ideal.
The Lumina was great for the longer traveling I got into when I decided to race the
national circuit. My first race was in Boyd, Texas, at TT event outside Dallas. It
was hot and the competition was tough. I won plenty of races, but here I had to work
at it. I wound up winning my first National event that I attended. It was great.
I wound up getting myself in 3&4 Wheel Action magazine, Dirt Wheels Magazine,
and ironically, Crash and Burn Magazine. I have them at home.
While I had the banshees, I liked the RZ350 and was looking to buy one. While practicing
on a frozen lake with the ice racing bikes, I came across a Yellow/Black RZ350 sitting
in someone's yard. I bought it and rebuilt it. I rode this for years all over the
country as I took it along to all the races I could. The bike can be seen on my other
site, by clicking it's picture to the above left. Years later I would sell it, but
I eventually got it back.
My next National was a Motocross event held two weeks later in Texas as well. I had
an issue with the quad. I used a different quad because the suspension geometry on
my good Banshee was designed for flat track and TT events. The motocross quad worked
much better suspension wise, but this weekend it wouldn't run right. It idled OK
and full throttle worked fine, but all other times it would poop and miss. What I
didn't realize was the throttle cable was hung up and would raise the carb slides
at a different rate causing a vacuum inbalance. I took 3rd at the event the way it
ran. I finally figured out the problem when we were back in PA and it was too late.
My next National event was another TT flat track event held in Pittsburgh,
PA. At least it was close to home. I won this event handily and was contacted by
Hoosier tire for a sponsorship which I accepted of course
The next National was held in Geneva, NY. A rain delay caused a very tough track
and a very late race. My feature was at 2 A.M. I started in last position after a
bad start. I worked my way up to second and fought to the last lap with a local rider
who was extremely fast and aggressive On the last corner of the last lap, I cut under
him and overpowered him to the finish line taking first. This pushed me into the
points lead for the National Championship. Here is where I made my biggest mistake.
I wanted to have a first place District 6 trophy. District 6 was famous for having
the fastest Flat track riders. My first place trophy for the National event hinged
on the second place rider. There was one event left, the finals at Loretta Lynn's
ranch in Tennessee I decided I wanted to get the District 6 trophy and the National
trophy would only be lost if the second place guy did very well at the finals. Greed
got me. I stayed at the final local race for District 6 and missed the final National.
Carlton Brown, the second place national rider, took first and overtook me in the
points. To make matters worse, my brother won the final event in District 6 and took
first in the District 6 points. I wound up being second in every points race I was
in. (Boy, if I could do it again!)
Thinking I was ready, I decided that paychecks were better than trophies and upped
my class to the pro circuit. I went to the first race in 1992 at Daytona and won
the series. I thought this was going to be great. I was to learn the rest of the
year that the other Pro riders were just as good as me and most were better. I did
OK after that by qualifying for every event I entered. I even finished every time
in the top ten, sometimes in the top five. It was hard, hard, hard, though. After
a bad accident in the Poconos, I came to terms that I was getting a bit old for this
circuit and took a break from racing at the end of 1992. Little did I know it was
the end of my racing motorcycles
I bought a house in 1994, sold all my bikes, and settled down for a few years. What
a boring time that was. I didn't even drive the Olds much. I did actually get to
drive in a NASCAR school at Dover. It gave me my racing fix again. My brother Scott,
Dave Lehr,
and I took the school and enjoyed it thoroughly. Here are a couple pics. Watch for
the video to be posted on our Youtube page soon.
Click for full sized view:
After two bad relationship endings, I decided I wanted to buy a cool car again for
myself. I was in the market for a new Corvette and was stopping by a local Chevrolet
dealer to pick up parts and gawk at the Vettes. On the way, I passed a local Toyota
dealer and they were unloading one of the new MR2 Spyders off the truck. I decided
I would go by and check it out that night. I did a little research before on them
and I knew they were very limited in production, a very capable handling car, and
a convertible to boot.
I stopped in to the dealership and asked to see the Spyder. I wanted a yellow Spyder,
but I liked the silver just as much on the website. The one they had was a silver
one. I went over the car with the salesman and asked for a brochure. They wouldn't
give me one as they were out and saved two for the person who bought the car. I tried
to get a trade in value on my Lumina, but the guy who did that went home for the
evening. They told me they would hold the car till the next day, which was Saturday,
so I could get an estimate before signing anything. I went back the next day and
they wanted to give me 1000 bucks for the car, so I bought it outright. (I sold the
Lumina a couple weeks later for 4500.) I left the car there till the next week as
the weather was bad. (It was early March)
I finally got the car picked up and when I got back to Pine Grove, it started hailing.
I got my friend Laura to pick me up at my parents house where I could park it inside
quick and their garage was full. The Spyder was so small I quick put it where we
keep the garden tractor in a small breezeway. this car has been a great pleasure
to own. I hear matchbox jokes to this day. It was a little underpowered, but the
fun factor and rarity made up for it. It still gets people walking around it in parking
lots whenever we take it out. Usually they're trying to figure out just what it is.
I owned this for a while when I got the urge to pick up a bike again.
I hashed around the idea of buying a new one, but I kept coming back to my old RZ350.
(The story about what happened with that bike is on my RZ PAGE. After two years of trying to buy it back,
I talked him into it. I rebuilt the entire bike and got it back on the road. I still
have it.
My wife wanted a more comfy ride and I wanted something 4 stroke for a cruiser. We
decided to buy a new Harley. This I also still have and can be seen at the link to
the top left of this page.
In July of 2005, we made another car purchase. We picked up a 1936
De Soto Airstream sedan and plan on restoring this eventually. I am currently addressing
some safety issues like suspension bushings and tires to get it road worthy. Watch
for things to happen as well as the background story to this purchase at my De Soto page,
also linked above to the the left.
Melissa and I FINALLY found a 1965 Mustang 2+2 "fastback" that we bought
on Sunday, January 28th in 2007. It IS on the road but will be heading for a rotisserrie
body restoration and have a Jensen built 347ci 1965 dated engine installed. Looks
like we are cxreating a '65 Shelby or Hi-Po clone. The car has been selected for
a prototype satchel link suspension. It is currently in Allentown at Highland Daytona
Racing for the chassis installation. More details are here.
Our latest vehicle purchase was a spur of the moment thing. A friend of ours offered
us a restored '30 Plymouth Coupe (all original). It was a cool car that I couldn't
turn down. We bought it in May of 2007 and went to several shows and cruised it all
summer of '07. Watch for many more pics of this fun cruiser.
I have recently finished (October 2007) putting up a 40 X 60 foot
Pole building to store them all under one roof. The process took several months.
The subdivision, the deed's recording, and the permits took from December till August
to finish up everything. The building took about a month to be constructed.
Stay tuned for more as our world turns! To be continued...
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