I have always known that my ability as a tuner is enhanced by my skill as a rider. I have always built my own race bikes. I was working at a Honda dealership in Hawaii as a lot boy when I started racing. I did not go to school for any of this, I learned it by doing. Not only do I know how to do the work, I also how it feels.

I have a Me Wall in my shop but I don’t think about it much, I’m busy getting ready for my next event. At my last race weekend, a customer told me that when he saw my 3rd place AMA 250 GP trophy he was convinced.

So here is the story for each of these:

Starting with the #2 plate on the left. It’s the molded front number plate from my ’90 GSXR750 that I bought from a guy named Ed and sold to another guy also named Ed. I earned my first number one plate on that bike. This plate then moved to my F-2 where it won at least one 600 SS title. It was last used for a THRRA endurance race in ‘96 on the F-1 that I still race.

The plaque from Mosport Canada was part of a large 1st place trophy when I won the 250 GP support race and took 3rd in my only 125 GP race. The 250 GP track record that I set that day will stand forever and the record that I broke was my own from 1998. When I raced at Mosport for the first time in ’98 I broke the existing 250 GP record that was set in the last World GP race to be held there. The current record is 1.26.91

I started racing in Hawaii with the Hawaii Road Race Association in Nov of ’82 but we did not assign numbers until 1991. The number one plate on the left is my first, it’s from ’91 on my ’90 GSXR750, you can see that in the framed photo below. I also shipped that bike to the mainland and earned Suzuki money racing in Suzuki Cup events with WERA.

1992, my second #1 plate, This time on my first TZ250, a 1990 the last of the parallel twins. I did one of my perfect laps on that bike on Short Course. It was a blast keeping that thing in the power band. THRRA stood for Team Hawaii Road Race Association. I had gotten tired of being the president of the non-profit HRRA, doing all that work just for free entry so I formed the for profit THRRA, started paying all the workers and vastly improved the racing in Hawaii.

The crystal bowl is my 3rd place trophy from Road Atlanta AMA 250 GP, 2003. I earned that by being smart and fast enough, it was a wet/dry day. When I moved from Hawaii at the end of ‘97 I had about $2000 in the bank, a ‘76 Field & Stream RV, a ‘93 TZ250 and no spare body work. I had maxed out my card before the ‘98 season started. An air leak on the 3rd lap of my first day of practice at Phoenix, the first round that year, caused a high side in T-1 at about 100 mph and broke a bone in my right wrist. I got points in the race but finished outside the money. When we went back there in ‘99 I lead my heat race, started the main from the front row and lead for the first ¾ of the first lap. Later that year I sold my house in Hawaii, bought the RV I still have and the 2000 TZ250 that I used to earn this trophy.

In ‘93 I was racing the ‘90 TZ250 in Open GP and got beat, no number plate as only the 1 & 2 were being assigned then.

The One just to the right of the bowl was earned on the ‘93 TZ250 that I bought from Rich Oliver’s sponsor. Rich won the ‘93 AMA 250 GP championship on that bike and when I sold it in ’99 both Rich and I autographed it for the new owner.

My 4th #1 came in 1995 on the ‘93 TZ, that was the first of three unbelievably great years of racing in Hawaii, there were four of us who could win, four 10 lap races per day, 11 events per year.

In ’96 Alex Lee used his YZF750/1000 and a lot of hard work to beat me by 4 points, I took that #2 plate on my TZ.

In ’97 my goal was to win all the races, I won all but one. I took my 5th #1 plate by over 100 points and became an Ace. But the most important thing that happened was learning to let things go. The day I did that, I broke my standing track record by a wide margin without drafting Alex and without breaking a sweat. So when Bill Wickersham told me I should rent my house and move to the mainland to race, I did.

The WERA #1 plate is from a regional Vintage race that I won and therefore the championship. It’s standing in for the first in class and third overall that Team Hawaii took in the ‘90 WERA 24 Hours of Willow, the 2005 miles we covered is still a world record for a 600cc bike.

The two CBR600F1’s in the photo with Diamondhead in the background are a Team Hawaii poster.

The little banner was made by Diane Hooper to commentate my ‘98 AMA 250GP season.

The Mayor’s Office sign was made by my wife in ‘03, the last year that 250’s raced in the AMA, she heard other 250 racers calling me the Mayor because of the work I was doing to get us pitted together and to fill the grids for the last season.

I still race but trophies have never been the goal for me, learning and the challenge are why I race.

Lots of people are fast and a lot of people are good tuners. I’m one of the few who is both. And, to answer your question as to whether I am humble, the answer is “no.”

The bike in the foreground is Kenny Anderson’s Iceman Ninja which I will be racing again next weekend with WERA at Vegas. A month ago at Miller I did another perfect lap, this time on Kenny’s bike.

Please identified these fork legs. The Ti coating is not stock. Note the single pinch bolt. I think they are R-1 forks but the front fender mount does not match the others I have. Thank you.

Sitting in my RV at Grange. Eating Hickory Farms. Looking out the window at the pit I built for my team. Relaxing after helping set up the lights. Cleared away a bunch of shredded car tire treads left by the drifters. Removed fist size rocks from crash zones. Placed hay bales in front of the lights. Tomorrow will be my twelfth 24 hour race. Come out and say hi, ask a suspension question. I’m the blond with the flat top who just can’t stop.