My Garage - Skip Kennedy

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HOUSTON, HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM CONFESSIONS OF A MOTORCYCLE ADDICT BY: SKIP KENNEDY Panorama of happiness

I have a confession to make. bike. I leased a 5 x 8 storage room at my

I’m a long-time motorcycle addict and collector. Over the apartment complex which I shared that with the Penton guy. years I have been fortunate enough to steadily move from just It had one light bulb on the ceiling and between the two bikes storing my bikes to actually having a warehouse and garage. and a small toolbox; it was pretty tight.

I started at age eleven with a cast aside Lambretta 125 from I started racing immediately. In fact, racing took over my life. my brother, which I quickly broke. And then I talked my dad I raced for about six months on the AT1 before buying a 1969 into buying a used 1958 Cushman Eagle which I didn’t break Maico 250, then a new 1972 Yamaha DT2-MX, and then a but later traded for a 1957 Zundap 250. All these bikes were CZ. Obviously, I needed more space than a shared 5 x 8 room, stored in the barn on our property. Not much work was done so Don rented the one-car garage below his apartment. There on them—I just oiled the chain once in a while and rode the were no shelves on the wall, no place to put parts except on the wheels off them. floor but we were happy to have a “real” garage to work in.

In 1966, at the age of nineteen, I joined the Air Force. I did Life was great. I raced MX for three years while also my time—a total of three years and ten months that included doing some short track along with three-hour hare scrambles. nineteen months¬¬ in Vietnam before I returned to civilian Because I worked for a Honda shop, they let me work on my life. While in Vietnam, I had a 1967 Honda CL 90 that I just bikes there. I was a pro for two of the three years but found I parked outside my barracks. When I returned to the U.S.A. I was losing my enthusiasm. I decided to give speedway a go. was stationed at Wichita Falls and there I had a 1968 Hodaka I moved to Southern California in 1974 and raced for three

Ace 100. I kept it exposed under the stairway at my apartment. summer speedway seasons and also two winter seasons in

When I was discharged from the Air Force in 1970, I moved Florida. I was fortunate to race against all the big guns of to Houston, Texas, where some of my friends lived. One day that sport. But I got tired of the travel, sleeping in a camper visiting a friend I saw some guys standing around a car with a and race prepping bikes out of my trailer, so I moved back to three-bike trailer with a 1969 Husqvarna and a 1969 Penton Houston. on it. Of course, I had to stop and talk Fast forward to 1998to them. That conversation changed my life (i.e., wife and kids) that life. interrupted my racing for a

One of them asked me if I knew bit until Don (Diamond Don what the bikes were. When I answered now) walked into my office and that they were Motocross bikes, he said, “You won’t believe this! was impressed. He stuck out his hand There is an organization called and said, “Hi, I’m Don Rainey.” (He AHRMA. They race those wouldn’t become Diamond Don for a bikes from back in the day, and couple more years.) I asked him if he they call it Vintage Racing. raced the bikes and with a grin on his We’re going racing again!” He face he replied, “Yes.” He invited me to gave me the number of a guy go to a race the following weekend. who was selling two CZs and

The day after that race I bought a we started building and racing used Yamaha AT1, a converted MX A 1974 CZ 380, which is my primary vintage race bike bikes again.

Trophy wall

I didn’t have an official garage at that time, but I had an office with a decent sized lot where I restored and sold collector cars. I was able to park the bikes in my office but still needed more room for tools and parts, etc. My solution was to buy a used box van, and I parked it on my lot. Sort of a hybrid garage in place. Whenever I bought another bike or parts, in the van they went. It was not ideal as I had to pull the bikes out to work on them and then put everything back at the end of the day.

I have been racing ever since Don’s visit to reset the hook and am enjoying it way more than I did when I was younger. I now race in the 70+ Expert Classic Vintage on Saturdays and Evo or long travel on Sundays, winning five expert national championships along the way.

When I retired three years ago, I needed a place to move all the bikes, parts and tools accumulated over many years. Luckily, I was able to lease part of a large warehouse and turn it into my first real garage. Although it needed a lot of work it seemed huge—big enough for all of my stuff. We put up a wall to convert it into two separate spaces and there was an office on my side. I built a staircase to create more storage space on top of the office, built a workbench and painted the whole place. Now I can store my entire collection of bikes in one place and work on them easily.

I have restored CZs, Yamahas and others including complete engine builds down to trueing the cranks. My time is spent keeping the herd going! This year I worked on a 1955 Triumph Bonneville Salt Flat racer, my first experience working on a big four-stroke twin. I went with the Houston Hot Rod Hoodlums team to Bonneville in August to race it at the Salt Flats. That is a story for another time.

I spend a lot of time at the garage (my wife says too much) prepping race bikes and restoring other things that grab my attention. It’s a great space to work on bikes, check e-mails, order parts, hang out visiting with friends who stop by for a beer and do some bench racing. It’s a far cry from the Hodaka under the apartment stairwell out in the weather.

See you at the races.

A little bit of everything