Blokes & Sheds Norm Francis – The man, the myth, the builder, the sponsor

NORM FRANCIS

THE MAN, THE MYTH, THE BUILDER, THE SPONSOR. I’LL START RIGHT OFF – I’M JEALOUS.

I did not have a family that was into motorcycles. It took everything I could do to get a bike, then be able to race it. Norm Francis is truly my opposite – his whole family raced, including his mom.

1. Norm on the left. 2. Norm's Mint 400 bikes. 3. During Norm's flat track days. 4. Stormin' Norman. 5. Taco mini bike rebuild. 6. Ready for assembly. 7. Hi Norm!

When we sat down for this interview, Norm’s question to me was, “Why didn’t we meet sooner?” (FYI, we first met a few years back at the Anaheim Supercross Legends & Heroes display, but we did not know each other back in the day). So, the best we could figure – in the ‘70s, we were just racing at different tracks at different times (there were a lot of tracks in So Cal back then).

A brief history lesson. Norm was born in 1957. His Dad was a decorated World War II veteran and like many vets, when he came back to the States, he started by racing jalopies in the Midwest part of the U.S.. He was rather good, too, but things changed when he flipped one night while racing. He told his wife jalopy racing was over, so he took up a “safer” sport – racing motorcycles!

In 1961, he moved the family to Hemet, about 90 miles east of Los Angles, California. The timing was perfect, as motorcycling in So Cal was about to explode. The whole family was into motorcycles – Norm’s Mom and Dad, plus his brother, who was five years older than Norm, and they all raced.

Norm’s racing career started unexpectedly when he was ten years old. The family was at the Elsinore TT track, it was Easter weekend, and Norm’s Dad says, “Come on, let’s go!” Not 100% sure what his Dad meant, Norm grabbed his riding gear and found himself on the starting line sitting on a ’64 Yamaha YG1! (he was so short at the time, his Dad had to hold the bike up on the starting line before the start of the race).

That’s all it took, Norm was hooked on racing! His first “real” race bike was a 1966 Hodaka 90 (I always wanted one of those, too). A few years later, his family was at Deadman’s Point in Victorville. Norm eyes his brother’s ’71 Yamaha RT1 360 and his Dad says, “If you can start it, you can race it!” Well, Norm started it, and raced it.

Norm got fast enough to turn Pro and raced in three Supercross events and two Outdoor National MX events. Plus, he was a test rider for Yamaha. Hence the nickname, Stormin’ Norman.

After MX and SX, he turned his attention to Flat Track racing, earning an AMA National

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1. One of Norm's Baja racers takes to the air. 2. A beautifully remade bracket. 3. Another rebuild from the frame up. 4. Old dirt bikes can be crusty. 5. Puch rebuild for Billy Urban. 6. Marty Tripes' Baja racer. 7. Norm's 250 Maico resto. 8. Mint 400 machines.

Number and he continued to race his Harley until he was forty-four. What ended his racing career was a crash at the 2011 Soboba GP – before the crash, Norm was 5’ 10” and after the crash he was 5’ 8½”! He fractured six discs and four vertebrae and was told he’d never walk again. The doctors were wrong, very wrong. More on that later…

Restoration experience at an early age

While Norm was still ten years old, he thought he knew everything about twostrokes, so he mixed up some premix with Pennzoil. Only problem was, the YT1 he was mixing it for had been running Castrol R bean oil. Well, you know what happened, the engine seized! So, his Dad made him rebuild the top end. Only problem was, one of the circlips went flying and Norm couldn’t find it. His Dad said, “Well, it must have landed in the crank, you will have to split the cases.”

Fast forward a few hours – cases split, no circlip, engine put back together, and his Dad walks in and opens his hand – there’s the circlip (his Dad saw it go flying and picked it up before Norm noticed). He told his son, “Lesson learned, next time you work on an engine, always stuff a rag in the crank.”

This was also when Norm started spray painting, earning him the nickname Kaptain Krylon. Norm’s Dad taught him “Try everything and do your best!” A perfect motto to live by. Fast forward to 2011, after Norm’s crash. Due to his injuries, he was put on permanent disability, which was the motivation he needed to start restoring bikes and building Bajaracing buggies.

In fact, Norm has sponsored motocross

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1. A very well restored first model DT1. 2. Brand new! 3. All very tidy under the seat. 4. Norm's restorations are certainly first class. 5. Right hand side of the DT1. 6. DT1 tank being stripped before being restored. 7. The finished tank following resto.

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royalty on four wheels, like Tommy Croft, with Tommy taking numerous class wins in his Norm-built buggies. He also restored a buggy for Tracy Valenta, that Marty Tripes used to race.

Norm was also the one to start Retro Off-Road Racing, which got promoters to include a “Retro” class for both buggies and two-wheelers in SCORE desert races. In fact, Norm entered two bikes in the last Mint 400, with a team of racers like Gary Chaplin, Billy Urban, Billy’s son Broc, Jim Beauchamp and, of course, Norm. As he says, “I love going fast!” And, of course, they won their class.

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What’s in the garage today?

Four years ago, at Scott Burnworth’s annual Carlsbad Reunion, Norm met former factory Maico racer, Gary Chaplin. The two became fast friends and started riding together, racing together and now, they are restoring bikes together.

“We get along great, and we both have a desire to bring old bikes back to life. We want to restore the bikes we always wanted when we were kids, those we remember fondly, but couldn’t afford them back then,” Norm said.

Current restoration projects:

1. Creating a ‘72-‘73 Maico narrow frame

Square Barrel 250 replica of Chaplin’s factory Maico Trans-Am bike 2. Restoring a ‘71 Maico Square Barrel 250 3. Creating a ‘71 Puch 125 MX Billy Urban replica bike (Billy was CMC #1 in 1972) 4. Restoring a ’64 Yamaha YG1 80 (a replica of the first bike Norm raced)

Where does all this take place? Not a fancy shop but a three-car garage in the suburbs that is stuffed with welding torches, grinders, bead blasters, wheel truing stand and countless other tools. The Yamaha DT1 shown with this story – the entire restoration took place in this garage, even the painting.

Norm also likes to credit those who support him with his builds, like Paul Stannard of Preston Petty Products, Concept Powder Coating (who does his frames), and San Metal Refinishing.

Paying it forward

One of the bikes Norm is restoring is a ’76 Honda Elsinore 250 and he’s doing it for/ with current SX/MX racer, Coty “CJ” Schock. Norm’s goal is to pass along the passion to the young racers of today so they understand and respect all that’s come before them. As Norm says, “I want to leave a footprint for future generations and these motorcycles are my legacy.” I think you’ll agree, that ‘s a pretty cool legacy.