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Yep, I worked at Motorcycle Specialties HD on Garvey Blvd in South San Gabriel, who sponsored me, off and on for about three years. Down Garvey a mile or two was Ed Kretz's shop. I dropped out of college in 1952 and worked there full time in exchange for discounted parts and free labor on my drag bike since I didn't have any money. I normally rode Joe Fernandez' knucklehead at drags and dry lakes. Since he was good friends with Blackie Bernal, he set me up with Blackie and his drag Triumph in 1952 when he had his drag bike down for upgrade to billet cylinders and bigger displacement. Joe thought I needed something to do while waiting for him. I also rode a K-model Harley at Carrell Speedway and my HD Hummer on scrambles & Catalina. John Gregurich sold the shop to Bob Laidlaw right about the time that Joe Smith initially ran his drag bike out of the shop. I loaned my gas dragster (minus motor) to Joe Smith for a while. He used his motor in it while he was building up his first drag bike. Bob Laidlaw did the lower end on my dragster and I did the porting and upper end. I returned to college in 54 after recovering from Bonneville and built up my gas dragster in 57 or 58. I finally dropped out of college and got a real job in 1959 at Edwards AFB. By that time I was married and had a kid. College, wife, kid and a job kind of slowed me down permanently although my wife got mad at me when I quit running drags.
Hello Joe and welcome to the forum.. Tell us more about this Tom Fellow.. J
Joe,I was asking about Tom N..Nevermind..Tell Baz Hello.J
Great to hear you are still with us, Joe......I had the pleasure in seeing you run many a time at the drags..About the same time period I was running a Triumph out of Bill Graves's shop in Pasadena........Bill called the bike "Senator" because Bill said "It made lots of noise....and did not do much".......we had fun.......
Quote from: bak189 on June 22, 2009, 04:08:58 PMGreat to hear you are still with us, Joe......I had the pleasure in seeing you run many a time at the drags..About the same time period I was running a Triumph out of Bill Graves's shop in Pasadena........Bill called the bike "Senator" because Bill said "It made lots of noise....and did not do much".......we had fun....... Is this one of the Baker Brothers of the late 50's...?[/quoteJoe, Can't be, he is about 72.....
Quote from: Granddaddy Joe on June 22, 2009, 11:08:47 PMQuote,"I remember looking at "Joe's" bike photo's in CYCLE Magazine,and using pencil and protractor to figure out wheelbase,rake, trail, CDa, horsepower, etc".I'd like to see that...??That issue is still on my shelf, with the calculations in the margin......You should see the Enz calc's....
Quote,"I remember looking at "Joe's" bike photo's in CYCLE Magazine,and using pencil and protractor to figure out wheelbase,rake, trail, CDa, horsepower, etc".I'd like to see that...??