Where it all started

Ever wonder how a couple of brothers get whacked out about bikes? For us it was a Christmas morning in the 60's, when Santa left a new Honda 90 sitting under the tree (OK, it was the garage, but the note Santa left said, " check in the garage.") Dad loaded us up, with the bike and headed off to the biggest parking lot we could find to 'practice.' With an imposed speed limit of 25mph we rode it all day long. Of course we graduated to other bikes and more daring speeds. I moved onto a 1971 Honda SL100, with Basani pipe, (stay tuned for the only known picture) and my older brother Scott purchase a 1971 Yamaha DT175. Big brothers always need to show the younger boys the ropes, so the one upmanship was always entertaining. The photo on right is taken around 73 or 74, and took place in the local gravel pit. Always one with a bit of dry humor, I laughed when he took some flannel, cut out a big circle, a letter C and hot glued it to his fannel underwear shirt and said "bring your camera and follow me." The laughter was more intense when he dawned his vinyl replica WW1 flying helmet, period goggles, and a black towel for cape. Captain Crash was born.....long before Super Dave ever made his TV appearance.

Arriving at the gravel pits, the stage was set for high flying fun! With each pass up a steep incline, the air time seemed longer, higher, and put my photography skills to the test. To bad the camera I could afford at the time was well, crap. I'll post another photo, which shows how close, Captain Crash came to over rotation. Psst....don't tell my Dad....he's getting on in years and it might freak him out.

OK, I'm on a roll.....the local High School (Hazen High....but don't tell anybody) had a nice new red cinder running track, Scott (opps, did I just name, names?) decided we needed to really 'ramp' things up and we departed the gravel pit and head to the wide open areas around the school. Hey its summer, nobody's around, and we had just watched Kenny Roberts tear it up on ABC Sports. Mr Roberts inspired many a young teenage boy to try flat tracking. Little did Kenny know that we would test our new found 'TV' skills at the local high school running track. I must say, my brother should have gone onto a professional career in shredding dirt, he was that good. We even tried to restore the cinder to its rightful place after the practice laps by pushing the dirt back into place with a swift sideways motion of our boots.

Ever wonder why schools now have cyclone fences around the track and play field? Now ya know.

Captain Crash's faithful sidekick.....Wonderboy....signing off.