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Kenny learned to ride on a 1929 JD74ci Harley
when he was 12 years old in 1941 then made his first purchase - a 1927
JD61ci Harley - 2 years later.
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Willow Springs, April 1954 |
After leaving the army in 1948 he started racing
for Tom Sifton, the famous tuner. Then a Harley dealer in San Jose,
California this relationship lasted until 1952. Kenny wanted to race at Daytona
but the Harley factory reckoned that Kenny was too small to hang-on to a bike
for the full 200 miles of Daytona.
Kenny's move to BSA came after a brief spell on a
Triumph with Phil Cancilla. After a recommendation from BSA regular Gene
Thiessen, he got a call from Hap Alzina in late 1953.
This took him to Daytona in 1954, riding a rigid
Shooting Star along with Hill and Gunter. Klamfoth was also on a twin but a
swing arm frame after he blew-up his rigid bike on the 'Jungle' road during
testing.
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After Daytona in 2004, Kenny fitted high bars and
rode the same bike to win the 125 Mile National road race at Willow Springs
California in April 1954 and the Portland Mile in Oregon the same year.
After he retired the Shooting Star went to Dick
Mann who raced it for a few years until he sold it. Both Kenny and Dick have
tried to trace the bike since but without any luck.Kenny's last race was at Bay
Meadows in 1957.
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Portland Meadows, Oregon 1954.
Kenny on the left and on the rght a young Dick Mann on Kenny's 1952 A7.
Kenny won the expert race, Dick Mann the amateur. |
After holing a piston, Kenny got a 3rd on a KR
750cc Harley tailed by Al Gunter on a Shooting Star.
Kenny has many bikes in the garage and some
examples of the bikes he used to race including a 1948 Triumph rigid frame T500
flat tracker 500cc and a a 1949 Harley Davidson WR750cc flat tracker that gets
ridden annually in the 'Lap of Legends' at Del Mar racetrack in Southern
California.
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