We Continue Our Salute to Mike Kidd and Gene Romero as Pomona is Almost Here....

As the season ending race at Pomona for the AMA Flat Track series is less then

44 hours away, we wanted to take the time to salute the other head of racing tonight.

The other night, we saluted Gene Romero, former GNC and now head of the West

Coast Flat Track Series (www.wcfts.com) and some of his past accomplishments over

the years.

Tonight, we tip the proverbial helmet to Mike Kidd, '81 AMA Grand National Champion,

former National #7--and 72 before he won the championship--and the man who is currently

heading up the AMA/DMG run Flat Track Series. Having been around the racing and

promoting scenes for over 4 decades now, Mike has some great insight as to how to run

a professional race series, how to promote it, keep the fans AND racers happy, and

how to be able to do so and make money at the same time. Thankfully the folks at

DMG decided to give the helm to Mike in running things in this series, as he has more then

proved he can run and promote a series with the utmost of success and respect. We're only

one full season in on this deal and so far Mike is hanging in there. I think that is a good sign

in that they are letting him do what needs to be done to get things organized and lined

out to be able to build the product of flat track racing. And to hopefully bring some new blood

in and try to get more fans back at the races in the process. And of course as we all know with

the current state of the economy, people have a lot fewer dollars around for racing or

entertainment in general so it IS a monumental task. But enough of that.

When I first started getting into this flat track thing in early '74, Mike had already ridden

for the Triumph Factory team, and was out injured the mid part of the year. It was in

the summer of '75 when I started noticing he was 'back' and was obviously healthy and

winning races again. Some of the shots above are of one of his race wins at Terre Haute

in August '75. He got hurt there in '77 and broke his wrist if I remember right, and 6 days

later we ran into him at an old Linder's Ice Cream store on the west side of Indy and he was

on his way to the mile about 8 miles down the road--ready to race. Oh, and he won....the night

race and if I remember correctly, that was the 2nd year of the Indy Mile Doubleheader

Nationals, and he came in close to the top on Sunday afternoon as well. Several years

later while running his own team with Army sponsorship, which at the time was a major

godsend in having a sponsor like that in flat track in itself, he won the '81 Championship.

Going on to ride for Team Honda when they came out with the original twin, CX500-based

NS750, he was one of the original riders that helped to develop Team Honda into a non-stop

powerhouse that re-wrote the books on kickin' a.. and taking names in dirt track racing through

the '80s and really ending several years after with Ricky Graham's last championship in '93 on

a Johnny Goad-prepped privateer RS750.

After retiring from riding, Mike got involved big time with the ArenaCross program, built it,

sold it, promoted it, and turned it into one of the best run AND attended motorsports racing

of ANY kind. Then he sold it off to Clear Channel, and went to work for them as a consultant

and promoted them further. The man KNOWS the game! And if he can help to do SOME of

the same for our beloved sport of flat track, we all have a chance. This will be a pivotal w/e

at Pomona with Mike overseeing the AMA-side of things and Gene Romero overseeing the

WCFTS-side of things. These two guys individually exude class, respect, and the ability to

know how to have a good time and put on a great show. It should be fun!

Here is the link to my previous post earlier in the week with my salute to Gene, where I

posted all the links you should need to be able to keep up with the races at Pomona on

Saturday afternoon and evening:

http://stusshots.blogspot.com/2009/10/ama-flat-track-goes-to-pomona-to-close.html

Here are a few links of some info about Mike Kidd, as well, including his
AMA Motorcycle Museum Hall of Fame page, as well as his bio and basic background from

the AMA as well:

http://www.motorcyclemuseum.org/halloffame/hofbiopage.asp?id=100

http://www.motorcyclemuseum.org/classics/bike.asp?id=32

http://www.zoominfo.com/Search/PersonDetail.aspx?PersonID=2539723

And this is the official link from the California Bike Week folks on all of the festivities:

http://californiabikeweek.com/cbw09/2009/10/10/ama-pro-grand-national-flat-track-series-still-happening/

The shots above I threw in tonight to celebrate Mike's great racing past are mostly from

the Terre Haute August '75 race he won.

First off is a shot of Mike in action between 1-2, taking the checkered flag for the National

win, one of him 'throwing it down' on the cases going into 1, and a shot of him leading the late,

great Rex Beauchamp #31 as they come into 1 during the National.

The last shot is from the Louisville early summer race in '76. Mike's running it up the inside

of Gary Scott on the #1 K & K-sponsored bike and bringing up the rear is rookie of the year

and future '79 Grand National Champion Steve Eklund on the #74z bike. I'm pretty sure this

was a heat race shot.

Enjoy the shots, enjoy the read, and if you get a chance to follow the races from here this w/e,

enjoy! And if you make the trip and want to fill us in, we're all ears! Take care.