The bike that wouldn't die, Kenny Roberts' 1975 Indy Mile-winning Yamaha TZ750 sits on display at the 4th Annual Red Bull Indianapolis MotoGP Weekend under the Yamaha display tent on August 27, 2011. The bike, restored by Ray Abrams of A&A Racing, one of The King's first sponsors when he started flat tracking as a Pro rider back in the early '70s, was brought out to the Lucas Oil Indy Mile during the 2009 event for Roberts to spin some ceremonial laps on. He did more then just spin a few parade laps, he flat out lit 'em up on the machine that he rode to glory in August of '75 and after proclaimed that Yamaha 'didn't pay him enought to ride' the thing.
This particular version of the machine has some subtle differences from the original hay bale-bouncing 4-cylinder two-stroke that The King rode into history some 37 years ago. Other then some graphics differences from the original, this one also sports the Goodyear DT-2 design tires that were an off spring of Roberts and company having to hand cut road racing slicks in order to get it to hook-up better at the remaining events it was contested in back in the day. The original wore the old-style DT-1 tires almost totally out and they were all but totally chunked at the end of the 25-lap main from laying the rubber down and spinning up the rear tire in what is probably still considered Roberts' greatest motorcycle racing victory over the course of his illustrious career.
Scott Jones Photography, the man who is responsible for some of the nicest MotoGP pictures in the world that are regularly featured on the MotoMatters.com website, is also known for one of his shots of KR Senior riding the bike during those demo laps three years ago, that will be featured in a special poster alongside the original shot of Roberts on the TZ taken by Bert Shepard. Those posters will be available for sale at this weekend's Lucas Oil Indy Mile on Saturday, August 18.
You can read the full press release below to find out how you can get your hands on one of these way-cool posters of The King in two of his finest (of many) moments!
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838 N. Delaware Street | Indianapolis, IN 46204 US |
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