Graves Motorsports Yamaha's Chuck Graves Talks to Soup

Up until the early-mid '90s, Indianapolis Raceway Park (now known as Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis) in Clermont, IN. hosted a couple of WERA rounds throughout the season.  Usually scheduled in early spring and late fall, the races forever seemed to fall on rainy, cold days that would either linger in spring or hit early fall in the central Indiana area.  It didn't matter in those days as I'd be out checking out the action, starting in the mid '70s.  Before I'd found my love and adrenaline fix in motorcycle racing (and before I had moved to Indy in '72) the AMA even visited IRP when Dick Mann, Bart Markel and Cal Rayborn, among others, were still racing in the late '60s and early '70s.

But nonetheless, we would be out there either competing (or in my case TRYING to compete and having a helluva lot of fun doing so) or hanging on the fence checking out the action.  In the fall event of '87 I was lucky (?) enough to scam a gig of announcing one of the WERA regional events going on at the track.  It seemed as if the regular announcer couldn't make it, so Nan Cheney (now Algie) who had worked for WERA for years (and still does) called me up to ask if I was willing to take on the task.  I had a blast, but at the end of the weekend I was so hoarse I could barely talk and all but lost my voice for the next few days after the races were over (which might not have been a bad thing for the people that know/knew me!)

By the early '90s, WERA had taken over the Formula USA Series from Willow Springs Raceway's Bill Huth, who had started the 'run what ya brung' series in California that was quite successful.  Campaigning 8-10 tracks a year, the WERA Pro Series/Formula USA Series saw a wide variety of talent and machinery compete together on what was considered an even playing field.

Yamaha two-strokes (250/500cc) campaigned by Kenny Roberts for Rich Oliver and Robbie Peterson, big YamaMonster inline four-strokes campaigned by Gold Hill Racing for the late Fritz Kling and others, and the big-over bored Suzuki menthanol-burning inline fours as campaigned by Team Hammer/Valvoline Suzuki for many a rider including Kurt Hall, Michael Martin, Donald Jacks, Wes Cooley and Chuck Graves, to name just a very few.

For what was a varied platform, seeing 2-stroke 250s against 1100cc fire breathing 4-strokes brought out the best in racing and the best in the fans attention, and the racing was some of the best I've seen in my many years being a big-time fan.

One of the very few dates I can remember that happened during good weather was when WERA scheduled the Indy Nationals round in July '92, and for a change rainy and cold was put away for hot and humid, and as always the action was hot and heavy on the track.

Two of the regulars in the series at the time, as shown above, were dicing it up in the pack as eventual double-round winner Fritz Kling stole the show on his big Gold Hill Racing YamaMonster.  Chuck Graves on the #24 Team Hammer/Valvoline Suzuki and former WERA Formula II and AMA 250cc Grand Prix Champion Chris D'Alusio on the #2 Southwest Motorsports/Red Line Oil-backed Yamaha TZ250 go at it coming out of what was turn 15 at IRP just before hitting the front drag strip at the 2.5 mile track.  Big four-stroke against 'little' two-stroke, and neither giving an edge.

Graves, who cut his teeth in racing at Willow Springs Raceway, has since gone on to head up Graves Motorsports Yamaha, which has been the Yamaha representative and lead team in AMA Pro Road Racing since the early '00s, campaigning and winning several championships with riders Aaron Gobert, Jason DiSalvo, Jamie Hacking, Eric Bostrom, Josh Herrin, Ben Bostrom and Josh Hayes, just to name a few.

Dean Adams at SuperBikePlanet.com got a chance to catch up with Graves recently and you can check out below what he's had to say about his long career in motorcycle road racing.
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Dean Adams has this interview with Chuck Graves, the owner of Graves Motorsports out of California, who is best known to current fans as the owner of the 2-Time AMA Superbike Championship-winning Monster Energy Yamaha R1 team with rider Josh Hayes. 

Graves was quite the accomplished racer himself in his day, competing in many an event at his 'home' track at Willow Springs, and constesting the WERA Pro Series/Formula USA Series in the early '90s, including the Team Hammer/Valvoline Suzuki/RoadRacing World-backed team.

Read on to see what Graves had to say with The King of Soup, Dean Adams at SuperBikePlanet.com:

http://superbikeplanet.com/2012/Mar/120327chuckgraves.htm
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Fritz Kling Remembered by Stu's Shots

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Fritz Kling on the #31 Gold Hill Yamaha 1000 comes through the last turn before coming back onto the front straight at the old Indianapolis Raceway Park (IRP-now ORP due to O'Reilly Auto Parts monetary involvement) on his way to winning both WERA Pro Series/FUSA events back in July '92. Fritz completely spanked the field in both events that summer at one of the tracks that he had some of his biggest success at-the other being Grattan Raceway outside Grand Rapids, MI. Grattan was really considered his home track since he was from the Lansing area, but he placed on the podium many times in WERA competition at IRP as well.
IRP/ORP hasn't hosted any motorcycle road racing events in some time now-probably a couple of years after this event. Around that time Putnam Park opened outside Putnamville, IN., and the races were slated over there. This was about the time that the NHRA took over control of IRP. It's a shame as from the time I saw my first road race at IRP in the mid '70s I was hooked on it big time. Back then I was within 15-20 minutes from the track. Now I'm less then five and no more road racing.
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With the camera shooting as he spoke, Fritz Kling is interviewed by Larry Lawrence (of The Rider Files.com and author of the 'Archive' column in Cycle News & CN AMA Flat Track contributor) after winning the weekend's premier WERA/FUSA Pro Series events at IRP in July of '92. One of the sponsors of the event was Dreyer (not Dryer as mis-spelled on the banner) Motorsports Yamaha/Suzuki from Indy. Dreyer Honda is the oldest Honda dealership in the United States and opened the Yamaha/Suzuki dealership just down the road from the original Honda shop, on the west side of Indy, in the mid-late '80s (if my memory serves me correctly). Fritz was used to talking to Larry, as back in those days Double L was a regular contributor to American Roadracing, and along with Dan Schmitt out of the Chicago area covered the majority of the North Central WERA races at that time. Between Fritz' smile and LL's it was beaming in the winner's circle celebration that day!
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Jeff Heino on the #25 Fastline/MCM Racing Suzuki 1100 leads Fritz Kling on the #19 Gold Hill Yamaha 1000 at Mid Ohio in the summer of '92 during the AMA/U.S. Endurance Team Championship sprint race. Fritz rode for Gold Hill, Dutchman Racing and several other big teams in those days and was always a presence on AND off the track. His towering frame (he must have been 6 ft. 3-4 in. +/-) seemed to not only dwarf the competition but the motorcycle itself as well. It never appeared to be a hinderance, though, as he regularly beat guys he was giving up at least 30-50 pounds on. He was always a joy to watch on the track, and a great personality off the track as well.
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Fritz Kling is interviewed by the track announcer at Mid Ohio in the summer of '92 after placing second to Scott Russell in the AMA 750 Supersport race. Fritz was riding his College Bike Shop/Class Racing Kawasaki 750 that day against Russell's Muzzy Kaw. He almost always had that smile on his face, one that you could tell that he was just loving having fun and racing at the same time. Laid back off, but a monster on the race track, you knew if Fritz showed up at an event you'd not only see that smile but would also see him up at the front with the competition.
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Fritz Kling was drafted onto the Harley Davidson VR1000 AMA Road Racing team as a team mate to Miguel Duhamel in the 'early' hours of the VR's run in AMA competition just after Daytona in '94. Riding the #77 machine at Mid Ohio, above, during practice or qualifying for the '94 event, Fritz didn't have the success that Miguel did that weekend (Miguel put it on the front row of the national and led the first few laps), but neither did Doug Chandler, Chris Carr (okay, CC did put it on the pole at Pomona in '95), Scott Russell, Pascal Picotte, or Mike Smith. And those were just the list of guys that rode the VR on the factory team. Jamie James, Tripp Nobles and several other riders competed on the VR for Don Tilley, among others, with far less success. This didn't seem to matter to Fritz as it still seemed like whenever he got off the bike he still had the big kid-like smile on his face. He always projected the feeling that he was just glad to be there, in spite of the bike's major short-comings.
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Fritz Kling was a motorcycle road racer out of the Lansing, MI. area, that was born on June 10, 1967. He was a regular WERA and AMA competitor for teams such as Gold Hill, Dutchman Racing, Harley Davidson as well as his personal sponsors College Bike Shop out of the Lansing area (just to name a few). He always seemed to have a smile on his face, and almost always seemed to be up towards the front of a motorcycle road race event. Among his many accomplishments were his '89 Michigan Grand Prix Championship at Grattan Raceway, just outside of Grand Rapids, MI., in the WERA series, and winning several events that I attended at IRP back in the '80s and early '90s.
Other then when I did an announcing gig at IRP for the WERA folks in the fall of '87 and got to hand out the trophies at the end of the weekend's events-I handed a few over to Fritz that day as I remember-I only had the pleasure of meeting and/or talking to him one or two times over the years. In October of '90 I went down to Road Atlanta for the WERA GNF's with an old time friend (Jim Knipp, another long-time WERA Champ and racer) to hang out, help out where I could, and take a few pictures along the way. We were fortunate enough to run into Fritz at a local eatery and my friend Jim introduced us formally that evening and he had that big smile that evening just as I had seen it on him many times before at the race track. And always a positive and friendly attitude to boot. He had one of those endearing personalities that would stay with you and just make you feel good you got a chance to speak to and with him.
Unfortunately, Fritz lost his battle with brain cancer on November 7, 2008, and won't be around tomorrow to celebrate his 43rd birthday with his family, his friends or his race competitors. Not unlike the way he battled on the track, his race against the cancer that took him away from us was just as fierce. But unlike his battles on the track, we are the ones who lost out when this battle was won by The Man who called Fritz home before his time should have been due.
Tomorrow I'm going to take a moment of silence to remember Fritz Kling, as the good guy and fierce competitor that he was.
And I'm going to remember that killer smile of his as well and remember how blessed we all were to have been in his presence to see the fun loving guy he was and the positive vibe he projected on AND off the track. And I'm going to remember the giant he was among people, let alone racers, literally and figuratively.

God Bless, Fritz, and Happy Birthday. You are truly missed, but never forgotten........
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