Ken Maely's Dirt-Track Boots & Skid Shoe

Ken Maely's Dirt-Track Boots & Skid Shoe

CW EVALUATIONS

Getting a leg up on racing

CASUAL DIRT-TRACK FANS ARE LIKELY to glance at this stuff and say something along the lines of, "Gosh, nothing in dirt-track ever changes." Not so. What we see here isn't a revolution, true. The skid shoe is still steel, the boots still lace up, the rider still spends most of the lap turning left, all as it's been for half a century.

Thing is, for exactly 50 years, Ken Maely has been making steel shoes and providing boots for speedway and dirttrack. Most recently, he's designed a boot specifically for motorcycle racing, which classic lineman's boots aren't. He's provided lightness, which mo tocross boots don't. And, he's allowed for emergency exits, which no other boot does. Ask anybody who's hurt his foot and tried to get his boot off.

Thus, the odd look. That's not a trick-lens photo, the boot tips really do curl up. That's so the toe won't get caught in a rut, which when it happens

you'll never forget, trust us here. The heels are low, so they, too, won't get caught. The right heel is way forward, the better to plant the rider's weight di rectly on the footpeg, not too far aft. And the zippers are there so the boot

unpeels, as it were, when (heav en forbid) you need to get the boot off a swelling foot quickly and easily.

Maely makes the shoes on his two-man assembly line, and stocks Pro, Vet and Beginner styles for speedway, short-track and mile. Best of all, they work as advertised. They fit and they're comfortable. And while they won't make you faster, testers felt more secure in the rough than in the past. Good riddance, then, to line man's boots.

DETAILS

Ken Maely Enterprises 8580 Bedford Motorway Corona, CA 92883 909/277-8989 Price $325

Ups

Solid design

Should last a lifetime

Downs

Could be a tad higher on the shin

You still have to unlace, in spite of the zippers