Maely On Roberts
MAELY ON ROBERTS
Ken Maely has been involved in racing on all levels for, oh, call it 70 years. He knows everybody, and he can't resist a good story. Here are three about the human side of Kenny Roberts Sr:
One: In Steve Wright’s wonderful book, American Racer, on page 137, there’s a picture of a goofy country kid, an Alfred E. Neuman lookalike, posing with his pals while seated on AMA Number One Mert Lawwill’s TT Harley.
Maely was there and he says Lawwill dumped the bike at a time when he really needed the points he’d just lost. He walked away disgusted and Roberts, at Ascot for the Novice race, picked it up.
But he didn’t head for Lawwill’s pit.
Instead, he found photographer Dan Mahoney and persuaded him to take the snapshot, a Number One ahead of his time.
Two: When Maely bought his ranch in what was then the wilderness, he was still riding for fun and laid out a giant enduro course, except with motocross hazards of all types, and it was his delight to invite the Pros for a ride.
At one point in the ride, Maely says, “I’d stop, take my helmet off, shut off the engine and wait for the other guys. It wasn’t that
was so good, but I knew the course, knew which way the turns went and what was on the other side of the hillclimbs. One day, Kenny came over for a ride. I started out, rode like always, got to the place where I’d wait up. I stopped the bike...and something bumped my leg.
“It was Kenny’s front wheel. That had never happened before, and he hadn’t even made Expert yet.”
Three: Speedway stars Mike and Steve Bast were raised in a home with a pool table in the living room. They began shooting pool soon as they could see over the edge of the table, and naturally they were good.
Maely had a pool table. At a barbecue for the racers, Mike Bast invited Roberts for a friendly game, and not to be too blunt, Roberts was hustled. He paid up and said little.
But a couple of days later, the thenMrs. Roberts called. She was ticked. Her husband had bought a pool table, hired a pro to coach him, and all he’d do, dawn until late at night, was practice. She couldn’t get so much as a nod or wink out of him.
There was another barbecue.
Roberts got his money back.
