Harry Klemm’s “The DG Years, 1975-1976” – Episode 9: The Competition
While DG may have had the biggest privateer team truck in the 1975 Saddleback pits, by no means did we have the fastest privateer 125 pro race bikes at that time. That did not sit…
Category: Moto
Harry Klemm’s “The DG Years, 1975-1976” – Episode 10: Painting the SoCal Racer’s Atmosphere
The term “sponsorship” meant something very different in the 1970’s than it does today. There were many levels of “sponsorship,” and there were never any contracts. Everything was done on a handshake, and the future…
Harry Klemm’s “The DG Years, 1975-1976” – Episode 11: From Mechanic to I.T. Before There Was I.T.
The skills that got me the job at DG were those that made a good motocross-racing mechanic. And truth be known, being a good race mechanic was all I ever wanted to do. However, after…
Harry Klemm’s “The DG Years, 1975-1976” – Episode 12: A Few Words About Engine “Formulas”
During the 70’s, there was a growing abundance of “so called” engine formulas that were claimed to let you easily calculate the ideal port timings, compression ratios, expansion chamber dimensions and carburetion. Even before my…
Harry Klemm’s “The DG Years, 1975-1976” – Episode 13: Mechanic Buddies
Once the bulk of the product development work of any one bike was done, I immediately handed off all maintenance and mechanical duties to our sponsored rider’s “mechanic-buddy.” By the time a local pro-racer had…
Harry Klemm’s “The DG Years, 1975-1976” – Episode 14: 1976 Turning Points at DG
By far the biggest turning point during my time at DG was the hiring of (then) telephone salesman Kenny Boyko. Ken had extensive experience in the corporate world, as well as a long history in…
Harry Klemm’s “The DG Years, 1975-1976” – Episode 15: Facing the “Race-Gas” Era
In the late 1960’s, there were numerous franchise gas stations that sold high-octane pump gas that was being demanded by the Detroit “muscle car” owners of the era. Chevron stations in California carried 101-octane “White…
Harry Klemm’s “The DG Years, 1975-1976” – Episode 16: The Retail Chamber Birthplace
When I arrived at DG in 1975, the majority of the DG expansion chambers where built by a large nearby fab shop called J&R Manufacturing. J&R was a big shop that specialized in metal fabrication.…
Harry Klemm’s “The DG Years, 1975-1976” – Episode 17: The Mammoth Motocross Classic
After the DG team successes of early 1976, the team was a motocross racing machine looking for the biggest of challenges, and we were about to meet the biggest of all. Since the late 1960’s, a…
Harry Klemm’s “The DG Years, 1975-1976” – Episode 18: The DG/Saddleback Launching Pad
To many folks in the 1976 national motocross community, it seemed as though Bob Hannah (above center) had “appeared out of nowhere” to become the most talked about, and dominant, 125 motocross racer in America.…