Paul Carruthers | April 8, 2014
Believe it or not, the banquet on Saturday night celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Trailblazers was my first. Chances are, it won’t be my last.
Not that every Trailblazers banquet isn’t special, but this one most definitely was. This one was a can’t miss. The club was honoring three-time World Champion Kenny Roberts with its highest honor – the Dick Hammer Award, an honor that symbolizes drive, determination and desire. Most definitely three traits of arguably the greatest motorcycle racer of all time.
How could I miss that?
I couldn’t and neither could my date for the night: My dad, who had a little to do with Roberts’ career or as Kenny would later tell the Trailblazers in his speech: “I know you brought Kel Carruthers here; he had to watch over me for like 20 years and I couldn’t do this without Kel.”
So dressed in our Sunday best, we headed north to Carson to honor the King. On the way there we solved most of the world’s problems. Well, at least when it came to MotoGP, Formula One and Obamacare.
Once we got there, the first person we ran into was Bill Werner, who is basically the flat track equivalent of my father. Then Roberts walked up and pleasantries were exchanged before my dad started rubbing Roberts’ bald head telling him how happy he is that he’s aging so un-graciously.
You gotta love old guys. So honest, so brutally honest. I heard Roberts tell one portly gentleman, “Well, at least food seems to be agreeing with you.” Ouch.
To read more of Carruthers Says in this week’s issue of Cycle News, click here