Motourage

They don’t pay me enough to ride that thing: The legend of Kenny Roberts and the TZ750

The rumor mill is churning up in Indianapolis, and if you can believe the whispers from the paddock, Kenny Roberts is expected to take hot laps on the 100% pure-evil Yamaha TZ750 at this year’s Indy Mile.

If you’ve never heard of the TZ750, the legend goes something like this:
One hot summer night in 1975, the devil himself appeared in a dream to Kenny Robert’s manager and tuner Kel Carruthers  and told him to take the 750cc two-stroke Yamaha engine from the GP bike that Kenny Roberts had used to win at Laguna Seca the previous year and shove it into The King’s flat track racer.  The purpose of creating such a monster was to hold off the hard-charging Harley Davidson XRs at the Indy Mile flat track race later that August.  Kel did as he was instructed, and what resulted was a fire-breathing demon motorbike that not even King Kenny could tame.

Roberts held the bike together and won that year’s Indy Mile, bouncing the Yamaha off the hay bales and holding on as best as he could.  After that season, the AMA and Kel Caruthers, the creater of the demon bike, banned its use out of fear it would eventually kill someone.

Apparently though, the TZ750 has been resurrected and will again rear its head this August in Indianapolis.
If you’re heading to Indy for the MotoGP race, make sure you get tickets to the Mile, as – if the rumors are true – you’ll be able to witness a piece of history told only in legends.

MOTOURAGE UPDATE (7/21/09 2:09AM): The TZ750 rumor is a rumor no more.  King Kenny will again ride the beast at the Indy Mile as confirmed by THIS YAMAHA MOTOR CORPORATION PRESS RELEASE POSTED ON FLATTRACK.COM!

For the entire legend, read THIS ARTICLE FROM SUPERBIKE PLANET.COM.

Here’s the footage from that fateful night…