Gene Romero
Gene Romero excelled in every aspect of motorcycle racing across a long and successful career. And he was known as ‘Burrito’.
He was one of the true stars of the 1970s and whether you only heard the name Romero as part of On Any Sunday or got to see him take part in the Transatlantic Trophy events, Gene's legacy tended to stay with you. Classic Racer says goodbye to the man with a steely determination to take the fight to others.
Gene Romero had an unlikely start for a motorcycle racing legend, having spent four years racing quarter midgets and two additional years racing karts. His direction in motorsport was redirected by his neighbour and motorcycle racer Johnny Lamanto. He suggested that Gene might want to try racing motorcycles, and soon Gene had acquired Johnny’s Triumph Cub. Learning to ride along the edges of the local alfalfa fields, it wasn’t long before the topic turned to motorcycle racing. Gene: “My dad said that I ought to go race it, but I said, ‘Nah, I don’t want to do that…’ well, one thing led to another and we did.” Success quickly followed in both scrambles and flat track/tt, events, first on Tiger Cubs, then on a Bultaco and an Aermacchi 250 Sprint sponsored by the local Harley dealership. With a forged birth certificate, Romero was
racing at Ascot Park by 1964 and, at age 15, he won his first heat race and final. San Luis Cyclery sold Romero a discounted Triumph, which Gene used to great effect. By 1966 he was sponsored by the dealership and was a first year expert in the AMA. Gene was to get his first National finish at the Castle Rock TT in Washington and Triumph was beginning to take note of this promising Californian. For the 1967 season, Gene was brought on to the factory Triumph road racing team, to ride their unbeatable 500cc twin T100/R racer at Daytona. This was a huge opportunity for any rider, much less one without a National win in his resumé. There were six factory Triumphs entered, including those of 1966 winner Buddy Elmore, Gary Nixon, Larry Palmgren, Eddie Mulder and Dick Hammer. Hammer and Nixon battled for the lead, and eventually Nixon and Elmore finished one-two. Romero had finished eighth, behind
Hammer in seventh. It had been a worthy Daytona debut for the young rider. Gene went from strength to strength that year, but it all went wrong at Tulare. A vicious crash resulted in a femur broken in 14 places and amputation was seriously considered. He was to spend the following four months in hospital. Gene learned life lessons from that horrible crash that he carried with him for the rest of his days. The factories were only looking at riders as the flavour of the day and there was no loyalty given to injured riders. Gene: “Nobody would have anything to do with you and you learned a lot about life. You found out who your friends were. This was before therapy and you had to do it yourself.” Romero was determined to come back, as he had a great deal of self-belief and determination. “There are two things you bet on… sure things, and yourself. I had enough money to get to the Midwest with a few dollars left over. Neil Kneen had a spare bike and he helped support me with a ride. I would race on a Tuesday night in one city, then Wednesday night in another, racing all the time.” Romero was back, but this time without factory support. He had to ride a Matchless single he described as a ‘sewing machine’ in the 1968 Daytona 200. It was a hopeless proposition against the multi-cylinder competition, but he managed to finish 10th with the outclassed machine. By the 15th race of the year at the Lincoln, Nebraska TT, Gene would score his first National win. Of course, the 21-year-old Romero was now Triumph’s darling again. “After that, I started getting some support from Triumph. The typical deal, they support guys who are coming up, and when guys get busted up, they seldom come back. I was really young when I learned who was real and who wasn’t.” At season’s end, Gene was seventh in Grand National points. 1969 brought endless mechanical nightmares. After Daytona, the riders were essentially on their own for the flat track and TT races that made up the schedule, and the bits being provided from Triumph were powerful but fragile. “They had short fuses on them. I wanted more stuff from Triumph, but it was all politics with them. I said ‘bullshit’ and went and bought my own engine on my own.” Somehow, by season’s end, Gene had finished second in the National Championship, and was able to switch out his previous #20 for a single-digit choice, taking #3. His modified, horizontally-extended ‘3’ was to become his lifelong trademark, despite some initial reluctance by the AMA scorers to accept that unique font design. However, far and away the most important result to come from 1968’s difficulties, was that Gene had decided to assemble his own team with great capability. CR Axtell was one of the best engine builders in the business, and along with Nick 'the Greek' Deliginas, they formed the core of the new team, using Ray Hensley’s Trackmaster frames. The pieces were all in place for his greatest season. At Daytona, Romero had the unique experience of being part of the Triumph-bsa factory team with Mike Hailwood. Gene: “The whole magic to those Tridents at the time was down to one guy, Doug Hele. Those things were fast, we’d do testing and after we would talk. I knew that by working closely with Doug, my bike would perform better. We
were complete opposites, but we got along so great. I think the sun rises and sets on that man.” Gene would start from pole position after a mad gamble on high tyre pressures (pole position was decided purely from the lap time recorded around the oval, NASCAR-STYLE). In the race he would finish second. As for the rest of the 1970 season, it was one of the most memorable ever, with veteran Dick Mann, and BSA newbies David Aldana and Jim Rice taking the championship battle to Romero. Rice had six wins by the time they got through the Peoria TT in August and it looked to be between those two. The challenge fell short when Rice had a massive crash at Sacramento, as well documented in the movie ‘On Any Sunday’. Jim: "Everybody knows about the 1970 Sacramento Mile, but there were many other pivotal races other than that. You had to be really consistent, at least trying to get top three in all the Nationals, considering the calibre of the riders back then. "At the 1970 San Jose Mile, there were 250 Experts trying to qualify. They would let you have one lap of qualifying, one timed lap. If you had some problem or slipped off the groove… with 250 guys trying to put in their best lap you couldn’t afford to make any kind of mistake and you couldn’t be too careful either.” Bruce Brown’s timeless film also had the classic line from Romero: “I don’t want to hurt anybody, but I’ve got to get third, no matter what. I’m going to get third or come see me in the hospital. I dig carnations.” Gene’s win at the Sedalia Mile followed by wins in two of the last three races, swung the title to Romero, 667 v 574 for Rice. Romero was the AMA Grand National Champion. For 1971, Gene repeated his second place finish at Daytona, again behind Dick Mann. Where it started to get interesting was when Triumph informed him that he was going to be racing in an Easter series of races over in England, what came to be known as the Trans-atlantic Match Races. Gene had no interest whatsoever, as he saw it as nothing but a distraction that could possibly jeopardise his chances to repeat as Grand National Champ. Romero: “I was told that I wouldn’t be a Triumph rider anymore if I didn’t, so I said ‘okay, I’ll be a privateer’. Peter Thornton was a very nice man, but I called his bluff.” With the knowledge that it was Gene Romero’s team and he had control of almost all of the puzzle pieces after Daytona, Gene was holding all the cards and he knew it. In the end, Triumph blinked and Romero agreed to be paid to attend but not race. It didn’t take long before the wild group of mostly California dirt track racers had figured out that there was an unlimited expense account at The Dorchester, where the team was staying. Gene: “I invited everyone over to my room and we had room service bringing carts of food and drink all through the night.” One can hardly blame Romero for declining to participate, as the concept really was a bit of a stretch. Most of the Americans had zero experience in such conditions and the tracks were all new to them. Jim Rice: “At Oulton Park there was a light drizzle and it was the first time I’d raced in the rain. I let one of the British riders get ahead of me because I didn’t know how fast I could ride in the rain on a twisty road race course. I thought if I could stay somewhat close to him, then I could see approximately how fast I could go. I was thinking ‘how absurd this whole thing is! My lack of ability in those conditions and having such a perfect bike, the best machine available at the time, and I’m trying to learn the basics of adhesion.’ I had to sort of laugh at myself.” Back in the US, 1971 was another season of great competitiveness between the various Triumph and BSA team racers, again with the top four in the season points being Mann, Romero, Rice and Aldana, this time with Dick Mann at the top of the list. John Cooper won the season finale on the new
I DON’T WANT TO HURT ANYBODY, BUT I’VE GOT TO GET THIRD, NO MATTER WHAT. I’M GOING TO GET THIRD OR COME AND SEE ME IN HOSPITAL.
prototype Rocket III that was likely to be the next weapon of choice, but it never came to pass. For 1972, most of the Triumph/bsa riders were told their services were no longer required, the exceptions being 1970 champ Romero (Triumph), and 1971 champ Mann (BSA). However, things were changing fast with the financial situation back in England, and there wasn’t much development going on, other than dry clutches and minor items. Romero was to win the San Jose half-mile, but otherwise he was shut out of the win column, achieving third in the title chase. 1972 had been an era of emerging two-stroke dominance on the road racing circuits and by the following year it was a hopeless situation. Romero claimed one victory in 1973, the San Jose Mile, and Daytona brought nothing but crashes from using old parts, most likely from too many hours of use. A string of engine failures set the mood and an exploding front disc brake on the back straight was the last straw. Danny Macias was in charge of the Triumph team. Gene recalls: “I grabbed him by the shirt and picked him up. I told him: ’if anything like that happens again, and I live through it, I’m going to kick your ass.” Gene’s flat track and TT machinery remained stellar, but it wasn’t enough. Seventh in the GN championship brought Gene’s Triumph years to an end. For 1974 Gene struggled with those early TZ700S (TZ750A) – a terrifying experience at speed – until you learned to accept the death wobble and let the machine have its head. Romero: “The TZ700S and the early TZ750S had rubber band forks and shocks on ’em, but those things were rockets. It just scared the living s*** out of you.” The US team had its usual distractions at the Trans-atlantic Match Races with Kenny Roberts deferential to authority as usual, this time over the use of slick tires. Kenny: “There was Kel Carruthers again, dragging me away, explaining how it would be good if I didn’t start an international incident at every race we went to.” Yamaha-mounted for the entire season, Gene won the Indy Mile and the Ontario 200, securing third in the championship. Shel Thuet had been doing the dirt trackers that year, but for 1975, the flat trackers reverted to being built by the riders, much like Gene’s previous relationship with Triumph. At Daytona in 1975, Gene was informed that his position on the team was in jeopardy, so he rose to the occasion. While Kenny Roberts got the latest monoshock equipment, Romero had to make do with the previous twin shocker. When those ahead either blew up or crashed, it left Gene to nurse home his seizing TZ750 to the finish. Gene Romero had at last won the Daytona 200, which proved to be his final National victory. With the winner’s payout he was able to complete the purchase of a large amount of acreage near his home in San Luis Obispo, which both secured his future and became a financial focus during the later years of his life. At season’s end, Gene was back to being a privateer as Yamaha’s factory efforts were to focus upon Kenny Roberts. Romero: “I phoned up Evel Knievel and said ‘Hey, I need some help, how’s about some sponsoring me, can you help me out?’ It wasn’t a giant amount of money but it helped me to do what I needed to do. Don Vesco had some other support at the time and there was no conflict. I rode for Evel in 1976 and then I had Ocean Pacific sun wear.” Romero was reunited with Rob North, who now lived in the San Diego area, working as a fabricator for Vesco. Don Vesco’s TZ750 was likely as good as any privateer bike in the paddock, and with Gene preparing his own flat trackers, he was to take 10th in the season points. In 1977, Romero raced in one of the stranger events in memory, the Long Beach Grand Prix AMA race. Gene: “That place was like racing in a tunnel, cement on both sides of you and needless to say, there were no hay bales. The part you had to overcome was the part where you came out of the hairpin on to the Shoreline straight, you’d just keep banging off gears. You couldn’t see that far ahead of you and I was just hoping that nobody would be stopped… that’s one thing I recall vividly. It took a while to get adjusted to where you could hammer it in top gear. These guys now would probably have a hard time going around that track in a rental car.” Leading with his TZ750 over Skip Aksland’s TZ750 and Barry Sheene’s World Championship winning RG500 Suzuki, he overcooked the braking zone in the first turn and ended up down the Ocean Boulevard
escape road, recovering to finish second behind winner Aksland. A highlight of the following years was when Gene swept the final two races at Oulton Park at the 1979 Trans-atlantic Match Races, helping the US team secure the team championship. These were the last major race victories of his long career. 1981 was his last year of competitive riding, and he took over the running of the Honda dirt track racing team the following year, which became a huge success during his tenure. Gene always wanted to race cars, his room-mate being the USAC great Jimmy Caruthers. Romero realised that he was making more money racing bikes than Caruthers was making racing Indy cars, which, as much as anything, kept Gene on the two-wheeled side of the program. He practiced with a Plymouth Superbird at Pocono in 1970, and tried to qualify at Charlotte, missing the cut by five thousandths of a second. At the 1971 Questor Grand Prix, Gene was there for the first appearance of Formula One cars in California since 1960. He was, as he once told me, “a car guy who just thought he was a bike guy”. For much of the past 30 years, AMA flat track racing was best described as being on life support in the western United States. Romero stepped into that void with The Gene Romero West Coast Flat Track Series, keeping the sport alive through that difficult era. Gene once noted to me how when you looked at the grandstands, most of the attendees had grey hair. It was an astute observation that thhis was no longer a sport wwith a young enthusiastic auudience, but more of a nnostalgia event. That began to change in the past ddecade, with a resurgence oof interest in AMA flat ttrack and TT racing, along with a decent TV package to attract new fans. I think it is unlikely that this could have been the case without Gene’s efforts to keepke the sport alive through those lean years. The AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame was created in 1998, and Gene Romero was among the first year’s inductees. On the West Coast, the Trailblazers decided that the Dick Hammer Award, their highest honour, would become an annual award (the first being given to Dick Hammer in 2000). In 2001 the Hammer Award was given to Gene Romero. In 2017, I was approached by the Huntington Beach Concours d’elegance, who were honouring Triumph Motorcycles and wanted to use my photography for promotional purposes. I searched my archives for a Gene Romero/rob North Trident, which then became the basis of the promotional poster, which also featured a photo of a youthful Gene Romero. There was really no other choice for a Californian to make. More recently, Gene struggled with health issues and pushed himself too hard while attending an event at Glen Helen raceway. Subsequent to that, Gene told me he was saving up his strength to be at the April Trailblazers Banquet and bike show in Carson, California, where they were honouring his friend and fellow race promoter Chris Agajanian (from the famous Ascot Park family of race promoters and entrants). Romero was there along with David Aldana, Don Emde, Kenny Roberts, Kel Carruthers and many of their contemporaries. Soon after, Gene was diagnosed as suffering from pneumonia and his left lung collapsed. When things took a turn for the worse, it was discovered that he also had an aggressive form of prostate cancer. Sadly, that was the end of his long successful road and Gene Romero died on May 12, 2019 at the age of 71.