Shell Thuet The Man Behind The Winning Yamaha's

[@FrankBonessa]

Excellent video. When men were men and bikes were raw and simple. Always loved the 650 Yamaha twin. The engine always looked and sounded wonderful.

[@rcknrllrog]

And unlike say a Triumph or BSA it didn't drip oil all over your garage floor. I guess those British engineers just didn't believe oil was supposed to stay inside the engine.

[@philthome1303]

The best 8 1/2 minute education I’ve seen in awhile. Learned a lot. Like reading a book with pictures and groovy music in the background. 🎵👍😊

[@rcknrllrog]

Thanks for the kind words.

[@bbivens8263]

Yep. Great video! Great music too. The very best riders. Always been a Kenny Roberts fan too.

[@bbivens8263]

I remember an AMA flattrack race at the Louisville Downs 1/2 mile track in Kentucky back in 1978. All XR750 Harley`s except for one Yamaha. I don`t know who was riding it, but he could really outdo them on the corners, just didn`t have quite enough on the straights. We were all standing and yelling for the Yamaha, it was a battle to the end in the heat race. Swapping the lead on every corner and every straight. The best race of the whole night! I think he made it to the Main, but the Harley`s had him overpowered. Great race!

[@williamvandekieft591]

A incredible contribution to American Motorcycle Racing!

[@rcknrllrog]

Yes, Shell was quite a guy.

[@mikeskidmore6754]

I see both the shifter and the rear brake on the right side of the XS-650-750 Yamaha

[@RonRussell-sj1zf]

Thanks for doing this, I was a KR fan in the '70s/80s and I saw him race that Shell Yamaha here in the Midwest. Had forgotten about Shell, but as soon as I saw his name I remembered who he was, thanks again.

[@rcknrllrog]

Yeah, Shell was a one of kind and that team they had back then with Kenny Roberts, Don Castro and others was very tough to beat

[@tommccallan8802]

OK.. you guys might be the one's I need answers from..I started going to flat track races 1965 (thanks dad)...I loved the British bikes , Harleys, not so much , , the Triumphs ,BSA's , Nortons, started to dominate...then Harley rebuilt the KR to a lighter faster XR ..when other manufacturers build a AMA legal racer..Yamaha, Honda (1983) and they win Kick ass..then for some reason thy are gone..AMA made Honda cut air intake..so they left...Question has Harley had a hand in getting rules changed for their benefit? All those years

[@rcknrllrog]

@@tommccallan8802 Oh yeah, Harley was very involved in the rules and did all sorts of lobbying to make the other makers suffer with various restrictions where they could do pretty much whatever they wanted. The real big change came from a weekend warrior guy in Southern California who took a stock Kawasaki Ninja 650 and built a flat track frame around that engine. The Harley's couldn't keep up with the high revving Kawi and since it was basically a stock engine the guy was using the AMA had nowhere to go regarding restrictions and Harley saw nothing but a rear wheel pulling away each and every race. Then when Indian jumped into the mix a whole new era began. Now, Yamaha is back in the game with their race version of the MT street bike and Estenson Racing has had some great success with their Yamaha powered campaigns in both the singles and the super twin classes.

[@tommccallan8802]

@@rcknrllrog thank you very much for that that answers a lot of my questions I always knew Harley was into something to make their product the best product thanks for the feedback thank you again

[@rcknrllrog]

@@tommccallan8802 Not a problem man, A great flat track resource is Vintage Flat Track and their web site is www.vft.org

[@tylersearles6130]

I just bought a Shell framer. Are you from out west? I found my frame on Dennis’ site and it was sold to S&K Yamaha in Red Bluff ca. in Jan of 78. Yz250. If anyone has info or pics of it racing I’d appreciate it.

[@rcknrllrog]

I saw that Yamaha on VFT. I grew up in California but live up in Washington state now and my experience and knowledge of the whole flat track thing from the 70's is as a spectator not as a racer. I just love that Yamaha XS650 and Shell's bikes took that power plant to the limit for sure. unfortunately I do not have any photos of other racers bikes but I wish you luck in your search for those.

[@tylersearles6130]

@@rcknrllrog Thanks boss! If you find someone with old race photos let me know. I’ll make a few posts about it in the groups and see what someone knows.

[@jhmonthetube6339]

This 8 minute video is 4 minutes too long…