I've spoke of Bob before and I finally had the chance to meet with him last month. He is truly a gentleman and a nice guy. We spoke for hours and he showed us around his machine shop. He told us some great stories to include one that still blows my mind. When Bob was a Yellow Jacket in the late 40s he lived down in the Wilmington area. For those of you not familiar with Los Angeles, it lies on the south west portion of this giant spread out city. Bob used to ride his VL, the one pictured above, to the San Fernando Valley. The Valley at the time was mostly agricultural, so it was like a day in the country. Now this may not seem like a big feat, but the kicker is this. He rode across the city without using any roads! Even in the 40s Los Angeles was pretty built up so this was quite a trip. As I drive around the city on a day to day basis, I look around and I'm amazed. As you may have already guessed, I amaze easily. Bob showed us his original helmet he used for racing. It was painted by a young fellow named Von Dutch. Bob could only afford a few bucks for the paint job, so he had to pass on the flying eyeball Dutch was known for. Bob decided to paint his own, so he painted a running eyeball on the helmet. Now all you low moral characters out there don't get any ideas. I made sure Bob knew the value of the helmet!
