Goodbye to my Uncle David

I posted this a couple months back about my Uncle, David Kimmey, and his contributions not only to me and my Brother in motorcycling, but to the sport as a whole throughout Florida as a monthly contributor and column writer for Florida's first motorcycle newspaper, County Wheels News.

My Uncle passed away this afternoon at 4:30pm
I just got the call


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Remember and thank a man who worked hard for Florida Motocross

This man spent years going to motocross races throughout Florida and more specifically South Florida writing articles, taking photos, doing interviews and writing race reports for County Wheels News, a Florida wide motorcycling and racing newspaper. The pay was low to non-existent and much of the expense came from his own pocket, but because of his love of motocross racing, he went and took pictures and wrote his stories.
Early on, he always owned some kind of motorcycle or hot rod. Eventually, he got one of his nephews interested in motorcycles and even secretly took him to run a race, on his Yamaha MX1 that he owned at the old Deerfield Florida track. The nephew jacked his ankle in the race and when he came home he was busted by his Mom, but he was hooked on motocross. From that point on, this man and his nephew worked together trying to get him racing. They went through a few bikes trying to keep one going long enough to finish (or even start) a race, until he loaned his nephew the money to buy his first real race bike, a Suzuki TM125.
They worked tirelessly together to prepare for his first race on his new Suzuki, a hare scrambles at the old Amelia Earhart Park in Hialeah, west of Miami. While that race and many subsequent races didn’t go well, they kept trying and working together. Fried pistons, blown out hubs, being run over and getting knocked out didn’t stop them. They went to all the South Florida tracks, Hiatt Cycle Park, Amelia Earhart, Miami-Hollywood, Deerfield and more.
One day during an event at Miami Hollywood, the now RM125 had broken during practice, leaving nothing to race before the races even started, no one likes an early end to the day. The Uncle had recently bought a new Yamaha YZ175 and offered it to his nephew to race, even though he’d hardly ridden it. Everyone was a bit concerned about this, because the 200 Class was designated and considered an “Expert” class and the nephew had only raced the 125 Novice class, and never really ran up front in that! Nevertheless, the nephew switched classes and lined up for his first ever expert class race in a class and on a bike he’d never raced before. The card went sideways and he blasted out a holeshot, his first ever! Everyone was yelling and screaming as he ran up front all day and eventually earned a 3rd overall.
The RM125 was traded in that week and Jim Flippen at Gold Coast Yamaha sold another YZ175.
During all this time, they dragged along his other nephew, the little brother, much younger and not allowed a bike yet, to all these races where he watched, learned, cheered and flagged. Eventually, the younger one became old enough to be allowed his own bike, so his Uncle secretly built a tricked out XR75 and presented it as a Christmas gift. From that point on, he’d hooked the other nephew on motocross
Then two teams were born. The uncle and the older nephew and the Dad and other nephew (and father to both). The uncle patiently taught his brother all about motocross and working on bikes.
It was about this time that Jack Gasman began County Wheels News, Florida’s only motorcycling and motorcycle racing newspaper and the uncle and his brother volunteered to help out taking pictures and writing articles. They never did it for the money, because it hardly covered film and processing, but they did it because they both loved motocross. Throughout the late 70’s and early 80’s, you knew they would all be at all the races all over Florida, especially South Florida covering the races at the previously mentioned tracks as well as Clewiston, Chicken Farm, Diamondback, Pete Scalzo’s traveling circuses and others.
Both boys improved and rose up through the ranks to the upper levels of their classes and then as with many racers, attentions switch to girls and cars and eventually the racing stopped.
But not the uncle.
Even without anyone in the family racing, he continued to attend races in South Florida and was most notably a fixture at RPMC in Homestead, taking photos and writing race articles, he kept going. There was no money in it for him, only his love of the sport and his willingness to spread the gospel of it. He was at every race until hurricane Andrew blew away much of the track, it’s score tower, it’s grandstands and more, eventually shutting RPMC down for good and the new Homestead-Miami Speedway NASCAR track was built on the edge of the property in 1992.
For more than 20 years, this man worked hard for Florida motocross and was a regular contributor in many many ways.

In case you have not figure it out, I am talking about my uncle, and my namesake, David C. Kimmey, who was recently diagnosed with Metastatic Cancer. Over a decade ago, he was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer in which he underwent surgery and was diagnosed cancer free, however over the last few weeks his heath deteriorated while on an overseas cruise. When he came home, he learned that his cancer had not only returned, but spread. He also recently suffered a small “mini-stroke” that has impeded his speech.

As one can imagine, he’s feeling a bit lost and reflective on his past, thinking about and remembering his days of motocross with his brother, Ed Kimmey, and his nephews, Ken and David A. Kimmey (me), the Founder and Owner of CycleLogic Products, the manufacturer of Engine Ice Hi-Performance Coolant

He brought me to the wonderful and crazy sport, and for that I will be eternally grateful



Please also pass this along to other racers and webforums where other past and present Florida racers can see it.