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For the youths out there, this is what an actual Husqvarna looks like
Very sad.
I surely wish him the very best. It's such a gnarly disease, and I'm sure it's super rough on a dude like Kent who has a history of being a professional athlete.
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My thoughts are with Kent and the entire Howerton family. Hopefully something like this becomes more prevalent in the very near future.
Was too young to appreciate his great years in the 70’s, but remember the Rhinestone Cowboy on Suzuki and Kawasaki in the 80’s. Positive thoughts to Kent and his family through it all.
Kent's Suzuki was superior to Bob's Yami and that was enough to hate Kent and ultimately BLATANTLY T-BONE him and said he tried to break his Freaken leg! I was there and witnessed it first hand.
Yes I know Bob was one of the all time greats to come from the US and used that type of stuff to fuel him just never really understood it all.
Prayers for Kent. 🙏
Photo courtesy MXA!:
Pit Row
Prayers. He's a class act.
Any updates on Kent?
I always thought that that air cooled RH250 was the best air cooled works bike ever made. And that includes the 500cc Honda RC500s. It took a long time for something to be better than the full floater suzuki's. Howerton made it look good too. I remember reading how Hannah felt that he had a big disadvantage between the two bikes, didn't really mince words. Sorry to hear he has Parkinson's; I hope he has the best possible outcome.
He won the 250 class at my first ever National attended, 1980 Southwick National. Yup, it poured that day. Best wishes to him and family.
Anyone that can handle a 500, let alone like Kent Howerton did is a hero in my book. Wishing Kent all the best in this battle.
If you watch the Massacre at Saddleback, Hannah was not shy when he talked about what an absolute tub his bike was compared to Kent's Suzuki. I think he said there was a 20+ pound difference between the two. As a Suzuki guy, I always thought those RH250s were works of art.
Same here.
Man I sure miss those days. Great tracks, great bikes and riders. Damn.
I ran across an interview with Kent on Youtube a couple weeks ago. It was a recent upload. Didn't have time to watch the entire video. Surprised no one posted it. A cool dude in a cool era.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYkycDr7V2E
One thing you cant deny, he sold a lot of clutch plates!
Kent on the works Full Floater 250cc Suzuki.
Jobe on a twin-shock Suzuki.
Just some observations from someone with Parkinson’s since many people know little about the disease and may be wondering how to interpret the symptoms they are seeing in Kent. Plus I’m always interested to see how others are doing with their symptoms. I feel a certain connection with others who are dealing with this disease.
I don’t see much if any resting tremor, which is something that most people with Parkinson’s have. I don’t have any resting tremor at all. What I have is stiffness and slowed movement, mostly on my left side. It’s impossible to tell how much of that Kent has just by looking at him here. The main thing you’re seeing early in the interview is dyskinesia - unwanted, involuntary movement. This can be a side effect of medication but I don’t think it is in this case because it subsides during the interview. I’m guessing he felt some stress early on and the stress exacerbated his symptoms, and he got more comfortable as it went so his symptoms improved. I experience that to a large extent - stress makes my symptoms much worse. He also may have taken his medication just before the interview and it kicked in during the interview. When my medication wears off sitting still can be difficult - I feel like moving my legs constantly to find a more comfortable position but there is none. Add that to the numbness in my left hand and “off time” - when a dose of levodopa has worn off and the next one hasn’t kicked in - is quite unpleasant. But the medication is like magic - just Looking at me when my medication is working, you’d never know anything is wrong with me. And I feel pretty normal when welll medicated. Unmedicated, I walk stiffly, with a limp and no arm swing on my left side.
I can’t comment on whether Kent’s symptoms are terribly distressing or more of an inconvenience (which is generally how I’d describe mine at this point). Everyone experiences the disease uniquely. Kent appears to be able to converse normally and to me that’s the biggest thing. Parkinson’s can cause dementia and the possibility scares the hell out of me. I look at Muhammad Ali at the end of his life and he couldn’t function normally at all. My neurologist reminds me that I haven’t taken thousands of punches to the head so I may never get that bad. But generally, Parkinson’s isn’t like ALS, which will quickly severely disable and kill you in 5 years or so. Parkinson’s develops over decades and many of us maintain a good quality of life into old age. If you see one of us shaking, moving slowly, or wiggling around awkwardly in our chair, don’t feel sorry for us. We don’t want pity. I don’t feel sorry for myself or for Kent. He’s living his life and will likely continue to do so for years. You adapt and move forward. I still ride - more slowly and cautiously. I do boxing training to keep my coordination as sharp as possible. I hope Kent is exercising and engaging in movements that keep the brain wired for movement. That’s the only thing proven to slow disease progression. I’m 53 and started noticing symptoms 5 years ago with a diagnosis a year and a half ago. Kent is 70 and was diagnosed over 5 years ago so his disease is likely more advanced than mine. But as a Parkinson’s patient you know it’s only going to get worse so given time mine will be more advanced too. Until then I’ll keep riding and enjoying doing what I want to do. I’m not done enjoying life just yet and I hope Kent can say that too, whatever that looks like for him.
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