Posts
299
Joined
12/18/2009
Location
All Over, MI
US
Edited Date/Time
10/12/2020 1:40pm
Man - these guys were the gods to us on 60's and 80's back in the 70's. can't believe how we idolized them when we were younger , it was like the goal to beat one of them in mi back in the day, kinda like factory vs privateer when we were 8 - those friggin red shirts w the star graphic - hated it but wanted one sooooo bad haaa- - a lot of pro's were bred here. -
curious what ever happened to and who owned it? were these kids ever paid?
curious what ever happened to and who owned it? were these kids ever paid?
That pic was from a FLMX race back in the summer of 2010.. +30A class
The Shop
Seems like it was yesterday.
Look how skinny Ernie is ....... I may get punched for that one.
The relationship between the "Michigan Mafia" and "Team Dynamic" is that all fast Michigan riders were a part of the "Michigan Mafia", but "Team Dynamic" was only the riders who were sponsored by our relatively small Yamaha dealership in Troy, Michigan.
Those " friggin red shirts w the star graphic" mentioned in the first post of this topic were highly respected because they were a symbol of achievement. -You couldn't BUY one, you had to EARN it through your performance at the toughest tracks against the toughest competition. The next time you're at Dutch Sport Park MX in Bloomingdale, MI, you can check out the one that the Akin family has enshrined in their "Shirt Shack".
-And here's a pic of a shirt we had made up to commemorate our 4 Amateur National Champions at the first-ever Loretta Lynn's in 1982.
A couple of months later we had to close our doors, partly due to the Carter recession and partly due to my lack of business sense. But that team and those riders are still one of my proudest achievements on this earth. The riders and their families, -what a great bunch of people!
I shouldn't call them "riders" because they were much more than that. -They were "RACERS". -There's a difference!
http://www.cafepress.com/cardreamer/4048472
Ernie too was a "flat tracker" before switching to moto. I'll see if I can grab a pic off his facebook and any other photos.
He and my dad ALWAYS talked about how great it was to be a part of the Dynamic Team. And still do to this day.
He hasn't ridden in about 20yrs now but he recently came to a local race for the first time and it all came flooding back, I'm hoping he gets a bike again soon as I really enjoyed riding with him as he's the one that "groomed" me, although he was ALOT faster than me when in his prime. He had to quit because his new 83' YZ250 was stolen and so he decided to go to college. Got back into racing in 88' (that's when I started too) and then he quit again in about 94' do to having his 2 daughters. He said when they'll done with college he'll get back into it, I'm counting the days cause he only has about a 1 or 2 to go! Fingers crossed! haha
Shortly after the riders from Illinois came down the following year calling themselves the Fast Boys from Illinois FBI.
I started riding for them in 1978-79. You had to wear one of the variety of color jersey's and were considered "support team" I think. Sweet Electro helmet LOL.
1980 Millville amateur nationals. When you earned enough points or cred you got to wear the red/blk/white jersey. Still rocking the Electro but tricked it out with an Iron Jaw face guard.
The "pinnacle" of Team Dynamic. Fire red/ gold with the sweet stars and you were on the "Super Team". Ace Mechanic Steve Ellis built liquid cooled 100cc YZ. A Dynamic Cycle creation.
If and when you got Yamaha support they made you wear yellow/black traditional Yamaha colors. Still had the sun and stars on the jersey and some sweet custom Griff's pants. Loretta's 82, made it on the classic t-shirt in the post above.
Mike Konnors was a hell of guy. He poured his heart and soul into Dynamic Cycle and Team Dynamic. His vision for the team worked and made you have a goal to make your way up the ladder. It was tough to make it to Super Team status and if you did you definitely earned it.
I have not attended an am race in the last 15 years. Does the "local shop" still have a presence at the races?
if anyone has more early mi pics - please post them
MPM....those Sir are some awesome memories. Any time you want to head to a race hit me up. You would find many familiar faces. I am sure you and Bigs would have some stories.
I am sure you remember Action Cycle who tried to do a program very similar to Dynamic but never had the same success.
For many years I worked hard to support both the local scene and some national events with our shops. The economics of that decision were very difficult to make work. I really commend Cernic, Rock River and others that do a great job of support at the races.
Rest assured some of those flat trackers can still haul....even in the trails of northern Michigan. The stories are epic.
So fortunate to have been around and equally fortunate to still be around some of these great guys.
The business concept seemed to make sense. Get the best riders to wear your jersey and represent your shop. Draw in more riders (business) because they believe that the service and advice the team riders were getting would make them better racers. Mike at Dynamic Cycle did a good job at this in an era that a team of this many riders was rare. Most shops had one or two premier riders, Dynamic Cycle had 10-12 in the heyday and a bunch of b, c and novice riders as well. As you mentioned I'm sure you "gave away" plenty of service and goods to support a rider that you had a deal with. You get 10-12 sponsored great riders that deserve some help and it ends up costing you plenty. Not going to speak for Mike but perhaps this might have had something to do with Dynamic Cycle closing it's doors.
I will get to a local race sometime and catch up with the guys. I have also heard of these legendary fall trail rides in northern Michigan that have some of Michigan's best in attendance. I'm sure you all have a good time and turn a few quad riders heads when you all go blowing by.
Pit Row
(front row) Kim Bozik, Gail Wallace, Greg Bowen, Brad Kadau, Aaron Darnell, Danna Wallace.
(back row) Keith Bowen, Lisa Akin, Curt Kadau, Mark McLaren, Scott Korody, Dave Brown, Jim Wolfenbarger.
The fridge at Cobra pays tribute...
I'll work on scanning of the things I found and post them on here. I have a team contract that my parents had to sign in order to race for Team Dynamic. I also found the number plate that Mike made for me for the ad that is posted above(where we are all holding various numbers from both the district 14 standing and our national numbers if we earned one), Maybe Keith could have used an assistant to hold his 5 numbers.
Oh, also found a couple of pictures of Mike himself. I'll work on getting some stuff on here tomorrow.
Thanks for the text Grant.
My dad was at work one day, and noticed a contractor welder with moto stickers on his hood. He struck up a conversation with the guy about how his kids race and the guy went on to tell him he raced Loroco and had a Factory Honda ride as a kid. He turned out to be Aaron Darnell. He's a close family friend now and lives in Mid Michigan. He hasn't raced in probably 10 years, but my older brother was talking shit in about '03 and Aaron raced a mid 90's yz125 and spanked 125B at Baja Acres to take my brother down a peg or two!!! I guess he just told his dad one day, I'm done. Walked away from a factory ride as an amateur and never really looked back.
After Mike Conners had to close the doors at Dynamic Cycle, I stayed on Yamaha's and was racing for Cougar and Hunter out of Flushing Michigan. I think it was my second year with them that they started receiving Honda Support. So...it was actual like a Honda support ride, not a full on factory ride. It was sweet, my dad was buying my 80cc bikes for $600 and then was getting $600 in parts. Awesome, when you think about the cost of racing. Staying competitive meant guys were getting new bikes every year and my parents weren't rich, so that Honda support was huge.
Sadly, my father and I had a conversation one day...he told me I could practice 2 hours day, 5 days a week and then I could race on the weekends or I could quit racing. That is how I remember him putting. I think I was 13 at the time, sadly I chose to quit. No one around my house wanted to ride with me, because they wanted to screw around and was out there to practice hard. So riding by myself wasn't fun and still to this today I hate making that decision. Wish he would have advised me a bit, but he just said okay and I was done.
#42, I think this was my second year on an 80cc bike, not sure what track this is at.
Anyone who raced at Mustang Acres in Brighton will remember this jump on the front straight away after you crossed in front of the start gate. Sweet air jumping uphill. Sad that there is a Home Depot where the track used to be now.
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