Kenny Roberts TZ750 Dirt Tracker
On August 23, 1975, Kenny Roberts threw a leg over the Yamaha TZ750 for the first time. The motorcycle-- a dirt tracker with a fierce two-stroke, 750cc GP engine shoehorned into the frame-- was, according to Roberts, "... the worst handling bike I ever rode." Later that day, Roberts raced like a madman, bouncing off the hay bales, hitting up to 150 mph on the straights, and eventually winning the Indy Mile by half a bike length.
"They don't pay me enough to ride that thing," he later said of the beastly TZ750, but Yamaha Corp. has persuaded the 57 year-old to run hot laps on the bike at this year's Indy Mile.