By Dean Adams
King Kenny Roberts has never been a huge enthusiast of signing autographs. He’ll do it, of course, but would rather shake hands and say hello than sign his name a million times in an afternoon.
Roberts was signing autographs at the San Jose Mile dirt track race in 1977, and a small crowd of fans surrounded him. It’s at that exact moment that if Roberts had decided to start shaking hands that he could have greeted the future.
In front of Roberts on that day, among the fans, was an 11 year old boy in a Star Wars t-shirt. He was already a racer and would go on to become a star dirt track rider, three time Superbike champion, WSBK race winner and Yamaha/Suzuki and Cagiva GP rider. He even rode for Team Roberts Yamaha one season.
Standing in front of Roberts that day in ’77 was 11 year old Doug Chandler.
