ALL-ROUND FAST

It all started in a small border town in McAllen, Texas. “My dad, Gary Wise, was a very successful real estate broker, and he loved motorcycles, taking me riding all the time. He was ahead of his time and loved the light two-strokes. All his friends rode the trails on their Harleys and Triumphs, but my dad always had Bultacos, Montesas, or his Kawasaki 238.

“My first bike was a stamped frame CL-90 but my second was an SL-100. That SL-100 was the first bike I raced on, but I got smoked by some guys on these bikes called ‘Pentons’. I got third, behind those Six Day Penton 125s (KTM) that got first and second.

“A few years later my dad opened a Honda dealership in McAllen, Texas. So, at 15 years old, all I did was work at my dad’s Honda shop and rode motorcycles. By now, racing the Honda SL-125 (1972) against the faster and lighter two-strokes was hard, so my dad added the Penton dealership to Honda of McAllen. With the Penton I was able to win most of the races around Texas. In 1974 the AMA had a Texas State Championship Series, and I rode the 250 class on a CR250 Elsinore. Gary Jones, the national champion, was there riding the Can-AM, along with factory Kawasaki rider Jimmy Weinert. Jones and Weinert left after the first three races of the five-race series, but I won two of those first three races at Lockhart and Lake Whitney, and won the