Name/Title
Tolbert, KennyEntry/Object ID
460Description
Kenny Tolbert is a legendary tuner in AMA Grand National history, a guy who built and developed the motorcycles that carried AMA Motorcycle Hall of Famer Chris Carr and Jared Mees to an astonishing 11 AMA Grand National Championships and 121 Grand National wins. His engines have also claimed an additional six 600cc AMA Championships and 31 AMA 600cc wins since 1988. Both championship and win tallies are second place all-time behind fellow Hall of Famer Bill Werner (13 championships and 149 wins).
Born in 1957 in Dallas, Texas, Tolbert started his amateur racing career at age 14, going Expert in 1983 and eventually earning National Number 16. He’d been building his own racing equipment, was signed by team owner Tex Peel to assist with Hall of Famer Ricky Graham’s bikes.
In 1988, the Harley-Davidson racing department hired Tolbert as an outside contractor, teaming him up with Hall of Famer Chris Carr on the Harley-Davidson factory team — a partnership that would continue for more than 20 years. “We started working together when I was 21 and he was 31,” said Carr, “so we grew and learned in step with each other, and that’s a rare relationship, especially in flat track. That relationship not only carried through racing, but away from the track. We became great friends.”
Carr and Tolbert won their first Grand National Championship together in 1992, and they went on to win six more together in 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005. In the split to the 600cc championship, the two additionally won six more championships on brands like KTM, Vorr and Rotax, a testimony to Tolbert’s exceptional ability to create superior racebikes for champions.
When Carr decided to make two runs at landspeed records at the Bonneville Salt Flats, Tolbert went along as a consultant. “I was working with a crew I hadn’t worked with before,” Carr said, “and [Tolbert] came along to ease my mind.”
After some time off, in 2013 Tolbert received a call from Jared Mees, asking him to join the Rogers Racing Team. Mees had already won his first Grand National Championship and was excited to have the already-legendary tuner on his team. “I wanted to work with Kenny…years back,” Mees said in a Rogers Racing release, “but it didn’t work out back then. I’m just so happy knowing Kenny Tolbert is going to be my mechanic. I couldn’t get a better guy than him.”
In 2015, the Tolbert-built XR750 ridden by Mees claimed the 37th — and likely last — National Championship for the legendary XR750.
Mees and Tolbert worked together running Harleys until 2016, then Indian asked the duo to be part of an Indian race team and to also help develop its new FTR750 flat tracker. That motorcycle has come to dominate American Flat Track since its introduction in 2017.
“This bike made everyone in the sport step up the game,” Tolbert said. “Privateers can be a greater force and all the other brands are stepping up their game. I’m really happy this opened up another chapter in my life.”
Since 2013, Tolbert and Mees have won four Grand National championships and more than 40 Nationals together.
“Kenny has been a huge part of my career and success,” said five-time Grand National Champion Mees. “We started together in 2013 and we’ve won four championships together and had over 40 wins. Kenny always has a great, positive attitude and is a lot of fun to be around. I wouldn’t be where I’m at if it wasn’t for Kenny!”
Although Tolbert has worked as an independent contractor for both Harley-Davidson and Indian in his career, Carr points out that Tolbert accomplished everything all while working out of his two-car garage and, later, a shop he built in Texas. “He’s been an independent contractor his entire life,” Carr said, “and he didn’t work at a race shop or for a major company. He did all this through hard work. He was an H-D tuner at one time and he’s an Indian tuner today, but the reality is he’s doing it all independently at home.”
Beyond the number of wins and championships, people in the flat track paddock say it’s his passion for the sport and his attitude that make him stand out. “He’s the most universally liked and respected tuner in the pits,” Carr said, and that — along with a long list of accomplishments — makes Tolbert a legend and true ambassador for the sport.”Relationships
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Tolbert, Kenny