For most of his motorcycling life, Al Brotz has spent the majority of his time looking through a slight haze of 2-stroke exhaust.
His first bike, at the age of 14, was a used 80cc 1966 Yamaha YG-1. Al and his brother chipped in to buy the little 2-stroke, which ran, but needed some work. Al was excited, his brother, less so. “He rode it once, and then sold his half to me,” Al laughs, adding, “Me? I was hooked.”
King of the field
There was a 40-acre field behind the Brotz family home in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. In the future, it would be developed and a Catholic high school would occupy the site, but at the time, the dirt became a different kind of learning ground as local teens congregated…