J.A.W. said:
V for vertical [with slight forward lean]?
The VR stood for Vintage Rebuilders, Before he was Norton America, Kenny along with my friend Gary Lindquist (aka: Mr Linky) and "Shaky Jake" Schonecker started Vintage rebuilders in Kennys horse barn.
When I first met Kenny he was the service mgr at Portland Honda. My buddy Tom who ran Western Cycle was good friends with the owner of Portland Honda and always said,,, "Why dont you fire that guy? he's an A**hole!" The owner always refused,, "You may be right, but he works really really hard" So years later, Kenny finally left Portland Honda and stopped bikes altogether, He became a Farrier,, shoeing horses if you didnt know what a farrier does, But he still worked on bikes from time to time in one of the Horse stalls of his barn. Mr Linky had a very large machine and fab business, and had little time to work on his bike collection, So he funded and provided the logistics to start Vintage rebuilders, Shaky Jake joined up and all 3 were in business.
Eventually, Kenny wanted to go exclusively Norton with a side business with Ducatis (another passion of his) I bought out Mr Linkys part of the business (pretty much all the Non Commando stuff), Jake went his own way, and Eventually,, Kenny started getting recognition nationally, in no small part with the help of a crazy Californian who is now a well known TV celebrity, along came Cycle World, then finally Kennys biggest Investor Ollie.. the rest is history.
So, my good friend Tom, Remember Tom? the story was partially about Tom calling Kenny a A**hole.. well Tom R.I.P but he was kind of rough around the edges but a cool guy in my book, So Tom approached Kenny one day at the height of the Norton America gig, and told him,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
"Kenny, I have always thought you were an A**hole, but by God, you are OUR A**hhole, you have done an amazing job, and I want you to know I'm really proud of you and everything you have done, but I still think you are a A**hole"
Kenny paused, shook his head,, and responded,, "Well, jeez Tom, I think thats a compliment,, so i guess Thank you"
So, Kenny still owns the Vintage Rebuilders name, and its large and proud on his 7 second drag bike, soon to go into the 6s, So, thats where the VR initials come in.
So just like Andy Rooney always closed with.... do you know the quote?
