John Kocinski, 2015 AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame Inductee

First of all, thank you. It’s an honor to be here. I would like to take this chance to tell a short story that really, I would say, will link infrastructure on why I am able to be here tonight to speak to everyone.

Back in 1982, my father and I loaded up my roadracing bike and headed to Daytona, Florida, for the opening round of racing. Of course, I was just an amateur then, but the most important thing about being there was, I'd seen a Yamaha truck so I walked over to see what kind of bikes were there and who was there.

There was a Yamaha TZ250 in the traditional Yamaha yellow, white, and black colors. The bike was absolutely stunning, but what was amazing was watching this fellow work on this bike. I was just mesmerized by him.

Throughout the weekend, I kept making trips back and forth to watch him. At one point, I thought, “Wow, the guy is probably going to throw me out or ask me why I keep coming back.” Eventually, he said hello. I introduced myself, and he said he was Bud Aksland.

I won the amateur race, but I had a couple of things that were troubling. Firstly, I didn't know how I would see him again—if I would see him again—just due to the fact that I lived far away and he was working for Yamaha. It seemed like an almost impossible thing to happen.

Three years later, I was doing some endurance racing for a team, and the team owner said he had gotten hold of a motorcycle from Yamaha, a TZ250. They brought it to the endurance races, and I saw the bike. The first moment I saw it I recognized the exhaust pipes. I said to him, “I’d like to race that bike.” Unfortunately, I just didn’t tell him it was going to be at a national level.

With son John looking on, three-time AMA and two-time World Champion John Kocinski recounted the special bond he enjoyed with tuner Bud Aksland.

I got the bike, took it home, and as a 17-year-old kid, disassembled this bike and reassembled it and tried to check everything as well as I could with the amount of experience I had. We took the bike to our first national at Mid-Ohio.

I finished fourth place there, but the biggest thing about that national was, in the practice line, there was a fellow in front of me. He had the name “Aksland” on the back of his leather suit. I thought, “Wow, I don’t think he races.”

After the practice, I wandered around until I found him. I saw this skinny kid working on this bike. I immediately introduced myself, and he said he was Chuck Aksland. I asked him, “You wouldn’t happen to know a Bud Aksland, would you?” He said it was his dad.

At the second national in Brainerd, Minnesota, in 1985, I won the national. It was big accomplishment for me, just knowing that the things I thought were critical to have in 1982 … I guess I had part of it. I had the bike, but, of course, Bud wasn’t there. But that didn’t stop me from believing that one day I could hopefully rise to a situation to be able to work with him.

I made friends with Chuck and we stayed in contact. The following year he invited me out to ride at his place. Of course, I jumped at that opportunity and went out there. While I was there, Chuck actually drove me to the ranch of Kenny Roberts.

I met Kenny for the first time, and at that point, I just tried to sell myself to him and tell him that, basically, I needed some motorcycles to be able to race in in 1987. Lucky enough, I guess he bought the sales pitch. I think he organized a team about three days before the race, and off we went in a box van.

Nobby Clark was supposed to be the chief mechanic for me. We got a call that he had some trouble with the visa and he wasn’t going to make it. The next thing I know, there was a phone call and Bud Aksland was on his way.

On stage in Orlando, John Kocinski received his AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame ring from legendary Grand Prix mechanic Derek "Nobby" Clark (left).

I couldn’t believe it. It was like a dream. I just remember walking up the practice for the first round of qualifying and it was myself in those leathers—it wasn’t Jimmy Filice. Everything I witnessed at 12 years old was actually happening.

What led from there was basically three straight championships, which set us up for our greatest challenge in basically my whole racing career as well as one of my greatest accomplishments, which was the 250 world championship.

Unfortunately, there were a few reasons why that was destined to fail. Firstly, Yamaha was zero for three in attempts to beat Honda.

The second reason would be, it was the first time I had ever ridden on Michelin tires, and those of us that have been there and ridden and tried to make that transition from any other tire other than Michelin know you spend the first half of your career on the ground.

And the third and final thing, I’d never been to Europe and seen any of the racetracks. It seemed like it was really impossible.

So we started out and we just jabbed at it for most of the season. It was amazing that just past the halfway point we had built up a big lead. Unfortunately, with my inexperience with the Michelins and not having the right chassis setup, I started crashing a few times, which really set us back.

In England, I crashed for the third or fourth time. Of course, Kenny wasn’t very happy. I’ll just call it he used a bit of ranch language. Amazing thing was, when I got back to the motorhome, Bud Aksland came down and he said, “Don’t listen to him—any of those people. Just keep doing what you do best,” that he would make the bike better.

So we carried on, and eventually we won the championship. And it was a highlight of my career and something I’m very proud of. Unfortunately, a month after winning that championship, I was in Japan at a meeting and I had gotten some tragic news that Kenny was going to pull the plug on the whole 250 program.

It was devastating because I wanted to go back the following year to try and win again. But also I wouldn’t be working with Bud Aksland anymore. There was probably a time in my life where I realized that racing changed for me and became more like a job. But I just had to do it. I felt what Bud would be most proud of was just soldier on.

Seen here at Perris Raceway in Southern California, Kocinski is astride the air-cooled Honda two-stroke that Bud Aksland and Andy Bondio helped develop into a current race winner.

Twenty-one years later in 2011, I wanted to do a project and build a two-stroke flat-track bike. Of course the first person that I called—because I knew the engine would need some attention, especially trying to compete against modern-day technology—was Bud.

The conversation was short and brief, but I was able to pull the four words that I wanted to hear the most. He said, “Send me an engine.”

What has transpired since that is over 40 short-track wins, a track record at Perris Raceway in Southern California, as well as my latest goal, winning the Springfield short-track. I can’t really thank him enough for everything that he has done for me, but he’s truly larger than life.

I’d like to thank AMA for providing me a world-class federation that allowed me to hone my skills, first as an amateur, then a professional, and, of course, on to a world level. I’d like to thank everybody involved in putting this hall of fame together. It’s absolutely amazing, and I feel honored to be here.

I’d like to thank my family, mom and dad, especially for driving all the miles and just supporting me. As we all know, families typically take a real beating going through this process. It’s all in fun, but still they sacrifice a lot of things. I just want to thank them for that.

I want to thank Chuck Aksland. I thought to myself, if the Golden Gate Bridge, being a big international landmark, Chuck was definitely my Golden Gate Bridge. He did a lot for me, and without him, I never would have made it to the destination that I always wanted.

I just wanted to be with his dad. I knew with Bud that anything would be possible.

In closing, I would just like to thank everybody here tonight for being here to celebrate a special moment for not only myself, my dad, some people from Arkansas, Paul Covert, and especially my son, John. Thank you guys very much.