MXA HEROES: FEETS MINERT

Success has many fathers, failure is an orphan. Total victory in any form of human endeavor is rare. For those who excelled against the odds, we have a special name…heroes    Born in Los Angeles on July 17, 1931, Chuck “Feets” Minert was fascinated by the modern machinery of the World War II era?especially airplanes and motorcycles. His first machine was a Whizzer motorbike (basically a Schwinn Excelsior with an engine). A neighborhood friend allowed the 15-year-old to ride his Harley-Davidson around the block in exchange for help washing it on the weekends. That was it! Feets was hooked. He started spending every spare minute at L.A.’s famous LeBard & Underwood motorcycle shop.  “Aub LeBard was the ace off-road rider of the time,” says Feets. “He won the Big Bear Run three years straight. He took me under his wing and taught me how to ride.” It was also at LeBard & Underwood that Chuck Minert became “Feets” Minert. “I was a skinny little kid who wore these big, size 12 logger boots,” says Feets. “Jim Underwood took one look at my boots and said, ?My gosh, look at that boy’s feet!’ From then on, everyone called me Feets. I really don’t use the nickname, but that’s what a lot of people know me by.”  In 1946, at 16-years-old, Minert bought his first true motorcycle, a 1946 AJS 350. He lied about his age, got a job delivering blueprints all around Los Angeles, saved his money, and bought a war surplus Indian Scout. He entered his first race in 1947 (riding the Scout to the race, racing it and then riding it home).  By 1948, Feets Minert was winning local events, by the age of 18 he turned pro, and at 19 he raced the Daytona road race (when the race was still held on the beach). In 1951, he finished second at the Catalina GP and got his first sponsored BSA ride. He was on the road to stardom, but his rise to fame was interrupted by the Korean War. Yet, even while stationed overseas, Feets kept racing, using borrowed bikes to win races in Japan and Guam. When his tour of duty in the SeaBees ended, he came back to racing with a vengeance.  The Catalina Grand Prix was the most important off-road race in America in the 1950s. It was a 100-mile race held on Santa Catalina Island off the coast of California. The ten-mile course was a mixture of dirt road, fire trails, singletrack and, amazingly, a golf course. Feets won it in 1956 in the closest race in Catalina history.  By the late 1960s, scrambles gave way to motocross and Feets went to Europe to improve his skills. When the Trans-AMA Series started in 1970, Feets was part of the omnipotent factory BSA team. He was immortalized in the movie “On Any Sunday” by taking a face full of roost at Saddleback. At that point, Feets was in his 40s. He was one of the few riders to ever score National points in both AMA Motocross and AMA Grand National races.  Feets continued to race professionally until he was 50 years old, but he never retired. He still races every weekend, and on weekdays the 75-year-old AMA Hall of Famer flies his aerobatic plane for fun. He is truly an American motocross hero.