Shell Thuet

I got an email from Ed Kretz Jr. yesterday letting me know that Shell Thuet had passed away on Friday. Shell was one of the all-time legendary tuners of the AMA Grand Nationals. He tuned for dozens of riders over the years, starting all the way back in the 1930s.

Kenny Roberts, Eddie Lawson and Wayne Rainey all got their start in the pro ranks on bikes built by Shell. They all would go on to become world champs.

I interviewed Shell in 2003. I pulled up to his house and shop out in the desert on the outskirts of Victorville, California. His place was on the edge of town. Across the street was the desert slope that rose up to the San Bernardino Mountains. The view from Shell’s place was amazing. It must have been 90 degrees on a perfectly sunny day I went to see him, yet there was still snow on the mountaintops. The sky was deep blue at the nearly 3000-foot elevation.

Shell was over 90 years old when I went to interview him, yet he was still working nearly everyday in his shop building race motors. He enjoyed working, but I think he would have rather been taking it easy at that point in his life. Unfortunately Shell’s wife Maggie was having health issues and Shell needed to keep working so he could have a caretaker come out and look after Maggie. I got the impression that he was very dedicated to her and would do whatever it took to make her as comfortable as possible.

Shell wasn’t the easiest of interviews. Through the years he let his motors do the talking for him and wasn’t much on boasting about his career. Still I had a great afternoon hanging out with Shell. His eyes lit up and the memoires flowed as we went through his old photo albums filled with the riders he’d tuned for over the years.

Here’s a short audio clip from that interview with Shell. Keep in mind when he talks about Kenny Roberts having a “big head” here he had a smile on his face when he said it. You could tell he was proud of his association with Roberts.

Click below for interview.