The Cobra Beginning
Bud Maimone, who owned a tool and die shop, raced with his son Brent in the fledgling 50cc class during the early 1990s. In those days there was no out-of-the-crate solution for purchasing a race bike. The class was made up of highly modified recreational models, and Bud got tired of seeing bikes breaking and kids being heartbroken after all the money and effort that went into race preparation. After trying to convince several manufacturers to produce a race-ready bike, Bud finally took the plunge himself when all of his avenues were exhausted. What resulted was a dynamite little bike that won its first Loretta Lynn’s AMA championship in its debut outing the summer of 1994. That win was not without controversy, as some didn’t believe that Cobra had built the required number of motorcycles required for homologation. However, several months later the title was reinstated, and the march of little yellow bikes had begun!