Gerald Lee Friehauf

Harold Mantooth

01/15/2026

Met Jerry in Summer 1973 Sembach AFB Germany he was very friendly (had a head of hair) and I had just arrived. Turns out our fathers worked together. We were on our way to our first football practice, and we stopped off at his house so he could get his pads on, he played Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon and it was the most wonderful thing I’d ever heard.
Fred Barsch another man our fathers worked with dabbled in motto cross. In just a few months we joined a German Sports-ring (what they called it) and Jerry and I had identical 250 cc 72 Bultaco’s and we practiced enough to figure ourselves race ready. Jerry was incredibly good but not because he had an extreme exercise program, a better motorcycle, or a great teacher. Jerry was a great rider because he loved it. When he got on the motorcycle he believed there was nothing going to stop him from winning. He got on it, took a piece of wire, turned on the throttle and it stayed there until the race was over. I ate more dirt, pebbles, mud and even snow from his rear tire than one could Imagine. Jerry didn’t ride on the edge, he rode over the edge. We traveled all over Germany racing the Germans and saw things that only another person standing there would be able to understand. Jerry continued racing in California winning all the races and eventually hurt his back and that was the end of that chapter of his life.
We graduated HS Jan 1976 and with another friend (three of us) we boarded a train in Germany and spent 7 nights in a mountain side ski lodge in the most beautiful ski slopes in Switzerland and what did we do: we all raced down the mountain every time; I laughed all the way down the mountain.
In the Military friends separate and I caught up again Oct 29, 2025, in Des Moines, Iowa and my wife and I sat and talked with him for a while, and he introduced us to Tammy. Tammy was very accommodating, most of all she was keeping an eye on Jerry; Tammy, I am positive he appreciated that so much. The night I met up with them was the 29th and I hadn’t realized it then but that was Jerry’s motorcycle number 29. This meeting was the first time we had seen each other in exactly 50 years.
Peggy, I’m sorry for your loss of your brother. Your family so much mirrored my family, and you too are one of a few people in this world that got to have the experiences few will get to have. I wish the best for you and I’m here in Fort Worth in the phonebook if you need anything. I hope you are well and have had a great life…..
To Jerry’s family and children and grandchildren if you ever wonder about your grandfather give me a call and I will fill you in on his 14 – 17 yrs. He was a funny guy in those years and was always entertaining. You’d be surprised but he didn’t use a telephone or watch TV in those years; it was so easy to do.
So, it’s my prayer that Jerry took Jesus’s hand and is now preparing for the day we kick over our bikes and once again dice it out. Love RED