[1][3] He grew up going to races with his father and worked in the family-owned motorcycle dealership in Monterey Park, California, from an early age.
Kretz Jr. rode bikes as a child and began racing at the age of 16 on one of his father's Indian Scouts.
[2] He then went on to win a 50-mile road race at the Santa Ana Naval Blimp Station, riding a Triumph.
[6] By the early 1960s, Kretz and his wife, Elaine, had a daughter and he began to wind down his racing career.
[7][8] September 9, 2013 Kretz died while riding a motorcycle near his home in Sedalia, CO after apparently suffering a heart attack, then swerving off the road .