Southern Swing #2

 This year's AHRMA race at Barber was very different than the past as the 'Vintage Festival' was canceled because of Covid-19, though racing continued.  So, there was no swap meet, Wall of Death, Ace Cafe, AMCA or VJMC club meets, etc., and nominally, no spectators.  Because of this, entry was way down from years past.  Many people who entered didn't show up because the forecast was for rain all weekend as a hurricane approached.  Then, many of those that did come ended up not racing because of the heavy rain, meaning grids were very thin.

I arrived at Barber Thurs. mid day with my 250 and 350 H-D Aermacchi Sprints.  The 350 I had crashed at Carolina M/S Pk. in Sept., and tore up the fairing, among other damage.  I left the fairing with Sakis Vasilopoulos who said he would repair it and deliver it to Barber.  So, after setting up my pit, I collected the fairing from Sakis, who did a beautiful job on it, including painting it and even making numbers.  But, he had filled all the mounting bracket holes, saying that they were oval from wear.  So, it meant fitting the fairing from scratch, then mounting a windscreen, which I did with the help of Dick Miles.  Fortunately, Thurs., was a beautiful day.

Friday dawned raining, as promised, and I set about practicing on both bikes.  My 250 had ancient and very worn Dunlop tires, the ones that are no longer made, and which don't have the best reputation in the wet, but are my preferred tires in the dry.  So, I was very cautious on it, both because I didn't trust the tires and because I didn't want to put any unnecessary wear on them.  I've long had a problem with the carb on my 350 sticking, especially when rolling the throttle of gradually.  The slide snaps right down when the engine isn't running but, when running, the slide tends to hang up unless one snaps the throttle shut.  The carb got packed with dirt in the crash at Kershaw, and it took me a long while to even get it out of the body.  Now, it the rain, the problem seemed noticeably worse.  After one session, I took the slide out to see if I could polish it to improve the situation.  Al Hollingsworth happened to come along and said that he might have a slide in better shape.  The slides are brass, plated with chrome(?) and the plating on my slide was almost completely worn away.  Al's was used, but much less worn and he loaned it to me and that completely cured the sticking issue.  The rain let up some in the afternoon and a dry line started to develop, but I didn't bother to go out any more as the forecast was for heavy rain Sat., and I didn't figure that I learn anything in the dry and just wear out the tires more.

Sat., I was first up in race #4, with 250GP in front of Novice Historic Production Lightweight in the first wave and Formula 125 and Pre 40 in the second.  Just three of the seven 250GP entrants started and 16 of the 27 overall entrants.  Craig Light on his Bultaco 'Metralla' immediately went into the lead.  I had just met Craig at the USCRA Moto Giro in August, where he rode a Bultaco Lobito 175 then, the next weekend, he was at CMP with the Metralla.  His backround is in MX and enduros and he only started road racing last year and apparently, he had never road raced in the rain.  And it was really raining, but I wasn't willing to go at his pace and he pulled away and then Colton Roberts, Jonas Stein and Joe Koury came by on their F-125 bikes for the second wave.  Colton got by Craig for the overall win and I was a distant 5th overall and 2nd (of three) in the class.

This is from Saturday's 250GP (I think)before the Kourys, father and son, passed me. Father #951 finished ahead of me, son #357 didn't finish. I don't know who took the photo as someone sent it to me after finding it on the internet.

The 350GP was in race #7 gridded behind 350 Sportsman and ahead of Novice Historic Production Heavyweight, all in one wave.  Five of the ten 350GP entrants, and 13 of the 24 overall entrants started.  Jerry Duke led the 350GP and the overall on his Ducati.  Eric Cook slotted into 2nd O.A. on his 350 Sportsman bike.  I was third overall initially, but on the 3rd lap, Craig Light came by on his 250 Metralla.  I was trying to hang with Craig, but he was pulling away.  Then my ignition coil fell off and I came to a stop.  I was credited with 11th overall and 4th in class, because Jason Roberts had his carbs gum up on his TD2b Yamaha and he didn't finish the 1st lap.

Remounting the coil was simple and I had the bike running again in an hour or so and was ready for Sun.  Conditions were a little better on Sunday but still very wet for both my races.  And, for some reason I felt a little more with it.  In the 250GP, I got in the lead overall quickly, but Colton Roberts came by on his F-125 bike.  On  the last lap, I got baulked lapping a rider and Craig Light got by me, but I got back by him and finished less than 1/4 second ahead of him, though his fastest lap was more than half a second faster than mine.  My fastest lap was more than 8 1/4 seconds faster than I had gone on Sat., where as Craig's was only 3 1/8 seconds faster.

In the 350GP race, Jerry Duke again got the jump on our class behind some 350 Sportsman bikes.  I passed Jerry going into turn #5 on the first lap, then Jason Roberts came by on the back straight, having changed the oil in his pre-mix.  Stan Miller crashed his Sportsman bike in turn#13, which caused Jason and me to check up a bit.  Then Jason crashed in the last corner of the first lap.  These crashes put the chill on any heroic on my part, but I managed to maintain the overall lead.  Jerry showed me a wheel several times, but I held him off and finished less the 3/4 of a second ahead of him.  My best lap was 15 seconds faster than Sat., whereas Jerry's and Craig's were closer to 9 1/2 seconds faster.  But, Jerry had the fastest lap of the race, more than 3/8 seconds better than my best.  It was good ending the weekend on an up note with two wins in close races and, perhaps more importantly, surviving.

The only photo I took at Barber: Doc Batsleer's CL 90 Honda which he bought new back in the mid '60s.  He told me that he was inspired to bring it to Barber after seeing the Aerostich ad in a magazine with me and a friends CL 90.

From Barber, I drove to Savannah and spent a few days with friends.  One of the first things that I did was dry my racing gear.

My friend, Dr. Dan Levine, showed me his latest project, a Rickman 500 Triumph.  The chassis is all new replica of period gear.  The front brake, a replica Robinson 4LS, and the forks, replica Ceriani 35mm, both came from Hungary.  The frame and body work came from England where Adrian Moss now owns the Rickman name.  Dan is threatening to race it.

Dr. Dan Levine with his Rickman Triumph Daytona.

Thurs., I drove to Denton, N.C., for the Antique Motorcycle Club of America meet there.  I noticed that my route there took me through Cheraw, S.C., which rang a bell.  Cheraw is where Dizzy Gillespie was born and grew up and, being a big fan of Dizzy, I made a point of stopping there.  His boyhood home is no longer there, but there is a park on the lot where his house stood, with great stainless steel sculptures of his horn, the notes to his composition "Salt Peanuts", etc.  Then a local guided me to the town green where there is a 7' tall statue of Dizzy blowing his horn.  Cheraw has Revolutionary and Civil war history and is a lovely place that honors its favorite son well. 

The bikes at Denton were mostly Harleys with a good number of Indians, but there was a smattering of British, Japanese and Italian bikes, too.  Denton Farmpark, where the event was held, was just chock full of old stuff: old farm machinery. a complete old machine shop with everything belt driven, an old gas station, etc., etc.  

An old linotype machine?

My friend Will Paley brought his 1920 ABC, a British across the frame opposed twin (before there was a BMW), with swing arm rear suspension, overhead valves and a four speed gearbox--ahead of it's time.  Will's ABC was parked next to a 1920 Indian Model W Sport Twin, a fore and aft opposed twin that was unrestored and started easily and ran great.  Another friend, Terry Wolbert, drove out from his home in Yamhill, Or., with five girder fork British bikes including a JAP engined Panther, and an AJW, an obscure and short lived bike.

Will Paley's 1920 ABC

Terry Wolbert's Panther.

A Triumph dirt dragster with reversed cylinder head.

Sat. morning a few of us rode to a museum about 16 miles away in Ashboro, American Classic Motorcycle Museum.  It was all Harley--Knuckles, Pans, and Shovels, with two Sprints, but it had a few good race posters on the walls and the covers from The Enthusiast Magazine, the in house Harley monthly, from the 1920s to the 1970s.  A couple of the race posters that intrigued me were from 1964 when Rodger Reiman went 156mph on a 250 Sprint powered streamliner at Bonneville and the next year, when George Roeder went 176mph on what looked like the same streamliner also powered by a 250 Sprint (running on gas).  It seemed incredible to me that they could go 20mph faster in one year.

Jack led the ride to the museum on this well patina-ed Panhead.

After returning to Denton Farmpark,  I went to hear the results of the judging.  The AMCA judges bike against their specs and appearance compared to when they came out of the factory new.  Points can be taken off for things as small as having the wrong spark plugs in the motor.  But, after this, a Concourse D' Ordinaire was held.  I put my '68 TC200 Suzuki in the line up.  I thought they had a prize for Most Rusty, but I parked next to a XS 650 Yamaha that was well rustier that my Suzuki, so I didn't think that I had a chance there.  But, I had misread the category and it was Most Rustic, not rusty, and I won.  It could have something to do with the fact that Will Paley was judge, but I'll proudly display the plaque anyway.  

The bike that won "Most Rustic" in the Concourse D'Ordinaire"

Five days after I got back home, I got a Covid-19 test and the result was 'none detected', so it looks like I got away with it once again.

Museum tour

My drive to California this past spring was based around the AHRMA races at Hallett, Ok., and Willow Springs, Ca., but they were really an excuse for a museum tour.  The first day of the trip, I drove just short of Columbus, Oh., and the next morning I visited the AMA Hall of Fame Museum at their headquarters in Pickerington.  Free if you're an AMA member.

a '61 250 Honda four

Some of the motorcycle art

This beautiful NSU Super Max was stuffed in the back with an LE Velo, an Cleveland, and a Suzuki Rotary.  Clearly they need more space.

From there, I drove to the USAF museum at Wright Patterson AFB near Dayton, Oh., a huge, chronologically arranged museum which I didn't have time to get all the way through.  Free.

a B-24.  The B-29 was even more impressive

After spending the night with fellow vintage racer Jason Roberts and his family in Pawnee, Ill., I headed to Donelson Cycles in St. Louis, Mo., which has a great in house museum of mostly flat trackers.  They claim to have the BSA Rocket 3 flat tracker that Jim Rice crash in 'On Any Sunday'.  I was surprised that it had a road race style seat.  Free.

the Jim Rice Rocket 3 mile dirt tracker

a BSA Beagle


From there, I rode across town to the Mungenast  Motorcycle Museum.  Dave Mungenast was an enduro/ISDT rider of some renown who was also a very successful car dealer.  He established a museum in a great old building, which is oriented towards dirt bikes, but has interesting road, road race and drag bikes too.  Free.

An overview of part of the Mungenast Museum

An Ace

A MotoGuzzi Falcone

From there, I drove to the race at Hallett, Ok., and after stayed with my high school classmate in Oklahoma City, then on to Sandia Park, N.M.  The next morning, I visited Craig Murray in nearby Cedar Crest.  I mentioned that I thought I'd check out the Petroglyph National Monument just west of Albuquerque.  Craig thought that was OK, but highly recommend Acoma Sky City, a mesa that has be continuously occupied for 1100 years.  Doing that made it too late to drive through the Painted Desert in Az., and Meteor Crater was also closed, but I drove down to it from I-40 anyway.  I spent the night in Flagstaff and in the morning drove north to Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument and walked around the ancient lava fields.  I continued north to the Grand Canyon, stopping at a few turn outs, then parking and pulling out my bicycle and riding along the south rim a ways and walking down into the Canyon a little ways.  Spectacular.
I spent the night in Kingman and drove to the Hoover Dam the next morning and took the tour down to the generators.

Hoover Dam

Looking down at the outflow

The massive generators

From there I drove to Red Rock Harley Davidson in Las Vegas.  They have a great collection of race bikes, mostly non H-D including Sheene Suzukis and Steve Baker Yamahas.

The Don Castro H-2 dirt tracker, Nixon's KR750, Steve Baker's TZ750 dirt tracker and road racer

Two Sheene  TR750 Suzukis, Dale Singleton's TZ 750 and Lawson's YSR Yamaha

A Pasolini XRTT, a Springsteen XR,  Rayborn KRTT, Nixon '70 high boy Trident

I drove on to Willow Springs, where I had a big crash on the Sunday and took a ambulance ride to the Hospital in Lancaster.  The next day, I drove up to Lompoc to my dear old friend, Mary.  Because of my injury, I didn't go to Virgil Elings excellent Motorcycle Museum in nearby Solvang, which I had been to twice before.  Mary and I drove up to Pacific Grove to visit our friends Peter and Marsha.  Peter arranged a visit to Jameson Classic Motorcycle Museum in Pacific Grove.  It's small but had a couple of interesting, rare bikes.

A H-D with a fore/aft opposed twin ala Douglas

a stylish Heinkel moped

a tank shift Rudge Special

Peter and I then went to the Moto Talbot Motorcycle Museum in Carmel Valley.  It has a lot of Italian Moto Giro type bikes but also some ex Roberts (father and son) and Rainey 500 GP and MotoGP bikes.  An excellent museum.

never heard of a MAS before

nor a Devil

Ron Halem's Goldstar, which I raced once

The Kenny Roberts Proton MotoGP bike

an early BMW racer in the workshop 

a center port Bultaco motor in a modified side port frame.

Then we had lunch in the Baja Cantina, also in Carmel Valley, which had motorcycles and race car motors on display.

never heard of this one either

a Scott with high exhaust

On the Sat., we went to the Quail Motorcycle Gathering, also in Carmel Valley.  This is decidedly not free, but you get a superb feed and a huge display of vintage and custom bikes in a beautiful setting.

I'm a sucker for the horizontal single.  It's the sacred architecture

carbs and float bowls on a Yamaha YDS1? 

There were plenty of bikes like this--modernized, customized vintage bikes

I headed back via I-80 stopping in Wendover, Ut., Kimball, Ne., then visiting vintage race bike owner, builder and sponsor, Dale Coffman in Eldon, Ia.  Dale took me to the American Gothic House Center.  This is the house in the iconic painting 'American Gothic' by Grant Wood and Dale's late wife was instrumental in preserving the house and establishing an interpretive center.  From Eldon, I drove to to the National Motorcycle Museum in Anamosa, Ia., which is extensive and cover all disciplines and eras.  The museum has an excellent website with extensive photo of the bikes:1962-victoria-155

There were quite a few Bonneville and drag bikes including this Dennis Manning H-D streamliner ridden by Cal Rayborn and also featured in 'On Any Sunday'

A '30s Husky V-twin

An '09 Thor in the board track display

There is a lot of attention to the art in motorcycles as exemplified by this Benelli Toronado by Felix Predko

Another type of motorcycle art: a '62 Victoria 155

From Anamosa, I spent the night in Chicago with friends, then on to Sharron, Pa., then back to Hicksville.  It was a wonderful trip, other than repeatedly crashing.