Motorcycle track racing is not for the faint of heart. On a mile track the big bikes hit close to triple digit speed on the straightaways. The rear ends will swing out to almost 45 degrees when it’s time to make the turn. The left foot is encased in an iron shoe and that foot is planted when necessary to provide a momentary stability. In the mile races the bike is virtually always a big twin. Having just one power pulse per rpm allows that moment to gain traction that simply isn’t available on a multi-cylinder engine. It has been years since the AMA has allowed anyone to try it with a two stroke multi.
If you would like a thumbnail of the riders who thrived in this environment, make the jump. I hope this article generates enough interest that some of you will google them. It is obvious to me that they were both athletes and gearheads. That’s what keeps me reading (and writing).
Up to 1953, the dirt track champion was decided with one race, the Springfield Mile. In 1954, however, Grand National Champions began to be decided by points awarded for placement in both dirt track and road racing. The first Grand National Champion under this system was Joe Leonard. Joe hailed from San Diego and rode a Harley Davidson KR750. For the next several years so did almost everyone who won.
From 1954 until 1969, when the Harley KR propelled the AMA champion for the last time, Joe Leonard, Carroll Resweber, and Bart Markel accounted for ten championships. With a win each by Brad Andres and Roger Reiman that doesn’t leave much. All of these riders were riding Harley KR750s.
Joe Leonard won the first Grand National Championship in 1954. Then he was beaten by Brad Andres in 1955. He came storming back in 1956 and 1957 for back to back wins. He was not the last back to back champion, however, he may be the only one to do something special. He was the AMA Grand National Champion back to back. Then he went to cars and in 1971 and 1972 he won back to back auto racing championships with USAC. Nobody else to my knowledge has accomplished both, and probably never will.
Along the way, Joe won two Daytona 200s (bike) and came within a gasp of winning the Indianapolis 500. A fuel injector on his turbine powered car malfunctioned while he was leading and the race almost over. Joe Leonard is worth a Google search.
After winning back to back AMA Grand National Championships Joe would probably have continued on, but something happened. That something was Carroll Resweber. Carroll came from the Beaumont/Port Arthur Texas area and was somewhat of a dirt track specialist. Joe finished second to Carroll by one point in 1958. Then he placed sixth in 1959 and second again in 1960. Resweber, in the meantime, won those three years and then a fourth consecutive year. I believe a prudent person might think Resweber had some impact on Joe Leonard’s decision to go with four wheels.
Another AMA champion of the time (Dick Mann, BSA, 1963) considered Resweber to be the best dirt track rider of his time. Mann feels that nobody could touch Resweber and that he would have continued to win for the foreseeable future. Unfortunately something happened here as well. Someone crashed in front of him and left Resweber with nowhere to go. With a broken back and several other bones, he wound up working for Harley Davidson as a machinist. Nobody displayed dominance like Resweber. Not until after Harley had developed the XR750, at least.
Bart Markel also won the championship 3 times. The first was in 1962 and it’s probably fair to say that he was the beneficiary of Resweber’s wreck that same year. In 1963, Dick Mann won for BSA. The following year Roger Reiman won for Harley. In 1965-66 Markel went back to back. Markel was not known for his smooth riding capability. He came to the track after a tour in the Marines and his reputation was built on being tough. With three national championships under his belt, he obviously could ride, but his toughness was what the other riders talked about. With one more championship (Mert Lawwill in 1969), Harley’s dominance was over – until the aluminum XR750 was developed.
I can’t help but comment on the rider that was non-Harley and pretty much greased the skids to slide the flathead out of competition. He took a 500cc Triumph to the ’67 and ’68 championship, and who knows what ’69 would have brought had he stayed healthy. I have no record of where he stood in the points at the time of his injury; however, he became sidelined with a broken femur in 1969. Mert Lawwill won that year on a HarleyKR750 flathead.
Nixon eventually injured himself to the degree that he could no longer ride dirt track. As usual, when he went primarily to road racing he became one of the best. He teamed with a tuner named Erv Kenemoto for several years. They were always in contention till the race was over. He died last August 5th at home. He was 70 years old.
These guys were dominant and rode dominant bikes. In 1970, Harley went to overhead valves on their 750. They were not competitive. After two years they developed aluminum heads and modified the engine in other ways. They haven’t ever had to look back. The XR750 is still winning and now it is against bikes much larger than 500cc. It’s also the next story, coming soon to CC.
Thanks for this series, Lee. I love it.
question: weren’t John Surtee & Mike Hailwood champs on bikes who then transferred to 4 wheels Formula 1 driving? Surtees went on to win a world championship while poor Mike only toiled for also ran teams.
Good series on US dirt track so much different from the rest of the world of speedway.
John Surtees and Mike Hailwood were world champs at road racing that went to formula 1. Only in the US would a Harley be considered competitive.
Bryce,
To a great extent that’s due to the AMA juggling the rules as necessary to keep the Harley’s ahead of the competition. One of the things not mentioned here was while the flathead Harley’s were 750cc, all the British OHV competition was limited to 500cc. This kind of rule juggling went on in the 70’s when Honda and Yamaha got into flat track and got their bikes sorted out.
It’s not mentioned here because it was mentioned in the last article and will be in the next one as well. 69 was the last year the flathead won. 70 was an iron ohv in an attempt to keep up with the other guys who could now field 750’s also. 72 was the alloy ohv. From 72 on the rules were equal or skewed for the other guys.
Btw, during the 4 years that honda won I read that the bore and stroke of the Honda was an exact copy of the XR750. I have badmouthed Harley forever but you have to give them credit for the performance from 72 on. Prior to that they basically won on obsolete equipment that was kept relevant only by skewing the rules. There is more to come that is scheduled for next Sunday that addresses 1970 on.
Fastback: John Surtees won European (world) grand prix titles on bikes in 56 and 58-60. He won the Formula 1 car championship in 64. He is the only rider to ever do that. Most that I have read consider that a higher level than Joe Leonard who won the flat track and USAC. Leonard is the only one to do both back to back with AMA and USAC.
Hailwood was great on a bike. I found about 9 championships on bikes and he was the 1972 Formula two champ in cars. If you remember the last Rocky movie you wind up with problems when you compare guys from different eras. Same thing with different leagues. Don’t know who would have been number one on a bike. Leonard stuck with flat track mostly but did road race. IMO Hailwood was the best on a bike. I can think of a couple Americans (Roberts and Rayborn) who I think could have been competitive. It didn’t happen because they were in the states when Hailwood reigned. You could compare him with Agostini and IMO, that’s about it.
Bryce: I think flat track is a lot like speedway and ice racing. Every dog barks loudest in their own back yard. The Harley 750s were built for North American flat track racing. They had a similar model that road raced until 1972 but I doubt it went to Europe. I might be wrong.
If it pleases you sir, I am working on one with the Norton Manx. I could be sour grapes and say it wouldn’t have been competitive in the drag strip. I won’t because it wasn’t built for that and the Harley was built for what it was built for. Just looking at things I suspect the Norton might have been why the KR750 had to be developed.
I appreciate your comments.
Manx Norton was a king of race tracks back in their day mind you the Norton frame contributed much to that. Repowered Nortons are popular for classic bike racing pre 62 class for their handling ability. A kiwi name of Ivan Mauger was 9 times world champ speedway rider world spec bikes single cylinder JAP engines no gears or brakes.
Lee,
‘On any Sunday’ really gets into this aspect of the AMA setup even touching upon
a nice profile of an aged Dick Mann. But touching upon the 2/4 wheel thing
this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Quick_and_the_Dead_(1978_film) is a great complement to your post. The movie spends quite a bit of time w/ Mike Hailwood., Francois Cevert, Peter Revson and the brillant Sir Jacky.
Obviously, any interview w/ Sir Jacky are worth their weight in gold and the discussions w/ Cevert and Revson are profound for obvious reasons — but Hailwood goes into some detail on his transition to 4 wheel racing and the things that set him apart from his ‘playboy’ brethren :). There’s also some very frank conversation and a glimpse of drivers conferring w/ their technicians. Mind you, this is early 70s stuff so you get a more down to earth F1 where you can almost smell th gasoline.
I love this movie for many reasons–including Stormu Yamashta’s early 70s funk soundtrack and Stacy Keath’s cheesy narrative. All it really needs is more James Hunt– which is a huge miss here as the film was updated at the time when James had just won the World Championship — what a cheeky bastard he was!
If you can find it — i highly recommend it! I believe Green Mountain Books in Vermont still carries it. http://www.vtmotorbooks.com/books/profile_cl.shtml?index=VTDVD2901&srchret=browse_cat%3Dformula_one_and_grand_prix%26browse%3DBrowse
Dick Mann won the 1963 AMA GN Championship on a Matchless, not a BSA as you state above. (in ’63 he used Bultacos in races requiring 250cc, (i.e. Santa Fe Short Track, etc.).
Good catch. There is some interesting reading here: http://books.google.com/books?id=jxWweoxJrxMC&pg=PA56&lpg=PA56&dq=Dick+Mann,+1963+GN+championship+matchless&source=bl&ots=zuIkQgVtrw&sig=bdT3lWxZr22
Apparently he had been banned the prior year for putting a G50 in a bsa frame. During 63 there was controversy. Perhaps because HD/bsa/and triumph didn’t want the matchless competition. The 63 bike was evidently not a hybrid but a G50 matchless.
I suspect there was a batch of mixing and matching with bsa/matchless/ and iirc AJS. Prior to 61 I was a fan but then went overseas seemingly forever. Pretty much lost a whole decade. Got back in time to see (in print only) Mann take Daytona on the Honda and again on the BSA. Mann and BSA are permanently etched together in my brain.