| Author | Message | ||
     Crusty |
The Mile In 1973, I moved to Colorado Springs. Work was plentiful and living at the edge of the Rockies was a real treat. I did have one small problem, though; I didn’t have a motorcycle. I had given my Matchless 650 to Ron when we stopped in Louisiana on our way out to Colorado. It ran, but poorly. I had traded my ’53 Triumph for it just a couple of days before we left Massachusetts. It wasn’t my last British bike, but it was the bike that broke my enthusiasm for British bikes. I wanted a bike that ran reliably. In May, I bought a brand new Moto Guzzi V7 Sport. I managed to get a loan at an exorbitant interest rate, and I finally had a motorcycle that was fast and more importantly, reliable. It also handled pretty well, but I wasn’t a good enough rider to know the difference at that point. I just knew that the bike was beautiful and I had wanted one since I first read about them in a magazine. As I said, jobs were plentiful. My first job was driving a water tanker on a land fill. It lasted one day. When I showed up for work the next morning, I was laid off. I was rattled and asked the Super if I’d done something wrong and he told me no, one of the Scrapers had broken down, and since the Operator had been with the company a while, they were giving him my machine. So I went down to the Union Hall, and they sent me out on another job. There was a lot of work, and I had something like 7 or 8 jobs that year. Anyway, to get back to my story, I had this amazing motorcycle that was fast; it would comfortably run at 80 MPH all day, and it was stone reliable. Now, my wife had found a job working in a motorcycle shop. She came home one night and told me that there was going to be a National Dirt Track race at the Pikes Peak Turf Club on July 8. Of course, we bought tickets. Neither of us had ever seen a Flat Track race, and this was before the movie On Any Sunday came out, so we didn’t know what to expect. I had been to the National Road Races in Loudon, NH and I had once been to a Motocross in Pepperell, MA, but never a flat track. This was the first Mile I would ever see. (For those of you who don’t know what a Mile is; it is a one mile long dirt oval horse racing track. The bikes hit close to 140 miles per hour and don’t have front brakes. The Riders wear a steel plate on their left boot so that they can slide the bikes through the turns. Now, back to the story) I got laid off just before the Fourth of July (which was on a Wednesday), and I figured that nobody would be looking for help until the following Monday. I decided that since I had a few days off, I’d ride down to see Ron in Lafayette (Louisiana). I had a fast, reliable bike, and it would eat the miles and it wasn’t that far. I could ride down, spend a day or so and ride back; No Problem. As it turned out, it was 1203 miles from my house to Ron’s (Surprise!) and it took 22 hours of hard riding to get there. After riding all day and night, I got a total of maybe 10 hours of sleep Friday afternoon and evening. Saturday morning, I changed the oil and set out for home. I had to be back by Noon on Sunday so Sue and I could go see the Mile. All I’ll say right now about the ride home is that it was one of the most taxing things I’ve ever done on a motorcycle. I found reserves in me that I never knew existed, and I had an entire battalion of Guardian Angels working overtime to get me home. But I made it. I pulled into my driveway, put the bike on the stand and then fell across it. I had managed to once again do 1200 miles in 22 hours. I was so wiped out that we took the Pickup to the races, and Sue had to drive. I couldn’t ride the few miles to the track. I still remember that race. Dick Mann on a Triumph had it all over everyone else. He spanked everybody in his heat race and he had the pole. He led from the start, and opened up a good gap until around lap 15. Then, smoke billowed from his bike while he was running down the backstretch and he rolled to a stop. There were a few bikes swapping the lead, but it looked like Rex Beauchamp was going to win the race. On the last lap, Kenny Roberts pulled a slingshot move off the cushion in turn four and passed everybody and took the lead. The drag race from turn four to the finish line had everybody on their feet screaming. Roberts had the lead, but Beauchamp was closing rapidly. Roberts won, but barely. If the finish line had been ten yards farther down the straight, the results would have been the opposite. I’ve never forgotten that race. It hooked me on Flat Track racing and especially Mile Racing. That race was so exciting that, even though I was too burned out to even drive a Pickup, I was one of the crowd who were all jumping up and down shouting at the top of my lungs. If you’ve never been to a Mile, you’re missing a real experience. | ||
| Doz |
Crusty, do they still do flat track racing in Syracuse? | ||
| Crusty |
There hasn't been a Mile at Syracuse in a few years. The last year they had one, it was a night race and the lighting was so poor in turns 1 and 2 that the AMA cancelled the race because it was so unsafe. | ||
| Etennuly |
Was that the same Syracuse mile they ran dirt track super modified cars on back in the 70's and 80's? I went there a couple of times for that event. WOW! was the only thing I could say after those races. On bikes.....even more wow! The cars were getting 150 mph. I went to Hamburg NY fairgrounds once for the flat track bikes in the mid 70's. And to Welland Canada a couple of times in the later 70's. No doubt to ride these things you had to be a little out there! Remember the "speedway bikes"? A bike that weighed nothing, had NO brakes and was turning left sitting still. Maybe this is where I got my passion for driving everything I could sideways! | ||
| Crusty |
Yes; it's the same track. If you ever want to see a great track and a great race, go out to Springfield, Illinois and watch The Mile. There isn't a better race on the Planet. | ||
| Oldfartnbuell |
Hey Crusty, I was at that very same race! Remember it well. Also remember another funny incident at the track that day. Involving a good friend of mine and a over zealous rent-a-cop.If you were in the grandstand I'm sure you saw it. Quite funny! Tonto | ||
| Elsinore74 |
Great story, Crusty! Flat track is like dirt track stock car racing; it gets in your blood. First flat track I remember is the Charity Newsies in Columbus, OH, sometime back in the late 1970s. By then it was pretty much a one-brand show. The XR750s made quite an impression on this kid, but in hindsight it would have been great to see and hear a field of different brands. Have to agree about The Mile; my wife and I went to Springfield in 1993, the year Ricky Graham won on a privateer Honda. Thanks again for sharing another snapshot from your memories. | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
Speedway racing is still going strong in Europe & funnily enough Down Under. Don't know if any of the sports or motor channels show it here, got to be more exciting than poker or darts though. | ||
| 46champ |
Grumpy the only place any speedway racing is going on in the states is Southern California. As far as seeing it on TV won't happen it is a non event. | ||
| Akbuell |
Ahh, speedway! Back when Speed used to be worth watching, they carried a speedway show; on 2Wheel Tuesday? Nice pit reporter. Grumps, since you are based in Canada now, you MAY have more access to BBC than we do here. Perhaps something there . . . If your travels get you back to S CA, there is a speedway presence there. Did have the chance to go the the Orange Co Speedway once. The whole evening was a hoot. Good racing, and the stands/atmosphere was equal to the track action. A featured advertiser was Capt Sticky, of Capt Sticky's Waterbed Emporioums. The Captain was there in person. Think 5'9", 230 lbs, full beard and black rimmed glasses. In a complete Superman outfit, in Lycra, including the cape. His Waterbed Emporium assistants (the Sticketts) did Marvelous Things to their Lycra outfits. Also there was Larry Huffman, the MC of the evening, as track announcer just doesn't say it. One highlight was the well endowed young lady who walked by his stand. Actually, he spent most of his time standing on the table. Anyway, she walked by wearing a Billy Gray T-shirt, so he called her up to the table. Him: HI, Your name? Her: 'Mary' in a Very Small Voice Him: Are you a Billy Gray Fan? Her: 'Yes' in same very small voice Him: Would you like to lead a Billy Gray cheer? Her: 'No' still in a very small voice Him: What about it, crowd? Would you like to have 'Mary' lead a Billy Gray cheer? Crowd: Enthusiastic YES He leads her in a cheer, including jumping up and down. And jiggling. Crowd: Thunderous applause Go, if the chance should arise. And I got to see Barry Briggs race at the short track at Daytona Bikeweek, but that is another story. | ||
| Akbuell |
Also try speedwaybikes.com. Listing of tracks and events/times. Seems there is a track in NY state. SE of Rochester, near the Penn border. |
