Today in motorcycle history, July 17, 1974

  

 

  Buck Owens' right-hand man, Don Rich, is killed when the 1972 Harley-Davidson Sportster he's riding crashes in Morro Bay, California.

  One of country music’s most distinctive guitar players, a rock solid fiddler, tear-jerkin' tenor harmony singer and an accomplished songwriter in his own right, Don Rich was equally as important as Buck Owens in creating the 'Bakersfield Sound', one of the few sustained commercial alternatives to Nashville. 

  After finishing work at Buck Owens' Bakersfield studio, Rich left to join his family for a vacation on the central coast of California. For unknown reasons, his Sportster hit a center divider on northbound Highway 1 at Yerba Buena Road in Morro Bay. He was pronounced dead on arrival at the then Sierra Vista Hospital in San Luis Obispo at 10:37 that evening, California Highway Patrol officials stated that there were no skid marks and no apparent mechanical problems.


  Donald Eugene "Don Rich" Ulrich was 32.





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Today in motorcycle history, July 16, 1972

   



  

  Evel Knievel jumps 13 buses at the now-defunct Minnesota Dragways. 

  Montana's favorite son, friend to Presidents and Elvis, motorcycle daredevil extraordinaire, Evel Knievel successfully jumps thirteen buses placed side-by-side on a blisteringly hot afternoon at Minnesota Dragways in Coon Rapids, Minnesota.




  It wouldn't have been an official Evel event without some sort of memorable drama: one longtime Anoka County resident, who was eight months pregnant at the time, passed out in the inescapable heat, and came to in her car in time to hear a loudspeaker announcement about the “lady who needed assistance.”

  Moments later, Evel Knievel himself appeared at the window to ask if she was OK, and she was, but she was unable to get back inside to see him jump. 

  Oh yeah, a private Lear jet crashed into Knievel’s trailer while landing at the drag strip.












  Today in motorcycle history proudly supports the National Association for Bikers with a Disability (NABD). www.nabd.org.uk

Today in motorcycle history, July 15, 1973

 

  Back in the saddle for Yamaha, West Germany's Dieter Braun wins the 250cc Class Czechoslovakian Grand Prix at Brno Circuit enroute to his 250cc World  Championship.

  After a disappointing 1972 season riding for Maico, Braun returns to the 250cc GP Class on a works Yamaha.  Not sure if it was the bike or the lucky rabbit's foot he kept tucked under the Yamaha's saddle, but something clicked in 1973 as Dieter would win the Yugoslavian Grand Prix, Dutch TT, Czechoslovakian and Swedish GP's plus a hard-fought second in the Finnish Grand Prix. All the frustration of '72 became a distant memory as he is crowned the 1973 250cc FIM World Champion.

  His lucky rabbit's foot was allegedly lost after a minor scuffle in Paris in 1974, but Braun would never win a Grand Prix Champion title again. He would finish second in '74 and third in 1975.

  Today in motorcycle history proudly supports the National Association for Bikers with a Disability (NABD). www.nabd.org.uk

Today in motorcycle history, July 14, 1935

  

  

  The first TT races in New Hampshire occur in Keene, New Hampshire.

  Held at Keene's Safford Park on the same weekend as the 1935 Keene AMA Gypsy Tour, the first race was a 200-miler sponsored by the NEMDA and by Fritzie's Roamers Motorcycle Club. Keene was such a success it was host to the 1936 200-mile race as well.


  Fritzie Baer started Fritzie's Roamers Motorcycle Club in 1933 in Springfield, Massachusetts. If ever any single individual did everything that could be done in motorcycling, it was Baer. He was a racer, a dealer, a club president, a race promoter, an announcer, a sponsor, a mechanic, an AMA official and a tireless promoter of motorcycling in New England.



  Safford Park is now known as the Cheshire Fair Grounds. Twice a year, May and October, there is a swap meet on the grounds. At one time it was the swap meet in New Hampshire, and one of the best on the East Coast. A beer-swillin', deal-grabbin', good time.






  Today in motorcycle history proudly supports the National Association for Bikers with a Disability (NABD). www.nabd.org.uk

Today in motorcycle history, July 9, 1972

  

  

  Piloting a Maico, Sweden's Borje Jansson wins the 125cc Class East German Grand Prix, marking the first Grand Prix victory for the German motorcycle manufacturer.

  Borje Jansson competed in Grand Prix races for the Maico factory team from 1969-1973 winning three 125cc Grand Prix races including their very first GP victory which just happen to be at Germany's Sachsenring.


  Unlike their road machines, Maico motocross and enduro bikes enjoyed success in both European and American competition throughout the 1970's. While lacking the financial capital and big-bucks race-team backing like that of the Japanese factories of Suzuki, Kawasaki, Honda and Yamaha, Maico riders such as Adolf Weil, Åke Jonsson and Willy Bauer produced numerous top three finishes in the Motocross World Championships.

  "Motocross Action" magazine called the 1981 Maico Mega 2 - 490cc the greatest open-class motocross bike of all time.

  Today in motorcycle history proudly supports the National Association for Bikers with a Disability (NABD). www.nabd.org.uk

Today in motorcycle history, July 8, 1932

  
  



 

  The Berkeley Daily Gazette announces the Berkeley Motorcycle Club will hold their annual hill climb with the best of the Pacific Coast riders in attendance.

  "Roaring motors zoom up the side of Franklin Canyon, near Pinole, tomorrow. Every so often a gasp escapes the thousands of onlookers as a motorcyclist loops the loop, tossing its rider unceremoniously."

  So begins the program for the annual hill climb race sponsored by the Berkeley Motorcycle Club. The race features the "classiest" riders on the Pacific Coast including Walter "Swede" Mattson and Windy Lindstrom from Oakland, Gene Ryan of Seattle, L.A.'s Al Majors and Bob Keller, the San Jose legend Sam Arena plus Bill Rook and Dudley Perkins of San Francisco. Nearly 20,000 people attend.



  The week of July 8, 1932 the Dow Jones Industrial Average reached 41.22, it's lowest point of the entire Great Depression.   





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Today in motorcycle history, July 7, 1951

  


  

  Bill Doran wins the 350cc Class Dutch TT on a works AJS.

  With his trademark jutting chin and ready smile, Bill Doran was known as "Shropshire's motorcycling ace". His racing career began as a privateer mostly riding Nortons, Bill became a works AJS rider in 1949. Usually more comfortable as a 350cc racer, but to prove they made the right decision he rode their infamous 500cc horizontal-twin "Porcupine" to victory in the 1949 Belgian Grand Prix. 



  Despite a solid racing career, an injury became his claim to fame after a part of the Isle of Man TT course was named after him. He crashed during a Thursday evening practice for the 1952 Isle of Man TT  resulting in a broken leg. The accident occurred on the left-hand bend after Ballig Bridge and was renamed Doran's Bend.  At the time of dedication, he was the only living recipient with a named section. 





  A 1954 AJS E95 Porcupine was sold post-auction at Bonhams in 2011, for $675,000.






  Today in motorcycle history proudly supports the National Association for Bikers with a Disability (NABD). www.nabd.org.uk