Today in motorcycle history, February 19, 1950

  With the sun on his back and sand in his teeth, Billy Mathews and his Norton Manx tear up the 3.2 mile beach-hiway course with an 81.26 mph average on his way to winning his second Daytona 200 at Daytona Beach, Florida.

  Hailing from Toronto, Canada, Billy, though known as an all-around racer in his homeland, is best known in America for his two victories in the Daytona 200.  His 1941 win on the beach course at Daytona Beach marked milestones in several respects – it was the first victory by a foreign rider and the first win for a non-American motorcycle (Norton).  Mathews came back to win the 200 again in 1950 and became the only rider to win both before and after World War II.

  His 1941 victory at Daytona was totally unexpected.  The Harley-Davidson and Indian factory efforts were at the race in full force.  Harley was debuting its new WRTT model and was riding a three-race winning streak at Daytona and fully expected to make it four.

  Mathews rode to the early lead on his Norton, but a crash put him behind the leaders.  Fortunately for Mathews, his Norton wasn’t damaged and he was able to climb back on and continue the race.  He charged back through the field and bobbed and weaved his way back up to second behind Indian’s Jimmy Kelly.

  Kelly appeared to have a safe lead, but with just four laps to go the engine on his Indian decided to quit and Mathews moved ahead and cruised to victory.  Despite crashing, Mathews set a new record speed for the 200 averaging 78.08 mph.  His Norton Manx's 500cc engine was the smallest to win Daytona to that point.

  Billy Mathews was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1998.