Today in motorcycle history, May 27, 1990

 

 An American one-two finish at the 1990 German motorcycle Grand Prix as the rivalry of Kevin Schwantz and Wayne Rainey continues at Nurburgring.

 

  A rivalry that began at the 1987 Superbike National Championship and lasted until the career ending injuries suffered by Wayne Rainey at the 1993 Italian Grand Prix that left him paralyzed from the chest down.  Early into the 1995 season, after a conversation with Rainey, Kevin Schwantz decided to retire from the Grand Prix circus, partly due to nagging injuries and partly because losing the one great rival that had fired his competitive intensity made him view his own mortality much more clearly. 

  Schwantz had accumulated 25 Grand Prix wins during his career, one more than his great rival, Wayne Rainey.

  Kevin Schwantz and Wayne Rainey were both inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1999.  The FIM named them each a Grand Prix "Legend" in 2000.  In 2007 Rainey was also inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of  Fame.

 Schwantz co-designed the Circuit of the Americas racetrack with Tavo Hellmund and with the assistance of German architect and circuit designer Hermann Tilke.

 Wayne Rainey has refused to give up racing despite his disability and now races a hand-controlled Superkart in the World SuperKart series based in Northern California.  He lives in Monterey, California in a house which was built overlooking the Laguna Seca circuit shortly before his career ending accident. 

  The nearby circuit has named a corner in his honor, the Rainey Curve, a medium-speed, acute left-hander that follows the famous Corkscrew.

Today in motorcycle history, May 24, 1999

                    

  Buell recalls 1,765 X1 Lightning models.

 

  Due to possible chafing of the rear brake reservoir hose.  This "small problem" can result in the loss of brake fluid and, alas, the loss of your rear brake.  If you're on a mountain road doing 85 mph at the time that could kinda suck.  Not saying it's ok to speed on mountain roads but, if you're not speeding on a Buell why did you buy it in the first place?

 

  Oh yeah, the same models are recalled for the need of re-routing of the positive battery cable.  The stock factory routing has the cable in too close in proximity to the batterybox which could cause  your new Lightning to stall suddenly.  Not a good thing if you're cranking down that same mountain pass or twistin' the wick trying to beat your buddy on his Suzuki while on Route 50 in Neveada.

 

Just keepin' you informed.

 

Recall Date:

MAY 24, 1999

Model Affected:

1999 BUELL BUELL X1 LIGHTNING

Summary

VEHICLE DESCRIPTION: MOTORCYCLES. THE REAR BRAKE RESERVOIR HOSE CAN CHAFE, RESULTING IN LOSS OF BRAKE FLUID.

Consequence

SHOULD THIS OCCUR, THE RIDER COULD EXPERIENCE LOSS OF REAR BRAKING CAPABILITIES.

Remedy

DEALERS WILL INSPECT THE REAR BRAKE RESERVOIR HOSE AND REPLACE THE HOSE IF NCESSARY.

Units Affected:

1765

Notes

BUELL MOTORCYCLE CO.

      

Today in motorcycle history, May 22, 1966

 

 

 

  On May 22, 1966, the German Transport Minister, Dr. Hans-Christoph Seebohm, opened the new Motodrom for the German Motorcycle Grand Prix.

 

   In 1930 Ernst Christ, then a young assistant timekeeper, came up with a plan to build a racetrack in his home town of Hockenheim.  The town's mayor, Philipp Klein, supported the project, and, on Christmas Day, 1931, the town council unanimously approved the plans for the new circuit.  The building work began on March 23, 1932, and only two months later, on May 25, a dream came true when the first motorcycle race in Hockenheim got under way.  For this small town, it marked the beginning of an era that would make its name famous throughout the world.

 

 Nearly 30 years later, in 1961, Ernst Christ came up with the spectator-friendly Motodrom concept and in 1965, when the new Autobahn A6 , (Mannheim-Walldorf motorway), separated the village from the main part of the track a new version of Hockenheim circuit was built, with the "Motodrom" stadium section. 

 

 After Jim Clark was killed on April 7, 1968 in a Formula 2 racing accident, two chicanes were added and in 1970 the track was lined with crash barriers.  In 1982, another chicane was added at the Ostkurve (east curve). 

 

  Hockenheimring now has the capacity to hold 120,000 race-hungry fans.

Today in motorcycle history, May 21, 1991

 

                                             

  Gov. Pete Wilson signed into law today a requirement that California's 850,000 motorcyclists wear helmets when riding on the state's roads.  Ending a biker's right to choose.

  "I am signing this bill today because, simply put, this law will save lives," Gov. Wilson said.

  State Assemblyman Dick Floyd, the author of the bill and pal of Gary Busey, said hundreds of lives would have been saved if it had been enacted when he first proposed it a decade ago.

  The new restrictions, which take effect on Jan. 1, impose a $100 fine for a violation.

  The signing of the bill sets off state-wide protests.

 

  Let those who ride decide.

 



 

Today in motorcycle history, May 20, 1973

 

  Italy's Renzo Pasolini and Finland's Jarno Saarinen are both killed during the Italian Grand Prix in Monza, Italy. 

 

  Renzo "Paso" Pasolini was wildly popular with racing fans with his unpredictable and unrehearsed racing style.  Pasolini's rivalry with Giacomo "Ago" Agostini divided Italian racing fans (and the hearts of many a young woman) and while Pasolini's style brought mixed results, it earned him a place in Italian motorcycling lore.

 

  Jarno Karl Keimo Saarinen was an accomplished Speedway racer as well as the Finnish National ice-racing champion in 1963.  Unlike most Grand Prix racers Jarno didn't begin his GP career until he was 25. 

 

 

  Despite the installation of new chicanes for cars during the previous year's Formula One season (one was placed before the Curva Grande and one at Vialone), for some reason they were not used for motorcycle racing at Monza.  On the first lap of the 250cc class race Pasolini fell in front of Saarinen.  Jarno was unable to avoid him and fell as well, causing an insane chain-reaction that would involve fourteen riders and result in the deaths of Jarno and Renzo with many of the other 14 riders seriously injured.

 

  In 1986, Ducati introduced the Ducati Paso, named after Pasolini and designed by Massimo Tamburini, co-founder of Bimota.

 

  Jarno Saarinen's legacy continues to live on.  There is still an active Saarinen fan club in Italy.  The birth name Jarno became very popular in Italy of many newborn boys in the '70s.  One of them is Jarno Trulli, the former Formula-1 driver. 

 

  Saarinen remains the only Finn to have won a motorcycle road racing World Championship, winning 15 Grand Prix races during his short career.  In 2009, the F.I.M. inducted Saarinen into the MotoGP Hall of Fame.

                                                                                    

Today in motorcycle history, May 17, 1965

  

  Hell's Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs began as the article "The Motorcycle Gangs: Losers and Outsiders" for the May 17, 1965 issue of The Nation.

 

   In March 1965, The Nation editor Carey McWilliams wrote to Hunter S. Thompson and offered to pay the journalist for an article on the subject of motorcycle gangs, and the Hells Angels in particular. Thompson took the job and the article, published about a month later, prompted book offers from several publishers interested in the topic.

  Thompson spent the next year preparing for the new book in close quarters with the Hells Angels, in particular the San Francisco and Oakland chapters of the club and their president Ralph "Sonny" Barger.  Thompson was straight-up with the Angels about his role as a journalist, knowing their distrust of reporters for what the club considered to be bad press.  Thompson was introduced to the club by Birney Jarvis, a former patch-holder and then police-beat reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle.  This introduction, coming from an Angel and reporter, allowed Thompson to get close to the gang in a way others had not been able.

 

  Far from being wary of this outsider, the Angels were sincere in their participation, often talking at length over smokes, shots and beer into Thompson's tape recorder and reviewing early drafts of the article to ensure he had his facts straight.  During his writings the Angels often visited his apartment at 318 Parnassus Avenue in San Francisco, much to the dismay of his wife, landlord and neighbors.  Thompson, however, felt comfortable with the arrangement, so comfortable that when he was "jokingly" threatened with violence, he allegedly pointed to a loaded double-barrelled shotgun that he kept hanging on his wall and replied in a similar vein that he would "croak two of them first." 

 
 

Today in motorcycle history, May 15, 1949, 1982 and 2008

 



  

  The North West 200 claimed the lives of 3 riders on this day in motorcycle history.  Englishmen P.L. Phillips on May 15, 1949 at Portstewart and John Newbold in 1982 on Juniper Hill and Northern Ireland's Robert Dunlop was killed approaching Mather's Cross on this day in 2008.

 

 

  The North West 200 is held each May in Northern Ireland.  The course is a street circuit, made up of public roads running between the towns of Portstewart, Coleraine and Portrush (the Triangle) but does include three speed reducing chicanes.  The route, running anti-clockwise enters the outskirts of the towns passing many private homes, restaurants and pubs.  To help improve track safety street signs are removed at parts of the track and bales of hay are used to wrap the base of lampposts and telegraph poles.  I never quite understood removing street signs to improve track safety.  Hmm, "Caution: Road Ends", now that's a silly sign let's remove it.  Who's gonna notice.

 

 The original start/finish line was located near Magherabouy but moved to the Portmore Road in Portstewart in 1930.  Intended to be held somewhere in the north west of Ireland and organized by the City of Derry & District Motor Club, the initial event was moved to the north coast but the name was never changed and since 1964 the event has been organized by the Coleraine and District Motor Club. 

 

  The race is one of the fastest in the world, with speeds in excess of 200 mph.  In practice for the 2012 event Martin Jessopp was clocked at 208 mph.  It is one of around fifteen events run on public roads between April and October throughout the island of Ireland.