Today in motorcycle history, August 12, 1972

  

  



   

  "Motorcycle Mama" checks in at #20 on Billboard magazine's U.S. Top 40.

  "Motorcycle Mama", Sailcat's single from their LP of the same name, would eventually climb the Billboard chart all the way to #12. Shortly after riding the song to Carnegie Hall and American Bandstand appearances Sailcat broke up.


  The legendary illustrator Jack Davis did the albums artwork. Davis was one of the founding cartoonist for Mad magazine and did the artwork for numerous movie posters such as "Kelly's Heroes" and "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World".


                               "Motorcycle Mama"

  Tell your Daddy and your Mama too.
  You got something better to do.
  Stick around the house the rest of your life.
  You're eighteen you can do what you like.
  You'll be the queen of my highway, my motorcycle mama.
  We'll see the world through my Harley.

  We'll get matching jackets and helmets too.
  We'll get respect from the towns we ride through.
  We'll sleep at the roadside in the soft green grass
  And if the squares walk by we'll let them pass.
  You'll be the queen of my highway, my motorcycle mama.
  We'll see the world through my Harley.

  And maybe in a year or two
  We'll have a little one, she'll look just like you.
  We'll add on a sidecar, electric guitar. We'll be a trio.
  The baby makes three, oh.

  Tell your Daddy and your Mama too.
  You got something better to do.
  Stick around the house the rest of your life.
  You're eighteen you can be my wife.
  You'll be the queen of my highway, my motorcycle mama.
  We'll see the world through my Harley.
  We'll see the world through my Harley.
  We'll see the world through my Harley if the chain don't break!



   On the 1990 compilation album Rubáiyát, "Motorcycle Mama" is covered by The Sugarcubes. 

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Today in motorcycle history, August 11, 2013

      




  

   PMC (Peoria Motorcycle Club) Race Park, home of the "World's Longest Consecutive Running Dirt Track Race", celebrates its 65th AMA Grand National Championship TT race.

  After a week of lawn-soaking, basement-flooding rain, the 65th running of an AMA Grand National Championship TT at PMC Race Park was anything but wet. Somehow the track remained excellent and the competition remained intense. Some of the top racers had tough days, the track claimed some and motivated others. There was a lot of blood, sweat, crashes, stitches, blown engines, come from behind charges and Emergency Room visits. Pure excitement.

  In the Budweiser/AMA Pro 16 lap race, Rodney Spencer Jr. of San Marin, California, navigated his Honda CRF 450R to victory over Dan Bromley of Warrington, Pennsylvania, and his KTM 450SXF by 00.339 seconds.

  The 25 lap Expert race saw Henry Wiles of  Winn, Michigan, aboard a Kawi KX 450F dominate the pack, including leading for 17 consecutive laps, enroute to beating Eatonville,Washington's Brad Baker riding a Honda CRF 450R.

  Racing at Peoria began in 1931 and has seen the legends of motorcycle racing such as Joe Leonard, Carroll Resweber, Eddie Mulder, Kenny Roberts, Mert Lawwill, Dick Mann, Bill Miller, Bart Markel, Jay Springsteen, Chris Carr, to name just a few. 83 years later Peoria is still going strong. The 2014 Budweiser/AMA Pro Grand National TT Championship is August 17. Check it out.

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

Today in motorcycle history, August 8, 1948

  

  

   In Atlanta, Georgia, Indian's Bobby Hill and Harley-Davidson's Billy Huber cross the finish line in a dead heat and both are declared the winner. The only time that has happened in AMA Grand National competition.

  At the AMA 10-Mile National held at the Lakewood Park Mile in Atlanta, Georgia, coming into the final lap of the race Indian’s Bobby Hill held a 30-yard lead over Harley's Billy Huber. Huber cut the lead in half during the first turn, holding his position on the back straight. Hitting the final turn wide open, Huber drove out of the corner on the inside and pulled up to just 10 feet behind Hill. Taking advantage of Bobby’s draft, Billy Huber swung out with the finish line only 150 yards away. Determined, Billy cranked it pulling neck and neck with Hill. Both riders crossed the finish line simultaneously in a photo finish, setting a Lakewood Park track record of 7:46.47. With the crowd going batshit, President Mike Benton of the Lakewood Park Speedway declared both riders winners, and both riders received first-place prize money. The first and only tie in  AMA National history.

   Bobby Hill was known as one of Indian's famed "Wrecking Crew", along with Bill Tuman and Ernie  Beckman. The three made an indelible mark on the motorcycle history books and solidified Indian's racing reputation.

   Bobby Hill was AMA National Champion in 1951 and 1952 by virtue of his victories on the Springfield Mile. Hill won a total of 12 AMA Nationals during his professional racing career spanning the years 1947 to 1959. 

   Bill Tuman was the last single-day winner of the AMA Grand National Championship at the Springfield Mile in 1953 before the AMA Grand National Championship Series was created in 1954. That win also marked the last time an Indian rider won the prestigious AMA Grand National No. 1 plate. Tuman won a total of five AMA Grand Nationals during his racing career that spanned 1947 to 1955.

   Ernie Beckman earned ten podium finishes from 1949-1957 and only finished outside of the top 10 six times in that span. Beckman was the last rider to win an AMA Grand National race on an Indian— August 2, 1953 at Williams Grove, Pennsylvania.

   Billy Huber won the AMA 100-Mile National in 1950 and 1951, at the Langhorne Speedway near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He held multiple track records and is considered one of the strongest racers of his era.

   On July 5, 1953, with the temperature over 100 degrees at the 200-Mile National Championship race in Dodge City, Kansas, at the 140-mile mark Huber was overcome by heat stroke causing him to crash hard coming out of the corner. Tragically, he would die the next day from his injuries.

    All four men were inducted in the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1998.

 

    Today in motorcycle history is a proud supporter of the National Association for Bikers with a Disability (NABD).  www.nabd.org.uk

Today in motorcycle history, August 7, 1970

    


   

   

  Three-time NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle World Champion Angelle Monique Sampey is born in New Orleans, Louisiana.

  Angelle Sampey graduated from the Charity School of Nursing in New Orleans in 1995, and began working as an intensive care nurse in May of that year.  But, her burning passion for drag racing had continued to grow while she was in school and she knew it was something she needed to pursue.  Putting nursing on hold, Angelle attended Frank Hawley’s Drag Racing School in December of 1995 and then in July of 1996, she made her NHRA debut as a Pro Stock Motorcycle racer, competing at Bandimere Speedway in Denver, Colorado. She would win her first race at Reading, Pennsylvania, in September of that year in just the fourth start of her career. Sampey continued to be successful, winning a number of races on her Suzuki throughout the late 1990's while competing for Star Racing. In 2000, she won the NHRA World Championship, becoming the first woman to win the title since Shirley "Cha Cha" Muldowney. She followed this up by winning the title again the next season. Reaching twenty-two career victories that year, she became the winningest female in drag racing history. In 2002, Sampey claimed the NHRA World Championship crown for the third consecutive year, only the second racer to accomplish this feat.

  On June 23, 2007 at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, New Jersey, Sampey set the National Pro Stock Motorcycle elapsed time record with a 6.871 second run.

  Angelle Sampey retired from competitive drag racing on March 11, 2010.  Her final stats were a staggering 364 round wins out of 506 total rounds of competition or a win nearly 72 percent of the time she twisted the wick down the quarter-mile.

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

Today in motorcycle history, August 6, 2006

  


  

  Jim Pomeroy, the first U.S. motorcycle racer to win a World Championship Motocross event, dies when his 1979 Jeep CJ5 veers off the road near Tampico, Washington.

  Jim Pomeroy became the first American rider to win a FIM Motocross World  Championship race when he rode a Bultaco Pursang to victory in the 1973 250cc Spanish motocross Grand Prix. At the time, European riders completely dominated the sport of motocross and Americans weren't even mentioned in conversation. The news of his victory created a huge wave of excitement in the States where motocross was undergoing an explosive growth in popularity. His victory signaled that American motocross riders were finally ready to compete with the best in the world.



  Pomeroy achieved great success in the World Championship and AMA Motocross and Supercross series, but just as important, he motivated a whole new generation of riders.

  A partial list of Jim's firsts: he was the first American to win an FIM World Championship MX Event (Spain 1973), first rider to win his debut World Grand Prix Motocross race (Spain 1973), first American to lead the World Motocross Championship (Spain 1973), first winner of an indoor Supercross race (Houston, 1974), first American to win a moto at the U.S. 500cc Grand Prix race (Carlsbad 1977) and the first non-World Champion to win the Trophies des-Nations event.



  Jim Pomeroy was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1999.

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

Today in motorcycle history, August 5, 2011

  

         

  

 

  

  In Spirit Lake, Iowa, production begins on yet another version of Indian motorcycles.

  On July 20, 2006, the newly reincarnated Indian Motorcycle Company, owned largely by Stellican Limited, a London-based private equity firm, announced its new home in Kings Mountain, North Carolina.  It was restarting the Indian motorcycle brand, piecing together Indian Chief motorcycles in limited numbers, with a focus on exclusivity rather than performance, like a "luxury" watch. Starting out exactly where the defunct Gilroy-IMC "Garlic Indian" operation left off in 2003 (Indian Motorcycle Corporation went into bankruptcy and ceased all production operations (again) in the Garlic Capital of the World on September 19, 2003). The "Kings Mountain" models were to be a continuation of the models based on the new series of Indians developed in 1999. 

  In April 2011, Polaris Industries, the off-road and leisure vehicle (ATV, ski-mobile) maker and parent-company of Victory Motorcycles, announced its intention to acquire Indian Motorcycles. Indian's production facilities were then moved to Spirit Lake, Iowa, where production began on August 5, 2011. In March 2013, Indian unveiled their new 111-cubic-inch Thunder Stroke engine and I began to wonder, is this a bike motor or a new line of adult sex toys?  "Excuse me, Mr. Salesman, may I test ride that big Thunder Stroke?"

And Indian keeps going out of business why?



  In 1856, three brothers-in-law created the town of Spirit Lake after a visit to the Lakes area piqued their interest. Soon they were joined by various other settlers, intent on making homes along the lakes' scenic shores.  These settlers however, did not get along peacefully with the natives, and on March 13th, 1857, one hundred and fifty-six years prior to the Indian "Thunder Stroke", Chief Inkpaduta of the Dakota Sioux led a revolt against the non-native settlers, killing all but four women.

  The Indian Motorcycle brand name has been taken, fought over and purchased a number of times by a number of companies since Indian Motorcycle Manufacturing Company went bankrupt and ceased ALL operations in 1953.  Let's try one more time...

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

Today in motorcycle history, August 4, 1956

   

    

  The Delphin III becomes the first motorcycle to break 200 mph at Bonneville.

  To break the 200 mph barrier was the desired, but seemingly untouchable goal of many Bonneville motorcycle riders in the early 1950's.  That barrier is finally broken by the legendary German racer, Wihelm Herz.  Riding on a 500cc, supercharged, double overhead cam, V-Twin, NSU streamliner, Herz is clocked at 210.896 mph at the Bonneville Salt Flats.

  With its nearly 211 mph speed, the NSU "Delphin III" was the first bike to cross the 200 mph threshold. It was part of a concentrated onslaught on Bonneville by the German manufacturer, which was fixated on breaking the land speed record. The bike featured an experimental, three-lobe Wankel supercharger rotary device that helped to inspire the Wankel engine. Looking more like a fish out of water than a motorcycle, NSU reduced drag by redesigning the shape of the streamliner to give it its distinctive aerodynamic look. When the day came NSU needed a rider they could trust and that rider was Wilhelm Herz.



  Wilhelm Herz started his racing career in 1932 with DKW and switched over to NSU in 1939. He gained his reputation racing on  national and international courses like the Berlin AVUS, Grenzlandring, Isle of Man, Hockenheimring, Monza, Hohenstein-Ernstthal, Schleizer Dreieck, Helsinki, Schottenring, Nurburgring and Solitude. 

  Herz was honored for his merits in the field of motorsports by former German President Theodor Heuss who presented him the Silbernen Lorbeer in 1952 and in 1972 he received the Order of Merit by former Chancellor Dr. Helmut Kohl. The city of Hockenheim presented him with the Goldene Verdienstmedaille for his achievements at Hockenheimring, which he not only raced on, but managed from 1954 until 1992.

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