Historic Thunder
By Héctor Cademartori
Photos courtesy of AHRMA
Racing is racing. It doesn’t matter if it’s the grid approaching the tight turn one hairpin at the Daytona 200, the start of the MotoGP in Austin or the Hard Case Jockeys (as our friend and brilliant journalist Joe Scalzo calls them) of MotoAmerica going down the Corkscrew in Laguna Seca. It doesn’t matter either if the hardware is brand new, very expensive, exotic, computer-run everything or if the field approaching the treacherous Turn One at Willow Springs is on 40 years old (or even older) hardware and the competitors are part of the 1,000 member-strong American Historic Racing Motorcycle Association. Racing is racing.
Their eclectic paddock is filled with bikes from all eras; from the small and rabid 50cc to wailing two-strokes GP 250s to thunderous Team Obsolete’s H-D 750s and even more modern bikes only a few years old. These WFO jockeys (again one of Scalzo’s apt designations) are young, not so young, amateurs and even legends of the race tracks.
We witnessed motorcycle greats Dave Roper and Walt Fulton (no introduction necessary here) going full throttle, wheel to wheel, on their 750 Harleys around Willow Springs’ big track as if it was the last lap of the World Championship. ‘’Threading the needle’’ is an expression which is defined as: “successfully accomplishing a task that requires great precision or finesse’’ and that’s the best definition of what these two were doing around Willow while the rest of the group were dicing three hundred yards behind them. FYI, Roper and Fulton are over seven decades young.
We made contact with AHRMA at Willow Springs and extended an invitation to be our guest of this year’s Japanese Classic Motorcycle Group Collector’s Corner. And they accepted.
The association is the largest vintage racing organization in North America and one of the biggest in the world offering not just vintage national and regional road racing, but also motocross, dirt track, observed trials and cross country competition. The machines active in AHRMA events span a full 100 years, from the 1920s to the 2020’s. AHRMA’s national championships schedules typically includes at least 15 rounds in each discipline.
The Road Racing events have taken place in some of the finest and most iconic venues in the United States: Road America, Daytona International, Laguna Seca, New Jersey Motorsports Park and Barber Motorsports Park among others. Those interested in fantastic vintage motorcycle racing may visit the association website: ahrma.org
JCCS’ Classic Japanese Motorcycle Group looks forward to visiting with AHRMA representatives during our event and we encourage AHRMA members to enter their motorcycles in the show, whether they’re racing bikes or not we’ll love to see them! See you all in Long Beach!
**More information about how to join AHRMA, and future race schedule visit . AHRMA.ORG
