Turns out they made airplanes for time, too. Here's a 1929 Crosley Moonbeam that I saw on Friday in the Aviation Museum of Kentucky at Blue Grass Airport in Lexington. I also peeked through the fence in the airport's general aviation area to see this old Boeing 727 set up for horse transport. One of my racing friends said she's actually loaded horses onto it. I cannot imagine there are too many 727s still flying. Noisy, smokey, poor fuel mileage. Relatively inexpensive buy-in, I guess. A guy near where I live trucked one onto his property and made a house out of it.
Here's more on Mr. Crosley.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powel_Crosley_Jr.
Here's more on Mr. Crosley.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powel_Crosley_Jr.
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May and early June have been all about mile tracks. In short order the series visited Phoenix and Sacramento- described above -then on to Springfield, Illinois, Lexington, Kentucky, and then to Oklahoma City last weekend. I made it to all of them except Springfield. It's the only venue that runs twice during the season. I'll be there for the second running on Labor Day weekend.
No two mile ovals are really alike. First, they're not all the same length. The can range from 3/4 mile to as much as 1-1/4 mile around. Springfield is enormous. They won't run single cylinder bikes there because they cannot take the stress. Also, some tracks are wider than others, and the turns have different radiuses at different tracks. All of these tracks are all used primarily for horse racing. Some are set up for thoroughbreds, where the jockey sits right on the horse. Those tracks usually have fluffy soil that needs to be packed down for bikes. Whether it stays packed down during the event is affected by the nature of the dirt and the quality of the track prep. Other tracks are trotter tracks, where the horses pull little carts. The dirt at those tracks is usually packed a bit harder to begin with. The nature of the surface will determine whether there are multiple lines through the turns, or just a narrow blue groove.
I hadn't been to the Kentucky track before. It's unusual feature is that the turns at one end of the oval are a little tighter than at the other end, and the straightaways have slightly different lengths. It all makes bike setup and gearing selection a bit tricky. The pit area was just outside of turn four and the organizers allowed teams to line the turn four rail to watch the races. I liked that. There are not a lot of tracks where you can stand right against the outside fence and look inward. Impact zones are carefully considered at all tracks.
Oklahoma was was a new track for me, too. It was so hot there. It's a sandy thoroughbred track that is really wide, but with fairly tight turns. The surface was packed, and some calcium chloride had been mixed in to help it hold water. But it broke up and rutted a little during the evening, especially where turn four leads onto the front straight. It wasn't too bad, but you could see some bikes get a little upset as they came around.
This weekend the series moved to the half-mile track in Lima, Ohio. I love Lima and its loose pea gravel surface. This is no blue groove track. They say that Lima has more lines than a telephone switchboard, but I think that's a really dated metaphor. I had to skip it this year because I couldn't get the days off work to travel. I'll try to get back there next year. Since I couldn't go watch other guys ride their bikes this weekend, I got out my old Yamaha street bike for a nice evening ride yesterday.
Here are some pictures from Kentucky and Oklahoma and from my ride last night.
No two mile ovals are really alike. First, they're not all the same length. The can range from 3/4 mile to as much as 1-1/4 mile around. Springfield is enormous. They won't run single cylinder bikes there because they cannot take the stress. Also, some tracks are wider than others, and the turns have different radiuses at different tracks. All of these tracks are all used primarily for horse racing. Some are set up for thoroughbreds, where the jockey sits right on the horse. Those tracks usually have fluffy soil that needs to be packed down for bikes. Whether it stays packed down during the event is affected by the nature of the dirt and the quality of the track prep. Other tracks are trotter tracks, where the horses pull little carts. The dirt at those tracks is usually packed a bit harder to begin with. The nature of the surface will determine whether there are multiple lines through the turns, or just a narrow blue groove.
I hadn't been to the Kentucky track before. It's unusual feature is that the turns at one end of the oval are a little tighter than at the other end, and the straightaways have slightly different lengths. It all makes bike setup and gearing selection a bit tricky. The pit area was just outside of turn four and the organizers allowed teams to line the turn four rail to watch the races. I liked that. There are not a lot of tracks where you can stand right against the outside fence and look inward. Impact zones are carefully considered at all tracks.
Oklahoma was was a new track for me, too. It was so hot there. It's a sandy thoroughbred track that is really wide, but with fairly tight turns. The surface was packed, and some calcium chloride had been mixed in to help it hold water. But it broke up and rutted a little during the evening, especially where turn four leads onto the front straight. It wasn't too bad, but you could see some bikes get a little upset as they came around.
This weekend the series moved to the half-mile track in Lima, Ohio. I love Lima and its loose pea gravel surface. This is no blue groove track. They say that Lima has more lines than a telephone switchboard, but I think that's a really dated metaphor. I had to skip it this year because I couldn't get the days off work to travel. I'll try to get back there next year. Since I couldn't go watch other guys ride their bikes this weekend, I got out my old Yamaha street bike for a nice evening ride yesterday.
Here are some pictures from Kentucky and Oklahoma and from my ride last night.
Suffered apparent failure of my Macbook Pro's touch pad today. It's six years old and has seen lots of rough use, so I'm not too disappointed. I take this thing to the races, camping, out to my shop, just everywhere. I use it to order minibike parts. :scared: Weird to use a mouse, but glad we had one lying around. I have an iPhone, but almost never use it to access the internet. Parts have been ordered and now's a good time to upgrade some internal bits, too.
I'm so glad to have a best friend who has the skills and tools to tear one of these apart and put it back together. I'm also glad that I don't have any out-of-town trips scheduled until the end of July.
I'm so glad to have a best friend who has the skills and tools to tear one of these apart and put it back together. I'm also glad that I don't have any out-of-town trips scheduled until the end of July.
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I went to a race up in Washington on Saturday. I haven't processed many photos yet because of my broken laptop. I spent this morning replacing the broken track pad. While I was in there also installed a 1TB solid state hard drive and a new battery. I also cleaned out a couple of years worth of dust bunnies and cookie crumbs. I had installed more RAM the last time it was open. So many tiny screws hold it together! Now it works just fine and I'm back in business.
This afternoon our oldest kid (he's 38) came down from Seattle. I let him tear around the neighborhood on my Fimco mini for awhile, and then we went for a spin on my Honda C70s.
It's been a good weekend.
This afternoon our oldest kid (he's 38) came down from Seattle. I let him tear around the neighborhood on my Fimco mini for awhile, and then we went for a spin on my Honda C70s.
It's been a good weekend.
That's the kind of weekend to enjoy just being home and some peace and quiet but that won't be the case tomorrow night.
I went to the downtown sunday market in my now finished Palmer Mobility scooter, it got a lot of attention and I didn't run over anyone. It was a fun time for me to get out of the house go down to the boat docks and enjoy the action on the mighty Columbia River.
I went to the downtown sunday market in my now finished Palmer Mobility scooter, it got a lot of attention and I didn't run over anyone. It was a fun time for me to get out of the house go down to the boat docks and enjoy the action on the mighty Columbia River.
Two weekends ago I attended the Dirt Quake USA event at the raceway in Castle Rock, Wash. What a hoot. This annual event is now on my permanent calendar. It draws lots of people and machines that you don't often see at the races, with flat track racing for "inappropriate" bikes. Actually, on the first day of the two-day event they had most of the classes you'd see at any regular club race. But on day two there are classes for choppers, trikes and sidecars, and minis, and a couple of classes for regular flat track racers, just to add perspective. There is also a race for hooligan bikes, mostly lightly-modified Indian Scouts, and H-D Sportsters and GX750s.
When I travel to pro races I always go alone, and hang out with what has become sort of a parallel family. At this event my kids and dirt bike pals and other old friends come along and we camp out together all weekend.
As in years past there was also a jump contest- try that on a chopper - music, food, adult beverages, a swap meet and vendors. This year they added Ducati Scrambler demo rides. I only saw the police come once but the party was in full swing and they just sort of shrugged and drove on through.
The snowmobile that has raced here before was in a big crash last year didn't come back.
Lots more minis showed up this year. OldMiniBikes member wardog was there with his three-wheel drive and two-wheel drive minis. Another OldMiniBikes member, aranhawaii, had a stretched DB30. Both of those guys won prizes in the bike show, and both have build threads here on OldMiniBikes. I brought my Fimco mini w/Predator engine. It was my error not to race it. That bike would have been in the hunt on the 3/8 mile oval, for sure.
Last year, my old roadracing pal, John, raced my kid's Z50 in the minibike class. Since then, he's found his own Z50 sidecar rig (local CL find!) and raced it w/the other three wheelers. He also found a pretty girl to be the sidecar monkey. After practice they decided that he could go faster without her, so he just rode it sort of sidesaddle in the races. There were other much faster bikes in the class, but he tried hard.
Here are some pics from Dirt Quake USA.
When I travel to pro races I always go alone, and hang out with what has become sort of a parallel family. At this event my kids and dirt bike pals and other old friends come along and we camp out together all weekend.
As in years past there was also a jump contest- try that on a chopper - music, food, adult beverages, a swap meet and vendors. This year they added Ducati Scrambler demo rides. I only saw the police come once but the party was in full swing and they just sort of shrugged and drove on through.
The snowmobile that has raced here before was in a big crash last year didn't come back.
Lots more minis showed up this year. OldMiniBikes member wardog was there with his three-wheel drive and two-wheel drive minis. Another OldMiniBikes member, aranhawaii, had a stretched DB30. Both of those guys won prizes in the bike show, and both have build threads here on OldMiniBikes. I brought my Fimco mini w/Predator engine. It was my error not to race it. That bike would have been in the hunt on the 3/8 mile oval, for sure.
Last year, my old roadracing pal, John, raced my kid's Z50 in the minibike class. Since then, he's found his own Z50 sidecar rig (local CL find!) and raced it w/the other three wheelers. He also found a pretty girl to be the sidecar monkey. After practice they decided that he could go faster without her, so he just rode it sort of sidesaddle in the races. There were other much faster bikes in the class, but he tried hard.
Here are some pics from Dirt Quake USA.
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Last weekend I went down to California for the Calistoga Half-Mile event at the Napa County Fairgrounds. I love California, and especially enjoy visiting the Bay area and Wine Country, even though i don't care for wine very much. This was a good event. It was run well and reasonably safe. There was a good turnout of racers and spectators, and a young friend of mine had his maiden main event win in the class for junior riders. Tanner Dean, #138 in the photos, is a 16-year-old from Tacoma, Wash., and this is his first year as a pro. Calistoga was only his fourth pro race, and it is a very competitive class.
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Two weekends ago I was back in Illinois for the Peoria TT. The organizers of this event claim it to be the oldest continuously running event on the Pro circuit, having started in 1947. The track, nestled in a small valley in the rolling countryside, has changed little in all those years. The most famous aspect of the circuit is its jump and righthand turn. Most flat track races are held on ovals. This year, riders in the faster of two classes are back on 750cc twin cylinder bikes at all events in the series. The last time that twins raced on this track was in 1986. Since then, but the top class and the junior class have raced singles at Peoria.
To make the track safer for the faster, heavier twins, the track's jump was reconfigured into a step-up design which slowed them a bit and also created passing opportunities because there are now multiple lines available. After some initial grumbling, most everyone accepted the change as an improvement once things got going. Last week I saw a video of the race from the 50s on You Tube and the jump then looked very much like the new design used this year.
Michigan rider Henry Wiles (17) won the race in the top class. It was his thirteenth win in a row here. He's now won it on singles and on a twin, and with the new jump and the old one. This place just suits his style. He is not nearly as dominant on oval tracks.
This is one of my favorite places to take pictures. There are lots of great places to watch from, and the bikes do more than just go around in circles. I also love the food here, where they offer pork chop sandwiches and other great stuff. I like to say that it's a nice place to have lunch, and you get to see a motorcycle race while you're eating.
Here are some pics from the race, one of riders walking over the new jump before practice, and a shot of my lunch. :smile:
To make the track safer for the faster, heavier twins, the track's jump was reconfigured into a step-up design which slowed them a bit and also created passing opportunities because there are now multiple lines available. After some initial grumbling, most everyone accepted the change as an improvement once things got going. Last week I saw a video of the race from the 50s on You Tube and the jump then looked very much like the new design used this year.
Michigan rider Henry Wiles (17) won the race in the top class. It was his thirteenth win in a row here. He's now won it on singles and on a twin, and with the new jump and the old one. This place just suits his style. He is not nearly as dominant on oval tracks.
This is one of my favorite places to take pictures. There are lots of great places to watch from, and the bikes do more than just go around in circles. I also love the food here, where they offer pork chop sandwiches and other great stuff. I like to say that it's a nice place to have lunch, and you get to see a motorcycle race while you're eating.
Here are some pics from the race, one of riders walking over the new jump before practice, and a shot of my lunch. :smile:
Thank you. For a long time the series has had two classes. Think of them as the varsity and JV teams. The varsity class rode twins at most tracks, mainly mile and half-mile ovals. In the past few years those top guys have mostly been on Harley and Kawasaki-powered bikes, with a few Yamahas, Ducatis, KTMs, Suzukis and modern Triumphs. Through a quirk in the rules, all use modified street bike engines except the Harleys. HD was sort of grandfathered into the rules w/their XR750 race engine which dates to 1970. They all use custom-built frames. Honda does not participate, though many wish they would.
The JV class rides singles, and in the past ten years or so have changed from bikes w/custom frames and 600cc Rotax engines to using modified 450cc MX bikes. Hondas are the favorite, but Yamaha is also a competitive brand. JV guys (and a few gals) would ride twins at a couple of events, to allow them seat time on bigger bikes as they prepared to move up in the ranks.
At some tracks, such as the Daytona short track and Peoria TT, the varsity guys rode singles instead of twins. The problem is that only one or two of the companies supplying two-cylinder engines also make a single. It's really hard for Harley to say they won the championship if their rider was on a Honda for three out of fifteen events.
It was all very confusing for the teams and for the fans.
This year the organizers finally wised up and said the varsity class will ride twins at all races and the JV class will ride singles at all races. This allows a single manufacturer to claim full credit for a season championship in either class. That's what it took to draw the new Indian into the game, and it appears they're going to win. If a JV rider wants to get seat time on a twin, he'll have to do it at a non-championship event. They had to modify the Peoria track for safety, and the smallest track in the series was dropped in favor of one that is larger.
I believe this has all been for the good of the sport. Here are a some random shots of a two-cylinder Harley XR750 w/custom frame, a Kawasaki twin w/custom frame and a Honda CRF450 single.
The JV class rides singles, and in the past ten years or so have changed from bikes w/custom frames and 600cc Rotax engines to using modified 450cc MX bikes. Hondas are the favorite, but Yamaha is also a competitive brand. JV guys (and a few gals) would ride twins at a couple of events, to allow them seat time on bigger bikes as they prepared to move up in the ranks.
At some tracks, such as the Daytona short track and Peoria TT, the varsity guys rode singles instead of twins. The problem is that only one or two of the companies supplying two-cylinder engines also make a single. It's really hard for Harley to say they won the championship if their rider was on a Honda for three out of fifteen events.
It was all very confusing for the teams and for the fans.
This year the organizers finally wised up and said the varsity class will ride twins at all races and the JV class will ride singles at all races. This allows a single manufacturer to claim full credit for a season championship in either class. That's what it took to draw the new Indian into the game, and it appears they're going to win. If a JV rider wants to get seat time on a twin, he'll have to do it at a non-championship event. They had to modify the Peoria track for safety, and the smallest track in the series was dropped in favor of one that is larger.
I believe this has all been for the good of the sport. Here are a some random shots of a two-cylinder Harley XR750 w/custom frame, a Kawasaki twin w/custom frame and a Honda CRF450 single.
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Still more racing. It hasn't allowed much time for playing w/minis lately, but that will change in a few weeks when the season winds down. Last weekend I went out to a race near Goldendale, Wash. The farming community of Goldendale is in south-central Wash., just north of the Columbia River and about 100 miles east of where I live near Portland, Ore.
The half-mile oval track is built into a hillside at the Eddieville Motorsports Park, looking out over wheat and corn fields. Because of the hillside location, the back straight is about ten feet lower in elevation from the front straight. This is unusual for a flat track race course. Mount Adams rises on the horizon to the north, and large windmills line the horizon to the east and south. It's very windy there.
Eddieville hosts lots of amateur MX and off-road races, but the flat track had not been used since 2008. The organizers are trying set up a full series of races for 2018, and this was sort of a dress rehearsal. The turnout of racers and fans was light, but it was well run and everyone had fun. Some guys came over from the adjacent MX track to race their motocross bikes and side-by-sides. There was a really great derelict fire tuck sitting in the weeds.
The half-mile oval track is built into a hillside at the Eddieville Motorsports Park, looking out over wheat and corn fields. Because of the hillside location, the back straight is about ten feet lower in elevation from the front straight. This is unusual for a flat track race course. Mount Adams rises on the horizon to the north, and large windmills line the horizon to the east and south. It's very windy there.
Eddieville hosts lots of amateur MX and off-road races, but the flat track had not been used since 2008. The organizers are trying set up a full series of races for 2018, and this was sort of a dress rehearsal. The turnout of racers and fans was light, but it was well run and everyone had fun. Some guys came over from the adjacent MX track to race their motocross bikes and side-by-sides. There was a really great derelict fire tuck sitting in the weeds.
Labor day weekend I was back in Illinois again for the historic Springfield Mile at the Illinois State fairgrounds. This is actually two events in one. I've mentioned before that mile tracks are not all the same, and this one is huge. The track is so big and the speeds so high that the single cylinder machines will simply burst.
On Saturday, those smaller machines run on a short track at the fairgrounds' multi-use stadium. This is one of my favorite places to take photos. The lighting is usually good, and the soil and backgrounds have good colors. There used to be a lovely tent-like cover over the grandstands, but it was damaged in a storm last winter and they took it down. The racing is great, too. These guys bang bars and elbows like you wouldn't believe. The clay surface is tilled and watered between sessions and the roost just flies. Unless you're in the lead, you get a face full of dirt the entire time. See the photo of #67, below, for a graphic depiction. For those of us standing in the margins, it just rains dirt and rocks the entire time. At the end of the night my hair is full of dirt and there are clumps of dirt in my pockets, down my shirt and in my shorts and shoes.
They run one class specially for retired pro riders, all on matching Spanish Bultaco motorcycles. They ride flat out, as if there was a championship on the line. These are my idols from back in the day, only now I realize I'm older than most of them. Geez.
On Sunday, the twin cylinder bikes use that big mile track. The turns at this track are so broad that they barely let off the throttle. I get to stand on the edge of the track at the start/finish line. When 18 bikes take off for the main event it is such a rush! They run about 125 mph down the straights. This year the factory Indian team ran 1-2-3, separated by only 00.072 seconds at the finish after 25 laps. #9 did a great smokey burnout for the fans after taking his tuner for a victory lap.
Here are some pictures, starting with the short track.
The Mile...
On Saturday, those smaller machines run on a short track at the fairgrounds' multi-use stadium. This is one of my favorite places to take photos. The lighting is usually good, and the soil and backgrounds have good colors. There used to be a lovely tent-like cover over the grandstands, but it was damaged in a storm last winter and they took it down. The racing is great, too. These guys bang bars and elbows like you wouldn't believe. The clay surface is tilled and watered between sessions and the roost just flies. Unless you're in the lead, you get a face full of dirt the entire time. See the photo of #67, below, for a graphic depiction. For those of us standing in the margins, it just rains dirt and rocks the entire time. At the end of the night my hair is full of dirt and there are clumps of dirt in my pockets, down my shirt and in my shorts and shoes.
They run one class specially for retired pro riders, all on matching Spanish Bultaco motorcycles. They ride flat out, as if there was a championship on the line. These are my idols from back in the day, only now I realize I'm older than most of them. Geez.
On Sunday, the twin cylinder bikes use that big mile track. The turns at this track are so broad that they barely let off the throttle. I get to stand on the edge of the track at the start/finish line. When 18 bikes take off for the main event it is such a rush! They run about 125 mph down the straights. This year the factory Indian team ran 1-2-3, separated by only 00.072 seconds at the finish after 25 laps. #9 did a great smokey burnout for the fans after taking his tuner for a victory lap.
Here are some pictures, starting with the short track.
The Mile...