Larry Lawrence | December 7, 2016
It would not be exaggerating to say that Eraldo Ferracci had a huge influence that led to a new era of V-Twin dominated Superbike racing of the mid-1990s to early 2000s. Ferracci Ducatis became so dominant in both AMA and World Superbike, that at least a couple of the Japanese makers felt compelled to reply, by designing their own V-Twin-powered Superbikes. The V-Twin-powered Honda RC51 and the Suzuki TL1000R were direct responses by Japanese makers to Ducati Superbikes that Ferracci first made competitive.
Pete Johnson’s success in the Pro Twins GP2 class gave Ferracci his first success in AMA Pro road racing, but the big breakthrough came in 1988 when Dale Quarterley won the Pro Twins (aka Battle of the Twins) Championship on a Fast by Ferracci (FBF) Ducati 851.
Ducati sent Ferracci one of the first 851s and ultimately wanted him to race it in Superbike.
“We got the motorcycle at my shop and it was stock,” Ferracci recalls. “We found it only had 90 horsepower. I thought, ‘Holy shit, we’ve got a lot of work to do.’ The deal was I could not screw with the fuel injection. The factory wanted to make sure we used it. I think we got the horsepower up to 105-106, but I told the factory to win I needed to be able to get all the parts and electronics or forget about it. It was a little bit of a struggle, but finally they agreed and told me just to keep them up to date with what I was doing.”
Ferracci upped the ante in ‘89 when Quarterley began racing the FBF Ducati in the AMA Superbike class. The Ducati was still considered an underdog against the Japanese-built Superbikes, but Quarterely scored a pair of podium finish on the bike that season, including a solid runner-up finish to Yoshimura Suzuki’s Jamie James at Loudon.
Ferracci was still perfecting the Ducati 851 as a Superbike and reliability was sometimes an issue, but he and his crew gradually found weak points and fixed them and the bike became ever more competitive. Jamie James raced the FBF Ducati in 1990 (wearing the No.1 plate he’d won by scoring the AMA Superbike title the season before with Yoshimura Suzuki). James continued to score podiums for the team, but victory remained elusive. Ferracci Ducati went on the world stage in World Superbike and James led races and finished on the podium three times.
“Jamie could have won a couple of those World Superbike races,” Ferracci claims. “But Ducati wanted us to help them win the championship, so he let Raymond Roche by a couple of times.”
Ferracci Ducati’s period of dominance began in 1991. That year Ducati launched its legendary 888 and hired Doug Polen to race for the squad. An indication of how well Polen and the Ducati 888 meshed came in pre-season AMA testing at Daytona, where Polen shattered the track record. Ferracci knew he could beat the Japanese makers in the AMA Superbike Championship, but even Ducati bosses in Italy were skeptical. “They told me I was dreaming,” Ferracci smiles.
But Ferracci had fabricated parts to make the Ducati 888 a world beater, with things like a slipper clutch, electronic shifter and clever suspension modifications, which allowed the rider to brake much deeper without upsetting the chassis. Ferracci’s motorcycles were far ahead of their time and even the factories were playing catch up to the long-time expertise of Ferracci.
Polen broke a chain early in the ’91 Daytona 200 and with the three-month break between Daytona and Loudon, Ducati asked Ferracci if he wanted to bring Polen to the opening World Superbike race at Donington Park. Polen stunned the WSBK regulars by winning the pole and easily winning the first race. The decision was made to have Polen contest both the AMA and World Superbike Championships. He dominated the ’91 World Superbike Series like no one before, winning a jaw-dropping 16 of 26 races and taking the championship with 432 points to runner-up Raymond Roche’s 282 points on the factory Ducati.
In 1992 Polen successfully defended his World Superbike title on the Ferracci Ducati. He also finished third in the AMA Superbike Championship and gave Ducati its first AMA Superbike victory since 1979.
In 1993 the Ferracci/Polen combo finally scored the coveted AMA Superbike Championship marking the first time the Italian maker took the top prize in America. His motorcycle was so dominant that the AMA made him add 50 pounds to it mid-season. Ferracci Ducati had become one of the most successful road racing team in the world and Eraldo’s lasting reputation as a tuner and team owner was complete.
After losing Polen to Honda, Ferracci proved he could continue winning by scoring yet another AMA Superbike Championship with Australian Troy Corser in 1994.
Even when he wasn’t winning championships Ferracci’s teams produced some of the most memorable victories in AMA Superbike. In May of 1995 Freddie Spencer rode a Ferracci Ducati to victory at Laguna Seca, marking the final win for the road racing legend. In ’96 a little-known Italian named Alessandro Gramigni shocked the paddock by taking victory on a wet Road America on the Ferracci Ducati. Mat Mladin, after failing to earn a win in his first year in AMA Superbike with Yoshimura Suzuki, scored the first of his many wins on a Ferracci machine.
In addition to his phenomenal success on the track, Ferracci became a beloved character in the paddock. He got along well with the other team members and hosted wonderful Italian lunches that became the place to eat during AMA Superbike weekends.
Ferracci could also be brutally honest. Once, when one of his riders was not performing up to par, the rider pulled in after a practice session and Ferracci didn’t sugar coat it. He said to him, “I hope you find a good career, because motorcycle racer isn’t going to be it.”
When Ducati was sold to a private equity investment firm in the late 1990s, the new owners split Ferracci’s racing resources in half and gave the rest to Vance & Hines. It felt like a slap in the face to Ferracci, who’d been so instrumental in helping revive Ducati’s racing fortunes.
In 2000 Ferracci took on a new challenge by running an AMA National Supercross/Motocross team for Husqvarna. He earned success in that arena as well. Ferracci Husqvarna won the 125 Supercross class at the Houston Astrodome in 2001 with Travis Preston. It marked the first non-Japanese brand to get a win in the history of small-bore supercross class.
Today Ferracci is approaching 80 years old and after 60-plus years in the business he still finds the energy to come in every morning at 6:00 am. “I’d come in earlier, but the alarm would go off,” he laughs. The family motorcycle dealership in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, is slated to close soon, but Ferracci won’t fully retire. He said he still plans to keep the mail order business going and simply scale back his work schedule to try to enjoy at least some form of part-time retirement.
“I have a pass to go to any MotoGP race I want,” Ferracci said warily of possible retirement plans. “I don’t know. I might travel more and maybe watch some races, but I don’t like to fly too much. We’ll see how it goes.”