Larry Lawrence | July 17, 2018
Archives: Memphis Sizzler
Over the 42-year history of MotoAmerica/AMA Superbike Championship there have been a few tracks that were one and done. One of the circuits the championship visited just once and never returned was the sparsely attended 1987 AMA Superbike Championship event at Memphis International Motorsports Park. In spite of featuring one of the greatest rivalries in series history with Wayne Rainey vs. Kevin Schwantz, Tennessee racing fans simply shrugged. It didn’t help that the race was held in the dog days of summer and 100-degree temperatures made watching the race a true test of endurance, not to mention the challenges racers faced with the heat.
Archives: Memphis Sizzler
Even though the race did not attract a big fan turnout, many racers from the era look back on the race with fond memories. The Home of the Blues has always been known for its captivating night life and many of the racers and crew on hand that weekend took the opportunity to visit bars on Beale Street, so you might say Memphis became a fun work weekend.
The Memphis round was the second-to-last race in the ’87 AMA Superbike Championship and the title chase was still up in the air between Rainey and Schwantz. Both riders had won three races coming into Memphis (with Bubba Shobert the only other winner in the series that year) and the rivalry was intense to say the least. Not only was it Rainey vs Schwantz, two of the most talented riders in the history of motorcycle road racing, but it was also the two most dominant teams in AMA Superbike at that point, American Honda and Yoshimura Suzuki going at it tooth and nail. Protests had flown back and forth between the two and tensions were high.
Coming into 1987 Honda was on a roll, having won the AMA Superbike title three consecutive seasons. Suzuki was coming off a dry spell, but now had the potent GSX-R750 and Schwantz and they were eager to win back the championship for the first time since 1980.
Memphis International Motorsports Park was brand new when the AMA series visited. It was hoped that the track would prove to be another major attraction for the city. There was good pre-race publicity leading up to the AMA event, so it was hoped a big crowd would show up.
The road course was just 1.8-miles long and the layout brought mixed reviews. The circuit featured a half-mile long front straightaway, which favored brute horsepower and then a series of sweepers and switchbacks on the backside of the circuit. The track was fairly safe for the era, except for the final set of turns leading onto the straightway which were lined by concrete walls covered in haybales. Another issue was the last corner led riders right over the starting pad of the track’s drag strip and the transition from blacktop, to concrete and then thick rubber laid down by the drag racers was tricky to say the least. Paint stripes were also very slick and officials spent the entire weekend trying to burn off rubber and paint residue without much success.
Memphis in August can be downright brutal and such was the case on race weekend. Riders were coming off the track and then doing anything they could to cool themselves off. Wet towels stored in coolers filled with ice was a popular option.
AMA road racing was simply stacked with talent in the late 1980s. A number of future world champions and even one former world champ did battle that weekend.
Doug Polen started off the weekend with a victory in the AMA 600cc Supersport class. Almost unbelievably Polen won the race on the normally closely-matched Supersport bikes by 25 seconds over Greg Tysor. Jamie James was third. In order to fight the heat Polen took the extreme measure of drilling hundreds of small holes in the front of his leathers.
Team Leoni’s Jimmy Adamo scored victory in the Pro Twins class. It was at this race where AMA Grand National flat track superstar Chris Carr made his Pro Twins debut racing the famous Harley Owners Group sponsored Lucifer’s Hammer to fifth place.
Future world champion John Kocinski was battling former world champion Kork Ballington for the AMA 250cc Grand Prix Championship that season and in Memphis Kocinski clinched the title with a second-place run, finishing behind Randy Renfrow.
In the Superbike final it was Schwantz and Rainey battling in the early going. Schwantz’ team drilled holes in the windscreen of his GSXR to give him more air. On the second lap Schwantz took over the lead on his Suzuki and gradually pulled away to an eight-second victory over Rainey, whose Honda was overheating. It was so bad Rainey had to back off for a couple of laps to bring his bike’s temperature out of the red. In the process he dropped back to fourth, but once his machine cooled down a bit he was able to rally back to second. Rainey’s teammate Bubba Shobert took third. Doug Polen and Jimmy Filice rounded out the top five.
Earlier that weekend Schwantz had pocketed $10,000 by way of his Camel Challenge victory. Combined with his first-place purse for winning the race, Schwantz walked away from Memphis nearly $14,000 richer.
The victory kept Schwantz in the championship hunt, but just barely. Rainey only needed to finish 14th or better to clinch the title in the series finale later that month at Sears Point and while Schwantz also won that race, it was Rainey winning the championship.
Unfortunately, the promoters of the race took a beating financially because of poor attendance and Memphis was never on the calendar again. The timing of the race in early August all but doomed the event to failure. It would have been interesting to see what might have happened with the cooler weather of a spring or fall date, but it was not to be.
Memphis will go down as a one-hit wonder and race that the few who attended will always remember for the oppressive heat and the impressive talent they watched race that day.