It’s impossible to decide what facet of AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days, featuring Riders of Kawasaki, is most appealing. The answer depends largely on the allegiance held by any particular attendee you talk to at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
But for maybe all except hill climbers, drag racers or land-speed aficionados, this three-day celebration of motorcycle history likely encompasses enough diversity of the sport to feed any taste.
It starts off with vintage hare scrambles racing followed by dirt track, motocross, observed trials and road racing (though that genre now offers classes for more contemporary machines). All competed for AMA Vintage Grand Championships in their respective classes. Oh, and after several years of outlaw, after-hours pit-bike racing, the AMA decided to make an official AMA Pit Bike TT with three different classes, though their races were for trophies only, not championships.
And there’s just as much action off the track with seminars on a number of subjects, bike shows and displays, autograph signings, the Wall of Death thrill show, a road tour plus a swap meet encompassing acres of seemingly everything two-wheel-related ever produced.
It’s been described as the Woodstock of vintage racing, though vendor Andy Gutish (father of EnduroCross/GNCC/ISDE racer Rachel and a former ISDE rider himself) dubbed the swap meet portion more akin to Sanford and Sons meets On Any Sunday.
While most attendees and racers come from the Midwest and East Coast, VMD has gained enough exposure and notoriety to pull participants from as far as California like first-timer Chip Howell. A former pro motocrosser and two-time ISDE competitor, he took part in both days of motocross on the deceptively tight track laid out in a large, grassy field just east of the Moto Armory Hangar which served as the focal point for all off-road competition.
Disappointed with his riding on Saturday, Howell entered Sunday’s two motos for Evolution 3 (linkage rear suspension, drum brakes, liquid-cooled, no power-valves except 1982-‘84 YZs) Masters 60+ determined to put his beautifully prepared 1981 YZ465 in front.
However, perennial winner Bob Bean—a former ISDE rider as well—did all he could to prevent that and led the deciding second moto until the flat tire on his 1982 CR250R finally got loose enough to make it impossible to hold Howell off any longer.
“He rode the wheels off that bike with a flat,” Howell said. “I’ve got to give him credit; he rode really well.”
The Californian went home happy and—naturally—had a very positive outlook on the entire weekend, which was up in the air until a couple weeks before due to work commitments among the friends who’d be driving a motor home with his bikes. Howell noted, “It’s something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time because I enjoy the vintage stuff.”
He added, “I can’t believe this place! It’s beautiful; the scenery’s beautiful, the countryside, the people—great people; they love to have a good time, for sure! It’s a huge event. I’ve never been to a motorcycle event [with this many people]; there must be 10,000 people here!”
Official estimates put the weekend total closer to 30,000 plus.
“I hope we can come back.”
On the road race side of things, 72-year-old Floridian “Doc” Batsleer exemplified the legions who come back year after year. Besides being among the oldest competitors, he probably rode the oldest bikes as well—1934 and 1935 Indian Scouts with 45-cubic-inch (750cc) V-twins featuring common-at-the-time three-speed gearboxes that you shifted with your left hand while operating the clutch with your left foot.
A veteran of many forms of motorsports competition, Batsleer revealed his unique philosophy regarding vintage racing. “It isn’t about fast. It’s about discipline,” he insisted, “and the first rule of discipline in any motorsports is: Never have a unit that’s better than you are. It’s unrewarding, unfulfilling. If you have a bike that you can master, that’s orgasmic!”
Former motocross champion Gary Semics was one of four grand marshals (the others being Jeff Fredette, Steve Johnson and Tony Nicosia) and said, “This place is awesome! These people are [for the most part] obviously older, but they bring their kids, too. They love it. They just reminisce on what they saw when they were growing up and who their heroes were, what bikes they were riding and racing. And it’s such a huge event! I’m surprised how big it is.
“If you like two wheels, you’ve got to be here!” CN
Click here to read this in the Cycle News Digital Edition Magazine.
Story and Photography By Mark Kariya
