Throwback Thursday: Springsteen’s First National Victory
Larry Lawrence | April 4, 2019
Throwback Thursday: Springsteen’s First National Victory
June of 1975 – John Denver’s “Thank God I’m a Country Boy” topped the radio charts, The French Connection II was leading the movie box office and Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This was also the month that a rookie expert named Jay Springsteen scored his very first AMA Grand National win. It came on the crushed limestone cushion half-mile in Louisville, Kentucky. “Springer” took off and won easily that night over fellow Harley-Davidson mounted Corky Keener and Gary Scott.
At the time Springsteen, who’d just turned 18, became the youngest ever to win an AMA Grand National, breaking the record held by Brad Andres for 20 years.
Springsteen’s sponsor at the time was Vista-Sheen, a t-shirt company based in Farmington, Michigan. As you can tell from this photo taken by then Cycle News East editor Gary Van Voorhis, the Vista-Sheen crew were very happy that night.
Springsteen went on to score a total of 43 AMA Grand National wins. He held the record for the most wins for a number of years until eclipsed by Scott Parker.
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