The “Good Ol’ Days” returned to Daytona International Speedway for the seventh annual day of retro racing. Vintage Day is as much about the bikes as it is about the racing (maybe even a little more), and there were again some beautifully restored and pristine gems ready to relive the glory days. It was almost a shame to see them get dirty. As many photos were taken in the pits as there were on the track, and the bikes were impressive, to say the least.
Photography by Alex Kelly
There were plenty of old Suzukis, Hondas, Maicos, CZs, “pull start” bikes, a few old Pentons and much more. Some of the bikes were still being raced by their original owners, which means they had spent nearly 50 years wiping up oil leaks in the same place in the garage. Classes were broken into six different groups, starting with Vintage and going through 2008 with the Revolution 2 classes, broken up into age groups. In all, there were 36 classes. The coolest part for the racers is that they got to race on basically the same track as the pros did on Saturday night, with a few modifications and most of the jumps smoothed over and lowered.
Kentucky’s Payton Hardin had a great day winning all six of his motos, sweeping both motos of the Evolution 1 class, Evolution 2 class, and both motos of the Vintage class on a pair of Yamahas. The Evolution 1 class is restricted to 1979-and-earlier air-cooled bikes with drum brakes and no suspension linkage, while the Revolution 2 class is restricted to 1984-and-earlier air-cooled bikes with drum brakes and no suspension linkage.
Florida’s Steve Nagy (Yamaha) was another multi-class winner, taking championships in the Revolution 2 (40+) class and the Revolution 2 Masters (50+) class. The Revolution 2 class is restricted to two-strokes with disc brakes.
Addison Emory won both motos of the King of Daytona XR 200 race (Honda XR 200), which was a class added two years ago.
Kudos to Donny Banks for winning both motos of the Elite Masters (65+) class. In fact, there were 13 riders in the 65+ class. Beats playing golf any day.
Torre Streifthau swept both motos of the Warrior class, which is reserved for first responders and military. There were 19 riders entered in the Warrior class.
Also on hand was AHRMA champion Jerry Mattox, whose collection included a beautiful 1980 Honda CR250R and a couple of early ’70s CR125s.
“I think there’s a lot of people in this world that would never get the opportunity,” Mattox said as to why so many come to Daytona to race their prize possessions. “I mean, most racers in the world never get the opportunity to race at Daytona Speedway. For me, I am a retired professional, and I was one of the blessed people to race Daytona back in the ’80s and to come back and revisit [on my] 1974 CR125—that’s what makes it special for me. It’s just amazing to take an old Elsinore and go around that track. It’s just clearly for fun.” CN
2025 Daytona Vintage Day Results
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