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“Wreckage-Strewn”
By Kent Taylor
If motorcycling racing fans could wave a magic wand and make certain infamous events go away, there would be a far too long list of races that should never have happened. The Monza Grand Prix of 1973, where both Renzo Pasolini and Jarno Saarinen were killed. The 1975 Saddleback Trans-AMA, where Jim West became the first rider to lose his life in AMA motocross competition. The 2011 Malaysian Grand Prix, where budding road-race star Marco Simoncelli died after an early-race crash. Sadly, there are many other races that, in hindsight, should be black-flagged from the books. Damn them for their ugly stains on the history of two-wheeled racing.
Add to that list one more event, a 1974 Half Mile AMA dirt track race in Denver, Colorado, where a 25-lap race was called at the 20-lap mark, about 20 laps too late. An unsafe racetrack was putting AMA legends like Kenny Roberts, David Aldana and Jim Rice to the test. They were great riders, thrashed about as if they were rhesus monkeys in a shady laboratory. Thankfully, there were no deaths, at least none on the track that night, which might be the only reason the events of this particular day have been all but forgotten by everyone other than the racers who went into battle that evening on May 24, 1974.
The AMA’s 1974 Grand National season would eventually become a two-rider battle between Roberts and Gary Scott, two young rivals who had been competing since their junior days. But as of May, the number one plate was still very much on the table, and veterans like Gene Romero, Mert Lawwill, David Aldana and others were in the mix. Even Dick Mann, who would turn 40 just a few weeks later, was showing enough speed to make the results.
The Cycle News photos by journalist Richard Creed explicitly tell the story of a race that should never have happened. In his article, he described the race as “a wreckage-strewn main event,” and of the four published photos, two show riders either crashed or in the process of crashing. Even without the illustrations, Creed’s text makes it clear that this race was going to be won by the last man standing. “Kenny Roberts unloaded spectacularly. Jim Rice…slid out in turn two. Dave Aldana also got off. Roger Crump ended his ride before it began as he crashed heavily in the second turn ‘while taking a warmup lap.’ ”
The race promoters didn’t need Columbo to figure out the cause of the mayhem. Most of these crashes took place in turn two, where “vicious ruts, chuckholes and berms” were creating havoc for the racers. Aldana, photographed in mid-highside, nearly saved it but didn’t, and his number 13 Norton slid under the apparently well-exposed guardrail. And just one more thing: it nearly took out a crowd of spectators before finally sliding to a halt amidst a cloud of dust.
Lawwill and Scott were heat race winners that night, apparently taking advantage of the track’s gnarly conditions. “Lawwill and Scott rode brilliantly,” Creed wrote, “using their heads, as they treated the deep ruts like berms, while others tried to blast their way around.” Making the most of the situation paid off for the two Harley-Davidson team riders, as they finished 1-2 in the main event.
Behind them in third was Triumph rider Mike Kidd, who had loaned out his spare racer to 13th-place finisher John Hateley. A fatal auto accident involving racer Terry Dorsch and his mechanic had occurred when the two men were en route to Denver. Dorsch was injured, but his mechanic was killed in the crash. Hateley’s bikes were inside the Dorsch van, leaving Lil’ John to go hunting for a ride in Denver, and Kidd came through for him. When they aren’t bashing bars on the track, motorcycle racers are all part of a very big family.
Lawwill’s popular main event win, along with Dick Mann’s victory in the Trophy Dash, eased the sour taste of the evening. It would be one of Mert’s last AMA racing victories, a win he wasn’t particularly proud of. He told Cycle World magazine that after accepting his trophy cup, he later handed it over to the AMA. It was “tarnished,” he said. It certainly was.CN
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