Indianapolis Ama National Road Races
INDIANAPOLIS AMA NATIONAL ROAD RACES
IVAN J. WAGAR
INDIANAPOLIS, A NAME steeped in racing tradition, was the scene of the annual Floyd Clymer-promoted 110 mile AMA roadrace, formerly held at Des Moines, lowa. The venue was not, however, the world famous "Brick Yard," but rather the flat, fast strip of almost virgin tarmac at Indianapolis Raceway Park. IRP has been used for motorcycle racing previously, and at that time the main circuit, plus a twisty little back section, produced an extremely challenging bit of road that did not place too much emphasis on horsepower.
But this year, the main circuit was used with a wiggle at the top to create a double S bend. This left a long, front straight and brought moans from the private tuners, who felt someone at the front office wanted to be sure the fastest motorcycle won the race. This was not necessarily the
case, however, as Cal Rayborn put in his best ride since last year's Carlsbad nation al to win from a field that continued to outshine itself as the laps reeled by.
It would be very difficult, indeed, to pick the rider putting in the best ride of the weekend. Unlike many roadraces, In dianapolis produced some of the finest in dividual performances so far this year, with at least a dozen riders in the absolutely outstanding category.
San Francisco's young Art Baumann, who has to be one of the six best roadracers in the country, won the amateur race with his left side and the back of the machine covered in oil. Dick Hammer, still in pain from his crash at Santa Rosa the week before, had to be lifted from his Triumph after finishing second in the big bike race. Dickie Newell finished fourth on his first Team Yamaha ride in the 250 race, then turned up at the course Sunday, borrowed a machine, and scrapped with George Roeder and Buddy Elmore for the
whole race to take 5th place at the finish. After losing a half minute at the start, Ron Grant proved he could ride with the best as he took his Team Suzuki into second place in the 250 race.
Heartbreak was in store for Gary Nix on, who, after displaying superb mastery in Saturday's 250 race, retired with igni tion trouble, and so lost his point lead in the national title chase. As opposed to this, it was elation for Mert Lawwill, who pick ed up 67 nation points, which now puts him 22 in front of Gary.
40-MILE NOVICE
After winning his heat, David Bloom scored a very professional looking victory over local boy Bob Wakefield. Doug Lib by came from 12th place on the grid to beat out Ted Boody for third place. How ever, Boody's ride must be considered one of the outstanding of the weekend; his home burned down less than a week before the race, which makes his fourth place rather remarkable. Both Wakefield and Boody rode almost standard Kawasaki A1-Rs, and put in the best showing by this marque during the day. But there was no way they could catch the two flying Ya mahas from Michigan. Winner of the first heat, Duane McDaniels, dropped from second place on the grid to fifth at the finish, just beating out second place Day tona finisher, Ron Muir.
50-MILE AMATEUR EXPERT
Things promised to be very exciting in the final as the two qualifying heats ended, for Ron Grant had taken only two seconds longer to win his five-lap race than Gary Nixon in his. Both Yamaha and Suzuki brought two team machines each; they split the heats evenly, with Dickie Newell following Grant home, and Hammer taking second to Nixon. Although Dick Mann and Buddy Elmore were having trouble with their Kawasakis, Ralph White’s chimed along nicely to take third in the opening heat race.
From the starting flag it looked like a repeat of the Hammer/Nixon Daytona battle as these two fine riders duelled, inches apart, and slowly pulled away from the pack. Ron Grant was unable to get his Suzuki on the boil until everyone was out of sight, but once underway, he flew by the back markers at an alarming rate. Ron was easily the fastest rider through the right/left/right at the back of the course, as he constantly altered line to cope with the heavy traffic.
Slowly, Nixon started to pull away from Hammer, who had over-adjusted his choke lever and was unknowingly running too rich. A tremendous scrap developed behind Hammer, as Dickie Newell and Laconia winner Don Twigg passed each other a couple of times every lap. Grant, meanwhile continued his onslaught, passing them both, and took up his position behind Hammer; however, things did not remain calm very long as Ron outpowered Dick from the last turn.
With Grant’s machine as a gauge, Dick
quickly discovered the mixture problem and the two Suzuki riders screamed after Nixon, who, by this time, had started to play it safe. But it was too near the end to make any really effective challenge, and Nixon toured in to win a beautifully calculated race. Less than one second separated Grant and Hammer, while Newell and Twigg were within a tenth of a second of each other.
50-MILE AMATEUR
When practice ended it appeared that Daytona winner Fulton was set for another national victory. The big Harley-Davidsons were having a field day on a circuit suited to their power characteristics. And when the dust settled after the start of the qualifying heat, it was Walt in front with Jim Deehan challenging. But Baumann, displaying the superb style that made him so outstanding at Daytona, passed them both to win by a very convincing margin.
There was no mistaking Walt’s intentions when the final started, and he took advantage of every ounce of horsepower to out-drag the pack to the sweeping 100 mph first turn. But at the esses, half way around, Baumann was on his tail. Down the long, front straight, at the end of lap one, they were feet apart, as Baumann used Fulton for a tow. The howl from the Precision Machining 450 Honda almost completely drowned out the big Vee twin as they drew away from third place Jim my Odom on Bob Hansen's G50 Match less. Then, at the esses on the second lap, Baumann made his bid, passing Walt, and building up sufficient lead before the straight to enable him to arrive at turn one first From that point on, he was never headed, as he coolly and methodically gained four seconds in the next two laps. Deehan, on another Honda 450, was in fourth spot at the end of the third lap, but dropped back to midfield on lap four as a result of getting off when he caught a neutral while changing down. Then on the eighth tour, Odom was missing from third place. However, he came by five positions later with the side of his fairing badly bruised from a spill at the last turn. Second place Daytona Amateur Ron Widman was moving through the pack after a poor start. By the 10th lap he had moved into fifth place, and looked like an eventual challenge to the leaders, as he took over fourth on the next tour. On lap 18, a real ding-donger developed between Odom, who made up lost ground to catch Widman, and the both of them caught third place Jim Anzalone. At the finish, Art said he was aware of the oil on the 11th lap, and from that point on, he had taken it easy in the one real left turn. The left side of his rear tire was hardly worn, while the right was al most used up. Widman had broken his clutch housing before the start and had ridden the whole race without it, as the lever flopped in the breeze. Jimmy Odom's front wheel broke traction when he hit an oil spot, and, although he never got back into his stride, he was glad to pick up third place.
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Then the drama started.
It had been apparent for several laps that Baumann was getting oil on his left boot, but now it was quite obvious. His ten second lead did not leave much in hand, but almost at the same time, Fulton's en gine started to sound sour, and the gap was increasing. By the 23rd lap, with four to go, Widman and Odom had pulled away from Anzalone and were catching Fulton. On the 25th circuit, Walt was forced to stay in third gear to have enough power down the straight. He was now 26 seconds down on Bau mann, and only five seconds ahead of Widman and Odom.
Things were not all that well for the leader, either; the rear of the motorcycle was covered in oil, and the rider soaking from the waist down on the left side. Pit signals were flashed to the third place duo to go faster. Baumann had not decreased speed, which was incredible under the cir cumstances; but the opposition knew the Honda has a rather small oil supply to begin with, and if the pressure was kept on, it might run dry. For the last two laps, at slightly reduced revs, Baumann rode with his hand on the clutch, and an oil fog behind him on the straight. Fulton continued to drop back, with his engine just barely running.
110-MILE EXPERT
The esses were a good spot to watch the expert qualifying heats; the fast peg to peg “swervery,” plus some ripples onto the back straight, told the story about who did or did not have good suspension. Both Rayborn and Lawwill, with the new “low boy” H-Ds, were smooth as silk, and, considering their speed, possibly the best handling big bikes at that section. The new double loop frame is two and a half inches lower at the steering head and is fitted with Ceriani front forks. Roger Reiman was getting through very quickly, but not handling as well as Cal and Mert. While Markel, Draayer and Roeder were fast, the handling was just downright bad. Nixon’s Triumph was as fast as anything else, but it did not handle as well as the Harley low boys.
Mert Lawwill won the opening five-lap heat at a speed of 84.37 mph, followed home by Markel and Roeder. Gary won his heat from Draayer and Reiman with an 85.01 average. So it still looked like Gary could put it on them.
The drag race to turn one was pretty much a Harley-Davidson affair, with the exception of Nixon and Hammer on Triumphs and Dick Mann getting his BSA underway in good style. Reiman led the first lap with Rayborn taking over just after the finish line. Gary was third, and down one second. Last off the line was Ron Grant, riding one of the Daytona 350 Yamahas, but at the end of the first lap he was in 12th place, passing everything in sight down the front straight. Halfway through the second lap he had picked up four more places, and suddenly retired with ignition trouble.
Gary made his move going into the high-speed first turn, as he dove inside of Reiman and Rayborn to take the lead. The lead trio began to pull away from Hammer, who was managing to stay in front of a half dozen H-Ds. Although Gary kept the lead until lap 12, Reiman was never more than feet away. Rayborn slowed slightly, but was still pulling away from everyone else. Then Chris Draayer went by Hammer, and by the sixth lap, was beginning to challenge Rayborn for third. On the eighth circuit, Gary led Reiman by one second, and Reiman led Rayborn by three seconds. Dick Mann retired after working his BSA into eighth place.
The race average at the end of 10 laps was 85.3 mph. Draayer and Hammer were having a terrific scrap for fourth place, and then it happened! Reiman got by Nixon on the straight to lead at the end of lap 12, but Gary dove inside at turn one to regain the lead. On the 17th lap, less than six seconds separated the first five riders. Ralph White on the Long Beach Triumph entry was having a great dice with Don Twigg as they lapped slower riders. Another fierce battle was going on between Roeder, Elmore and Newell.
On the 23rd lap, Rayborn squeezed past Reiman, who appeared to be slowing slightly. At this point, Gary had four seconds in hand over Rayborn, and Draayer was within two seconds of Reiman, but was missing next time around. Rayborn really put the pressure on, and by lap 29, was only one second behind Nixon.
Suddenly, on lap 33, the whole race began to change. Reiman retired, Ralph White retired with no spark to either cylinder. Then, on the next lap, Gary pulled into his pit without being signalled in! The engine was popping and banging, and he, too, had ignition trouble. Dickie Newell had now moved up to fifth place, but his crew made a mess of the gas stop, and he dropped back to seventh behind Elmore. Then Markel was missing, having had one of his very rare crashes.
By lap 39, Rayborn led Hammer by eight seconds, and Hammer had a 26-second lead on Lawwill, who needed at least third place to take over the national point lead. By the 45th tour, Rayborn had lapped all but the second and third place riders, and some were lapped six times. The race average for 40 laps was still 84.77 mph, so Cal was not easing off much.
But, at the end of 50 laps, with only four to go, Dick had not stopped for gas. He was 20 seconds down on Cal, who had pitted. Then, on the 52nd lap Hammer pulled in and was underway 18 seconds later — still 32 seconds up on Mert.
Was it all worth it? Most people thought so — even Floyd, despite the low total attendance of 3,500. He took the opportunity to display the Mammoth, and could be seen most of the time riding (frontwards) around the pits on one. Also, there was a well-protected Suzuki Five HundredFive for the curious.
Most of the riders liked the course, but complained of traffic problems in the esses trying to get by slower riders. Several riders feel a stricter method of grading talent is required for everyone’s good. On a course like Daytona it is easy to find a hole to get through, but when there is a series of bends in succession, it gets very dangerous.
One expert who is extremely lucky to be alive right now is Dickie Newell — no thanks to a complete incompetent. All of the riders would have liked more money . . . but that’s racing.
