Bench Racing

Bench Racing

JERRY HATFIELD

EVERYONE knows who wins the big ones during racing season, but many cyclists are not informed about one of the most important aspects of motorcycle sport-bench racing. This is a shame, as in some areas the bench racing season is longer than the riding season. With this in mind, I will now inform you, dear reader, of the more notable bench racing accomplishments in recent years, with particular emphasis on Daytona.

Back in the postwar 1940s, HarleyDavidson was undisputed bench race champ. Every good bench racer knew that Harleys were superior to Indians and that the Norton Manx was both un-American and an unfair competitor. Everyone knew this because Harleys never won at Daytona, but Indians and Nortons did. Pressure from our then more powerful Association of American Bench Racers (AABR) gradually forced Indians out of business and outlawed the Norton Manx.

What followed was a string of English motorcycle bench racing victories broken only by BSA’s insidious sweep of 1954. The AABR jumped the gun the next year and backed good ol’ H-D again, but these efforts were for naught as H-D began a five-year reign in the (ugh!) real racing department.

AABR members then realized their mistake and came around to supporting Triumph as the outstanding bench racing motorcycle. Although somewhat unnerved by Don Burnett’s Triumph win at Daytona in 1959, the bench racers stuck firmly to their allegiance and their belief that Triumph was utterly and hopelessly forever outclassed on account of the ridiculous 3:2 side valve vs. overhead valve displacement ratio.

The Triumph win in 1966 failed to dislodge AABR support, as there was strong suspicion that only a scoring error had permitted Buddy Elmore to win. And when good ol’ Harley-Davidson and Bart Markel won the Grand National Championship again, all doubts about Triumph bench racing supremacy were erased. And speaking of Bart Markel, readers probably don’t know this, but Bart has won the Grand National Road Race—Bench Race Division-for the past four years. It is the belief of the AABR that a few diabolical schemers insist on paving the road race courses. We bench racers will state, without reservation, that Black Bart would win Daytona every year if only the 2.5-mile outside oval had a dirt surface.

Dark gloom engulfed the bench racers in 1967 as Triumph again won the real race. Suddenly it appeared that the 3:2 ratio might not be so ridiculous after all. A dark shadow of doubt was cast over Limey bench racing success of recent years. And to add insult to injury, a Triumph rider won the Grand National Championship for (ugh!) real racing. Could it be that competition had been pretty fair all along after all, and that the Harley people had just done a better job of preparing and riding?

The bench racing season for 1968 appeared no brighter. A sizable minority of the American Association of Bench Racers favored a return to BSA allegiance, the feeling being that Beezers were unfairly discriminated against on account of the 500 Twin was really a small bore 650 and that, as everyone knows, the logical overhead valve limit should be 650 cc. This feeling was reinforced by the knowledge that unscrupulous elements of the British motorcycle industry had discontinued the Gold Star Single, BSA’s best racing motorcycle ever; and by the feeling that Birmingham couldn’t keep parts available much longer. There also was some sentiment for Ducati, and the wonderful desmo-headed wonders which were banned in 1967. Even Indian enjoyed mild bench racing support.

However, in the end, all of these failed to obtain sufficient bench racing support. BSA was dropped on account of Dick Mann won a couple of nationals last year. Ducati was dropped when word was received that Berliner Motor Corp. actually is importing the required 100 machines into the States, thereby making them legal to run in the AMA. There was at least some chance that they might win something. Good ol’ Harley-Davidson failed to regain support because of the lingering suspicion that Milwaukee was playing it foxy and just improving machines at a measured pace, in order to keep the ridiculous 3:2 ratio from looking quite so ridiculous. All support for good ol’ Harley vanished when it was confirmed that 1968 KRs would run with two carburetors. Imagine letting something that exotic run in our American racing! How’s a poor man supposed to race these days? Two carbs-the very idea! Of course Indian had to be dropped. There will be no stopping them now, especially if racers are allowed to ride backwards.

It was decided at the last convention of the American Association of Bench Racers to fall all the way back to an utterly safe position and back Yamaha. Poor ol’ two-strokes! Only 350 cc! Why it was unfair, un-American even, to make them race with the 500s and 750s. They couldn’t even use all five gear ratios, even though this is the production transmission. Boo! Hiss! The mean ol’ AMA! However, we decided to back good ol’ H-D in the novice race.

I hope you will forgive me for cutting this short. I just received word that Yamaha scared the daylights out of good ol’ Harley-Davidson at Daytona this year, and that a Sprint won the novice race. I must get on the phone and call an emergency meeting of the AABR steering committee. Why, we may have to start backing good ol’ Harley-Davidson again in the big engine class. I just can’t understand it. Only 350 cc! That horrible ring-ding-ding, and all that smoke! They were supposed to be hopelessly outclassed! And the utterly out-of-date Sprint, a four-stroke Single, winning in the 250-cc class! Is nothing sacred anymore?