200-Mile 750cc Expert

200-mile 750cc Expert

Pig Farmer Dale Singleton Slops the Hogs

John Ulrich

Soooooooooeeeeeeeee!" screamed a frenzied fan, standing just a few inches from the back of Dale Singleton's head as Singleton yelled into a reporter's tape recorder. A group of maybe 50 well-wishers and supporters stood in a bunch 15 ft. away, cheering. Singleton broke from the reporter, jumped up and down with legs braced and knees bent, arms up in the air, like a slightly crazed circus gorilla.

He screamed. They screamed. The crowd rushed forward and hoisted him up on their shoulders, shouting, laughing. Singleton rode with the crowd in the pits, waving a pen he had used to sign autographs just a few moments before.

His feet back on the ground, Singleton hoisted his pet pig, Elmer, out of a packing-crate pen and held the piglet feet up over a portable barbecue, hollering all the time. There was no charcoal in the barbecue, but for a moment it looked as if Singleton would make good on his prerace vow: to eat Elmer if he won the Daytona 200.

It could be argued that Singleton won the race by outlasting his opponents, but it is also true that Singleton spent more time in first place than any other rider, even while the others were in the race. More important, you’ve got to still be running at the finish to win. Singleton, a self-styled “pig farmer” from Dalton, Georgia, is unique among the very top-running American road racers in that he—and he alone—builds his engines. Working in the basement shop of his father’s house, 22year-old Singleton disassembles and rebuilds his own crankshafts, fits his own pistons, does everything. In three years of 750cc racing, Singleton has failed to finish a race due to mechanical trouble just twice. He hooked up with California tuner Stuart Toomey for 1979, but Toomey’s duties include pipe building and chassis work, not motor building.

Patrick Pons of France led off the grid, through the infield and into the backstraight chicane, chased by Singleton, Skip Aksland, David Aldana, Holland’s Boet Van Duimen, Gene Romero, Ron Pierce and Mike Cone. But by the start-finish line on the first lap, Singleton was out in front. > Another lap and Aksland was out of the race with a seized engine. Aksland’s bike stuck one cylinder in the final practice session before the start of the race, and mechanics Kel Carruthers, Knobby Clark and Trevor Tilbury quickly rebuilt it. replacing everything affected plus the coil and carburetor. But the bike seized again in the race. The bike Aksland rode was the Yamaha Motors Corp. YZR750 that Kenny Roberts would have ridden at Daytona, had he not been hurt in Japan the month before.

Romero’s Imperial Spas/Don Vesco TZ750 seized one cylinder and threw the connecting rod through the crankcases on the fifth lap; he was out.

The group of leaders were joined by 19year-old Randy Mamola, who just six months earlier had doubted that he would ever learn to ride a TZ750 fast enough to be competitive. The race was up front, Singleton, Aldana, Mamola, Van Duimen, Pons all in a close group and circulating at 2:07 and 2:08 lap times. Mamola was the first to retire, slingshoting into the lead across the finish line of lap 10. but catching a neutral when he started downshifting and braking for Turn One. He ran off the track, across the infield grass and stopped just feet before crossing the track at turn five and ramming some backmarkers. One more slow circuit of the banking with the bike surging in gear and Mamola retired with gearbox troubles.

Pons lost the draft and couldn’t keep up after the first gas stops started, leaving Singleton, Aldana and Van Duimen in front. But Van Duimen w'as soon out of the race with engine problems. The battle for the lead now' involved only Aldana and Singleton.

By the 40th lap it was Singleton and Aldana back-and-forth in earnest, close everywhere on the track. Singleton leading always across the finish line, but Aldana close, so close, cutting, diving, trying to find a way past. Suddenly, it was Singleton alone, with Aldana standing on the edge of the track w'aving him on—Aldana’s bike lost a connecting rod after one cylinder seized, a failure identical to Romero’s, right down to the cylinder affected. Ron Pierce, who had been alone in fourth on the Yamaha Motor Canada YZR750 prepared by Bob Work (with Larry Worrell tuning during the week while Work was on business in Japan), moved up and passed Pons to secure second.

Mike Baldwin, who had started 74th on the grid with his KR750 three-cylinder Kaw'asaki, was fourth about 20 seconds behind Pons, w'ho was four seconds behind Pierce.

Christian Sarron. a teammate and countryman of Pons, was fifth, followed by privateers John Long. Bruce Patterson and Mike Cone. A Texan, Cone is one of the most consistent privateers in AMA racing; when he finishes, he finishes in the top 10, no matter what the track. Like many privateers, Cone owns his own bike, does his own mechanical work and races because he loves it. But his consistency on a notparticularly-fast Yamaha makes one wonder what he’d do on a faster motorcycle.

Singleton’s margin of victory w’as 15 seconds, at an average speed of 107.691 mph. Singleton had qualified fastest at 2:06.339 and turned mostly 2:07 and 2:08 lap times in the race, with a single lap in the 5s, a 2:05.84 on lap 18. Compared to Kenny Roberts’ 1978 average of 108.373 mph, qualifying 2:05.21 and best-race laps of low 2:03s and even a few (reported) high 2:02s, Singleton’s race may seem slow. It was plenty fast enough to win.

Tires worries had the AMA mandating that all 750s entered in the race must be fitted with relatively hard Goodyear D2174 slicks after Michelin declined to guarantee that their tires would go the distance. The tires were slippery at some spots. Singleton spent time sideways at several corners and Pierce managed to get crossed up over the start-finish line in the top of sixth gear one lap. Because the banking had been repaved, the problem wasn’t so much with accelerated tire wear as high tire temperatures. The hard Goodyears went the distance easily, looking after the race to be ready for another start. Some competitors, including Pierce, suggested that the softer D1829 he selected— against Goodyear advice—for the rear of his Superbike would have worked fine on his 750 as well.

The tire problem at Daytona has changed. But one thing that hasn’t changed is Daytona’s fickle heart. It isn’t who will win, but who Daytona will le-t win. This year the 200 belonged to Dale

Singleton. 0

DAYTONA 750 RESULTS