American Racing Motorcycles
American Racing Motorcycles
CYCLE WORLD BOOK REVIEW
by Jerry Hatfield Published by Haynes Publishing Group Distributed in the US. by Haynes Publications, Inc., 861 Lawrence Drive, Newbury Park, Calif 91320. $22.95
Jerry Hatfield has already had his introduction. He was the author of the Rollie Free story (CW June 1983) and the man who provided the wonderful picture of the hero at speed. Hatfield knows and cares about racing, motorcycles and history.
Despite evidence to the contrary, getting the historical facts isn’t the hard part. What usually happens is, the writer gets too many facts and is then unable to organize them, while the reader becomes mired in a swamp of finishing orders, bores and strokes, model numbers, etc.
Hatfield has a solution. The book is a history of motorcycles raced and made in America, Ace through Yale, in the years 1901 to 1980.
The chapters are based on brand, with subchapters for year or era, as in 1901-191 1. The lengths are determined by how long the company was in business and how much they raced.
Working within this natural framework, Hatfield inserts the basics, as in the type of engine and suspension used in the Henderson or Crocker.
Within that comes the other parts that make the history easy to understand. The Harley chapter contains good background on Triumph and BSA, for example. When an engine gets a different configuration, Hatfield explains the importance of connecting rod length.
With the technical details comes equally clear and impartial political history. Where we got the class C designation, for instance.
Hatfield isn’t a poet or an engineer. Other books are stronger on the human element or the exact technical description. Instead, Hatfield understands racing. He’s clear and accurate. And he’s spent years collecting the facts and the photos.
A novice fan can enjoy, say, Goss vs. Graham without reading this book. But until he reads American Racing Motorcycles, he won’t understand American motorcycle racing.
Allan Girdler
