All In the Family
all in the family
U.S. National Speedway Championships
Michael A. Brown
SPEEDWAY! ACTION: 180-pound, 70-horsepower, nitromethane burning monsters, 0 to 60 mph in four seconds flat, careening madly handlebar to handlebar in full lock slides around quarter-mile or smaller tracks. RIDERS: Young, aggressive, talented, exciting, tagged with descriptive nicknames—“Berserko” Becker, “Wild” Bill Cody, “Lightning” Larry, “Dangerous” Dubb. ANNOUNCER: Larry “Motor Mouth” Huffman, leaping, screaming, pleading, tearing off clothes (to a limit), driving the crowd wild. FANS: They make Speedway happen. Screaming for the favorites, booing the “villains,” the fans are the pulse of this sport. It is a great circle—the announcer primes the fans, the riders feel the fans respond, which pumps them, which pumps the fans more, and so on to an exhausting crescendo, which by the end of an evening’s program leaves everyone spent. A friend whose first exposure to Speedway was this year’s National Championship, likened the atmosphere to that of ancient Rome with the Romans and gladiators at the Coliseum.
For the uninitiated among you, Speedway is not a new sport. It has been in existence since the early ‘20s, starting in Europe and spreading to the U.S. in the 1930s. The sport died out in the U.S. during World War II, but remained big in England, Europe and Australia. Speedway was revived in the U.S. in 1968, and is rapidly increasing in popularity.
U.S. Speedway is concentrated mostly in California at present, with the season running from early April through October. Speedway racing ranks as the most popular regular motorcycle racing program in the U.S. The track at Costa Mesa, California, alone draws Friday night crowds averaging around 9000 for each week of the 26-week season.
The culmination of the Speedway racing season is the National Championship—but it is nearly as difficult just to make the Nationals as it is to win it. The riders accumulate points as the season progresses, and at the end of the regular season, the top 32 riders by points are divided into two groups. Each group competes in two qualifying events. The riders are ranked again by points accumulated in these qualifiers, and the top 16 compete for the National Championship at Costa Mesa.
The format for the U.S. National Championship is the same as is used in Europe for the World Championship: 16 riders, 20 four-lap scratch heats, four riders to a heat, each man races in five heats. Point accumulation for each heat is 3, 2, 1 or 0.
Since the rebirth of Speedway racing in 1968, only three people have been National Champion...Rick Woods (1968, 1970, 1972), and the Bast brothers, Steve in 1969 and Mike in 1971 and 1973. As the season progressed this year, it looked almost as though Mike Bast would be sure to repeat. Mike has been called a computer, a machine, he makes it look so easy it almost puts you to sleep watching him. Mike won so many consecutive events this year that the promoter offered $100 for the first man to defeat him. Then, disaster! Shortly before the end of the regular season, Mike was involved in a crash that left the wrist of his clutch hand shattered in several places. With the qualifying events coming up, it didn’t look like Mike would heal enough to enable him to get into the National. Trading to get the late qualifiers, Mike put a brace on the wrist, and in spite of being advised by doctors that he was risking permanent damage to it if he crashed, qualified with a flourish, sweeping all five heats in the last qualifier.
Three-time National Champion Rick Woods was an up and down story this year. Rick gave up Speedway after last season, moved to the mountains, and went snowmobile racing in Wisconsin and Canada. He decided to return to Speedway at mid-season, and after a few bad starts rounded into form and accumulated enough points to make the qualifiers. In fact, he finished 4th in qualifying points. Rick looked at season’s end like the most probable candidate to unseat Mike Bast.
Two of the most popular riders on the circuit, Danny Becker and Sonny Nutter, had extremely good success this season, and looked like contenders for the title. Danny, known as “Berserko,” is easily described by the phrase, “when he’s hot, he’s hot; when he’s not, he’s not.” Exciting to watch, Danny’s style used to be crash or win. This season he seemed to tame some of his wildness, and won more than he crashed. When Danny is in top form, he is nearly unbeatable.
Sonny Nutter, the king of swoon on the Speedway circuit, the only guy in the world who, helmet on or off, crashing, in the rain, always looks like he just stepped out of a hair stylist’s place. Women love him. Every time he gets on the track, all you can hear from every girl in the crowd is “Sonny, Sonny”; he drives my wife crazy. Sonny looked good on the track, as well as off, this > season, finishing as the points leader after qualifying.
The third man to have held the National Championship is Steve Bast. In addition to the 1969 National Championship, Steve has been California State Champion for five out of six years. This year Steve was 3rd in points after the regular season and 2nd in qualifying points. Steve is Mike’s older brother, but has seemingly been operating in Mike’s shadow on the Speedway circuit. It’s as though Steve is the guy who wins while everybody is watching the other riders.
The primary impact of Speedway is sight and sound, but there are many factors that cannot be discerned by the spectator, each of which is vital and can affect the outcome of each race. A failure anywhere along the line can lose a heat; and with only five heats for each rider, one failure can mean losing the Championship. The track itself is an important consideration; the track at Costa Mesa can run anywhere from super slippery to glue. Predicting how the track is going to run for the night, and how it will change during the evening affects gearing, tuning and tire selection (most riders modify the tread by cutting to adjust for track condition). At just under a tenth of a mile in length, this track is the shortest on the circuit, and here the start is an extremely important factor. Four laps at around 11 seconds per lap doesn’t allow much time to make up a bad start. Starting positions are drawn for each heat, so the luck of the draw also helps.
On race night, the track seemed to be superb—not too slippery, plenty of traction nearly all the way to the outer wall. The crowd was in fine form and the riders outwardly seemed calm and cool.
The second heat started the tension rising. Steve Nutter’s machine wouldn’t start (later found to be a stuck carburetor float), and the crowd was on the edge of its seats as Steve just barely got a spare bike started within seconds of the allowable two minute hold, only to crash on the first lap.
The heats quickly went by, and the various factors of rider and machinery took their toll:
Sonny Nutter had a bad start in one heat and a crash in another, to put him out of the running.
Danny Becker guessed wrong and used the wrong gearing to start the evening, and by the time he got sorted out, had two 3rd-place finishes that couldn’t be overcome. Danny went out in proper style though, with a spectacular crash in his fourth heat.
Rick Woods started the night with a win, but had some clutch problems in one heat and took 3rd in another. It was enough to drop him out of a shot at the title. It was just not Rick’s night, though he took it all in stride.
By the end of the fourth round, three riders were left at the top...the Bast brothers and Jeff Sexton. Jeff is one of the young, fast rising talents in Speedway. A former motocross racer, he turned to Speedway only to have two injury-plagued seasons. He broke his back one season, recovering from that only to break a collarbone, wrist and foot the next year. This time around, Jeff held together and had a good season, finishing in the top ten both in regular racing and qualifying. He was looking very strong on Championship night.
The first heat of the last round paired Sexton and Steve Bast. They staged a wire-to-wire, wheel-to-wheel nailbiter, which Steve Bast just barely won. The stage was now set for the finale. Steve Bast was the leader, and the only man left to catch him was his brother. Mike needed to win the last heat of the night to tie.
The only thing that no one would ever have thought would get Mike Bast, caught up with him—Mike himself. You could just feel the tension; he jumped the start three times and then came off the line last. After the first lap you knew it was over. Mike was trying too hard, violating his normal smooth riding style, going too deep into the corners, which took him out too wide. It was all over, the new U.S. National Speedway Champion was Steve Bast.
The Championship was still in the family. Appropriately, the first person to congratulate Steve was his brother; Mike flashed him a congratulatory thumbs-up as he passed the pit wall on his last lap. For Steve, it was an emotional end to a long season, and again an appropriate moment; this was also his fourth wedding anniversary.
RESULTS SPEEDWAY CHAMPIONSHIP U.S. NATIONAL CLASS A
13 12 10 9 9 9 9 9 8 8 6 6 5 4 2 1 1. Steve Bast 2. Jeff Sexton 3. Mike Bast 4. Bill Cody . Dubb Ferrell Sonny Nutter Larry Shaw.... Rick Woods... 9. Larry Moon Steve Nutter 11. Danny Becker Mike Konle 13. Scott Sivadge.. 14. Mike Curoso 15. Billy Gray 16. Ed Williams
