New Racebike, New Ball Game
NEW RACEBIKE, NEW BALL GAME
IGNITION
NEWS
Will Harley-Davidson’s Street 750 write a new chapter for dirt-track racing?
Allan Girdler
Eighty years ago, Harley-Davidson began racing and selling modified production bikes and revived-make that rescued-professional motorcycle racing.
Brace yourselves, racing fans, The Motor Company looks to do it again.
But first, two front stories. From Cycle News’ account of the Springfield Mile, “Kawasaki Outguns Unrestricted Harley-Davidsons.” Say what? Last season the Harley XR750s were restricted and Kawasaki won the twins title, so this yearthe XRs run wide open too... And the Kawasaki wins again. Looks like the writing’s on the wall, eh?
Which leads to front story numbertwo. H-D announces that next season it will be racing and selling modified versions of the Street750, as modern and as produced for sales as anything from Kawasaki.
To appreciate this, we return to the backstory. In 1934, no one could afford to go professional racing, back then limited to fuelburning full-race singles or factory-only 750 twins.
So H-D (and Indian, of course) agreed with the AMA to have a class for 750cc side-valve twins, as sold to the public then stripped for racing. The rules provided also for 500cc OHV engines, a.k.a. imports, because the only man importing motorcycles at the time sold English bikes and was a popular guy in the club.
The new rules worked. For 35 years we had fair, close racing. But by the 1960s, side-valve 750s and 500 OHV models were outmoded bythe900cc Harleys and 650 Triumphs and BSAs.
The rules for 1969 allowed any engine design, limited to 750cc, sold to the public, and produced in lots of 200. This was to keep out pure racing bikes.
Didn’t work. HarleyDavidson and Yamaha, and later Honda, built and sold racing machines, meeting the letter but not the spirit of the class and the sport. Then Yamaha quit losers, and Honda quit winners, and Harley kept on supporting the XR750, which in turn kept racers in business even if all the entrants were on the same brand.
Critics made mock and, sure, they had a point, but juggling the rules didn’t make things better.
Until now. Guys in the know say Harley’s engineers had GNC racing in mind when they designed the Street 750. And because undercurrent rules the engine is the motorcycle, H-D will be able to sell engines to be used with race frames, etc., just as the Kawasaki, Suzuki, Triumph, KTM, and Ducati teams do now.
What does all this mean?
It means the critics are silenced. Harley and rivals are on the same page, and if some brands/engines/ tuners are better than others, so be it.
It means another revival, something we fans have longed for. It’s difficult to believe it’s really gonna happen.
