Cw 25 Years Ago August 1990
CW 25 YEARS AGO AUGUST 1990
While flipping through the crusty pages of this quarter-century-old issue, I was delighted to come across a studio photo of my nitrous-oxide-equipped Suzuki GSX-R1100 I had built and raced in the Formula USA national series. Race Watch offered a look into the WERA-sanctioned “anything goes” F-USA roadrace format, showcasing a variety of the teams and diverse machinery that populated the grid in the season opener held at Willow Springs Raceway. Scott Gray won the race aboard a Big Papa Yoshimura GSX-R1100 stuffed into a 750 Superbike chassis. Rounding out the podium were David Sadowski and Thomas Stevens aboard Vance & Hines 0W01 Yamahas.
Another race-related feature titled “Taking It to the Streets” put a spotlight on the outlaw dragrace scene that took place outside of Daytona during the annual Bike Week. The stakes were high in these anything-goes races, both in the large cash wagers and in trying to stay out of the slammer.
A Harley-Davidson-powered Buell RS1200 sportbike graced the cover and was the subject matter of a feature story withina precursorto the decades of continual development that have brought this year’s EBR1190RX to us. Then as now, Erik Buell was America’s sportbike manufacturer. This particular bike was something special in that its owner Don McCaw, an engineer himself, had hot-rodded its Sportster-based engine achieving impressive results.
Don Canet
