In 1999 and 2000 I saw the HD VR-1000's race at Daytona Bike Week. In 2000 Scott Russell, "Mr Daytona" was hired by HD as the big gun to beat the Italians and Japanese with the HD VR-1000 motorcycle.
Unfortunantly for Harley, Russell got into a bar fight the night before the race. At the beginning of the race, the announcement was made to 100,000 people, mostly Harley fans, that Scott would not race because he had a broken jaw. You could hear a giant "moan" spread over the gigantic and historic race track.

Then, about half the stands began to empty out as disgusted HD fans vacated the premises.
Sad. Harley might have done well with this famous rider.
But the VR-1000's were beneficial to the company. They used a version of a new ( for Harley) water cooled engine. When the VR-1000 program was canceled about 2001, because of Harley's lack of success and the high price of racing, the V-Rod came out with the water cooled Revolution engine.
HD has a proud racing heritage. This was but one chapter.