July 2011 Asylum Mobilitarium

July 2011 Asylum Mobilitarium

Recently I obtained a print of legendary “Wrecking Crew” racer Jim Davis. It shows him on an early Harley-Davidson board track racer. With his evil grin, mud, scars and a generally banged-up look about him, it’s a good example of the reckless death defying racer of the early 20^th century. The men that made up the Harley-Davidson, Indian, and Excelsior teams were hard living men. They were also the heroes of early 20^th century motorcycle racing.

Harley was racing in the teens, but always with a kind of reluctance. Walter Davidson, who among other duties, was the first marketing director for the young company. He pointed out that even though Harley was winning in the Dodge City Kansas 300 mile race, an impressive three times at this preeminent track of the time, the police department in that city was riding Indians!

Motorcycle racing in the 1910’s and early 1920’s was dominated by the board track racers. The tracks were called “Motordromes.” The media at the time derisively called them “Murderdromes.” Dallas had such a track in the teens, at the State Fair of Texas, near the concert venue that used to be called Starplex. The banked ovals, made up of 2x6 boards placed on edge were often in disrepair because of unscrupulous track owners. The boards would become soaked with the oil from the brakeless and non-circulating and oil spitting racing motorcycles, causing the boards to split, warp and break. Some riders would fall off their mounts at high speeds, and become impaled on the large splinters sticking up at odd angles. It was a dangerous sport, with little safety equipment for the bikes, riders, or the ticket buying race fan. Adding to this, racing promoters constantly calling for higher speeds to thrill the crowds, causing many wrecks involving riders who were the sports super stars of the time.

Davis, Jake DeRosier, Charles “Fearless” Balke, and other Wrecking Crew members rode specially built factory racing bikes called “Two Cammers.” They had straight pipes and were very loud, with an ear destroying “popping sound.”As I mentioned earlier, the bikes had continuous loss oil systems. Instead of re-circulating the engines oil, the engine would spit out the heavy fluid on the already oil damaged track, and of course whatever unlucky racer happened to be behind the bike spitting out the black stuff!

As the tracks began really showing their age, and some track owners refusing to make repairs to the racing venues, there were the inevitable deaths and injuries, to the riders and spectators. Newspapers and radio began the term “Murderdromes” after six spectators were killed in September 1912 at a race in Newark, N.J. after a bike flew through the crowd after dumping it’s rider on the boards.

In board track racing, many manufacturers including Harley-Davidson believed that the many dangers evident in board track racing caused motorcycling in general to be perceived negatively by the public. Even the reckless, devil may care riders may have contributed to this. For all the racing honors that were bestowed on these men, they were the bad boys of the sporting world. Leading a transitory life style and the excitement of these races sometimes encouraged that bad boy behavior.

One group of motorcycle racers who arrived in Chicago for an event at River View Park Motordrome pooled their resources and rented a brothel for three days prior to the race!

It’s no wonder that the ultra conservative founders of Harley-Davidson were reluctant to sponsor the racing teams!