Well, I told you a while back that I would attend a flat track race this year, and boy, did I ever ! I got the assignment from Harley to cover the Springfield mile in Springfield, Illinois and it was like walking back into the time when I used to drive all night to see the Sacramento mile and the Pomona mile. It’s still the same, nothing has changed. The story will appear in the next issue due out soon.

Everything is the same, the winners still ride Harleys, and there is a hard core of fans who follow the races like camp followers of the Roman Legions. The fans know all the riders, all their stats, their won loss record and their favorite color. And this fantastic form of racing, America’s most exciting motor sport is still almost an underground event. Television covers it grudgingly, radio ignores it, and the Youtube videos are all old. Does that mean Flat Track is dead? No, it’s just either ahead of, or behind its time. Back in the day, Grand National Flat Track racing was the biggest sport around and on any given Sunday you could go watch a motorcycle flat track race when the thoroughbreds weren’t running. It was a wonderful spectacle with high school bands and bunting on the rails. And it was OUR kind of racing, American Yankee motor racing.

Nowadays for some folks, European style motocross and grand prix road racing has replaced the popularity of flat track. But not for yours truly, and not for the fanatical folks at Springfield.

After the H.O.G. article is printed and sent out, I’ll include it here on this blog.