Video: American Flat Track: The Golden Years
Triumph, BSA, Harley, Romero, Rice, Mann, Lawwill: These Were the Best Years of flat track racing
by Harry Fisher, onWho doesn’t love American Flat track racing? We all have our favourite eras but, for me, the late 1960s through to the mid 1970s were the peak. The might of Harley was challenged by Triumph, BSA and Yamaha and the greats were all still racing - Romero, Aldana, Rice, Mann, Lawwill. A couple of videos for you here from the 1971 season.
US Flat Track Racing in 1971
I must have been about five when I first saw On Any Sunday, Bruce Brown’s celebration of everything two wheeled sport. I loved the whole movie but the bits that really made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up were the flat track sequences. Even now, many decades later, I can still taste the brutal thrill of those heroes riding those unsophisticated machines at break-neck speed round the mile and half-mile tracks and I still feel disappointment as Mert Lawwill loses his Number 1 plate.
Since then, I’ve devoured anything I can get my hands on relating to the sport and, even after years of trawling Youtube, new gems still crop up, like these two from 1971, coincidentally, both from the San Jose half-mile track.
The first one has no information on which race it is, but the action is still great, especially Bouncing Bob Malley, the flagman at the end!
The second is the 1971 race of Champions at San Jose. All the main protagonists are there and the action is just as hot, as is the commentary, with Joe Leonard guesting in the commentary booth.
Thankfully, American Flat Track is still massively popular but nothing can beat the sight and sounds of those Harleys, Triumphs and BSAs as they thundered around the track.
