Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/103759
VOL. 48 ISSUE 23 JULY 19, 2011 ley-Davidson, but in 1982 Harley was going through major restructuring and the Japanese bikes were coming with oil coolers from the factory, so Lockhart's business dropped 50 percent in one year. I started turning things around by producing racing oil coolers with braided lines. That helped a bit, but when the '82 [Kawasaki] GPz came out, I knew exactly where we were going. We were going into the sportbike business. Then in '83 sportbikes exploded with the Honda Interceptor. I'd been watching Markland and MC - they made all types of products for Gold Wings. So when the sport bike market hit, I purchased the company and turned an oil-cooler company into a sportbike parts distributorship, literally in one year." Being a racer, Phillips decided the perfect marketing vehicle for the company was racing. He formed Lockhart Racing, a team that would become an AMA Endurance Champion. In '87 his company was growing so quickly and he became a father, so he hung up his leathers and hired Dale Quarterley to ride for the team. Team Lockhart was an outstanding endurance racing squad that won two AMA Endurance road racing championships in the 1980s. In its first year, the squad - riding a Kawasaki Ninja 900 - just lost out to Dr. John's Team Moto Guzzi in the '85 championship. Phillips then totally revamped the team for the '86 campaign. It moved to the new Suzuki GSX-R1100, did a merger of sorts with former championship winning Team Ontario, bringing rider Lynn Miller and tuner Keith Perry on board. They added rider Larry Shorts and everything clicked and the team wrapped up the championship in '86 even before the final race. In 1987 Quarterley joined the team and it edged Kayo Racing for that year's title to make it two in a row. The timing for the company was perfect as well. "The race team was getting TV exposure nearly every weekend on Motoworld," Phillips recalls. "And club racing was at an all-time high and we 86-87 Archives.indd 87 P87 were there supplying parts for those thousands of racers. It catapulted us forward. As fast as we could come up with new parts, they were flying out the door." Lockhart Phillips became known for its annual catalog, motorcycling's answer to the Sears and Roebuck. It became a source of pride for club racers to have their photo featured in the massive book. While his company took off Phillips never forgot about his racing roots and Lockhart Phillips consistently sponsored teams. Phillips even came up with a "Zero to Hero" program that paid entry fees for riders taking a CCS track day school and signing up for his/her first race. "I think we helped over 500 riders get their start in racing over a period of a couple of years," Phillips said proudly. He once auctioned off a Lockhart Phillips project bike and donated $19,000 to the Roadracing World "Action Fund" to purchase safety air bags. The company was also the title sponsor of the AMA's Formula Xtreme Series. Phillips said his goal was to move competitive riders off the street and make organized road racing as safe as possible. He was also on the AMA rules committee, establishing new guidelines for AMA road racing class structures. One of the things Phillips is most proud of was a racer's reunion he sponsored at Fontana in 2003 that brought together hundreds of racers from the 1960s through the 1980s. That reunion was taped and the video interviews of racers from that era were priceless. At the Lockhart Phillips USA headquarters Phillips has a constant reminder of his team's racing days. "We have the Suzuki that we won the AMA Endurance Championship in 1986 and '87 restored and sitting in my office." CN 7/15/11 3:46 PM