VOL. 56 ISSUE 8 FEBRUARY 26, 2019 P105
up the bike, they tried to sell him
a standard racer, not the factory
special he's been promised.
Angered by the way he felt he'd
been treated in Milwaukee, Free
said he made it his life's mission
to beat Harley-Davidson when-
ever and wherever he could.
By sheer chance Edgar met
Free at a gas station/repair shop
Free owned in Los Angeles. The
two struck up a conversation
about their mutual love of fast
motors and when Edgar found out
Free had been a record-setting
motorcycle racer, he knew he'd
found just the guy who could help
him make his goal of owning the
fastest motorcycle in the country
possible.
The movie goes into the details
of the successful attempt to
become the first AMA Class A
motorcycle to break the 150-mile-
per-hour barrier. It is told
by way of commentary from
motorcycle racing experts like
well-known motorcycle author
Jerry Hatfield, who wrote the
book Flat Out! The Rollie Free
Story, motorsports historian
and television personality Alain
de Cadenet, fellow motorcycle
land speed racer Marty Dicker-
son, William Edgar, son of the
bike's original owner, vintage
bike expert Glenn Bator and
Chip Conner, who is both the
owner of the famous "Bathing
Suit Bike" and was Executive
Producer of the documentary.
The film makes wonderful
use of archival footage and
photos, including old Super 8 film
taken at Bonneville during Free's
record-breaking runs. It even
includes segments of audio inter-
views done with Free himself just
a few years before his passing in
1984. You can tell from some of
the terminology used by Free, that
he was a man of a different time in
American history.
While Edgar was eager to
own the fastest motorcycle in
America, the film reveals that in
Free's mind if they could earn the
record, it would be poetic pay-
back to Harley-Davidson all those
years after they snubbed him. In
1948, Harley factory racer Joe
Petrali held the American record
of 136.183 mph set on a modified
Harley-Davidson Model E on the
beach at Daytona in 1937.
Unfolding in the film is the rea-
son Free ultimately stripped down
to his swim trunks to make the
record run. That too is wonder-
fully illustrated.
A photo of Free's record-setting
run was featured in the October
4, 1948, issue of Life Magazine,
but not the swimsuit clad photo
that became so famous. Exactly
who took that famous photo has
been lost to time.
James Gabler, who works for
Preservation Productions, the
company that produced the docu-
mentary, jokes that Free was such
a fan of less friction, "That if Nair
had been around then he would
have dipped his body in it."
Gabler said, in all, the docu-
mentary was over six years in the
making.
The interviews, photos and
archival film footage, put the meat
on the bones of Free's personali-
ty. He was a man of great determi-
nation and that especially comes
out in the film when it reveals that
the speed record had already
been broken by the time Free
stripped down to his swim shorts.
"But he was the kind of guy
that figured that the record of 148
just wasn't good enough," Gabler
said. "He knew breaking 150 was
a magical mark that people would
remember."
If you're looking for a great
documentary to watch, you won't
go wrong with Black Lightning -
The Rollie Free Story.
You can rent the movie on
Vimeo.
For additional information click
here. CN
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The documentary on Rollie
Free is a joy to watch.
