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CN III ARCHIVES BY LARRY LAWRENCE Y es, the AMA Pro Racing record book shows Chris Carr rode a Harley-Davidson to victory in the Peoria TT Grand National throughout the late 1980s and '90s, but there should be an asterisk beside those wins. The bikes Carr raced during those years were actually Austrian-made Rotax-powered 600cc singles that were branded as Harley- Davidsons. To find the last time a real American-made Harley-Da- vidson won the prestigious Peoria TT, you have to go back to 1983. That was the year Jay Springsteen raced his factory Harley XR750 to victory on the famous Peoria Motorcycle Club race track in north-central Illinois. The history of Harley-Davidson at Peoria goes all the way to the beginning. Peoria first ran in 1942. It was just a regional race then, but from the start attracted big crowds. According to audio interviews left by the late racer JB Jones, the TT track in the early days was much more like a rough scramble or mild motocross track. "The dip you'd go through was actually a creek crossing," Jones said, "with steep banks on either side. It would get to be a big muddy mess by the end of the race, and you'd have to crawl through there in first gear." Jones once got his big Harley- P114 lips broke Harley's stranglehold on Peoria when he won both the Heavyweight and Lightweight rac- es aboard Triumph Thunderbirds. It marked the first AMA National wins for the British maker. With a few incursions by BSA, Triumph and even Matchless, Harley mostly dominated Peoria through the early 1960s. But by the late 1960s, the lighter British ma- chines ridden by riders like Eddie Mulder and Dick Mann began turn- ing the tide in favor of the foreign machines. Kenny Roberts became the first rider to win Peoria on a Japanese-made motorcycle when he won the 1974 edition of the race Davidson racing machine stuck in the dip, and it took a half dozen or so strong men to drag it out. Jones was involved in the first AMA National held at Peoria in 1947. Until the mid-1960s Peoria held two nationals, a Lightweight (45 cubic inch/750cc) and heavyweight (80 cubic inch/1300cc), on the same day. The big bike race in 1947 set the tone for what fans love about Peoria— close racing. In the closing laps of the '47 80 cubic- inch National, Jones was shadowing leader, Herman Dahlke. On the final lap, Jones made his move. "I got down on the right side of him going into the dip, knowing I'd have the inside line on the turn," Jones said. "I got ahead of him, but it wasn't enough. We got on the front straight, and he had more cycle than I did. He got by me right at the checkered flag, and I guess they say that was the most exciting Peoria TT they ever had." Hoosier Lowell Rettinger won the Lightweight class that day, also on a 45 cubic-inch Harley, and Peoria quickly became one of the most prestigious nationals on the AMA calendar. In 1951, Californian Jimmy Phil- The 1983 headline says it all. HARLEY-DAVIDSON'S LAST REAL PEORIA TT VICTORY