Cycle News

VOLUME 57 ISSUE 5 FEBRUARY 4, 2020 P109 a wooden ramp at 70 miles per hour. Toscani was the country's leading amateur in 1932. He turned professional in 1933. As a rookie pro in '33, Toscani won the One-Mile, and Five-Mile AMA National Championship races held on the Syracuse (N.Y.) Mile. Toscani was a member of the New Jersey Night Riders Motor- cycle Club, and, as a national champion, he became a celebri- ty among motorcycle enthusiasts of the area. New Jersey riders would travel to races in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylva- nia, Connecticut, Maryland and Virginia to watch their hero, Fred, race. Toscani became known as racing's "Wild Man" for his daring feats and fearless riding. In 1934 and '35, Toscani continued as one of the nation's leading riders. He scored no national championships during those two seasons but consis- tently finished in the top three at national championship events. In 1936, he returned to the annual AMA Class A National Championship races in Syracuse and won the 25-Mile national title. This time he was riding a British-built JAP, which was considered the top racing mo- tor at that time. In 1937, Fred scored national championship wins on half-mile dirt tracks in Richmond, Virginia and Sharon, Pennsylvania, again on the JAP. He defeated many of the greats of the day, including Joe Petrali, George Matheson, Jim Davis and Woodsie Castonguay. Toscani reached the zenith of his racing career in 1938. In August of that year, he traveled to the Milwaukee Mile, and in Harley-Davidson's backyard, won the Three-Mile National Cham- pionship riding his JAP. A few weeks later in Syracuse, Fred dominated the final edition of the AMA Class A National Champi- onships, winning the One-Mile, 15-Mile, and 25-Mile National Championship races, giving him the overall national title. Sadly, Toscani didn't get the kind of recognition his fellow champions in Class C were re- ceiving. The truth for much of the 1930s, certainly by the second half of the decade, Class A was barely hanging on, keeping the old-timers happy. Still, most of the machinery, outside of the British-made JAPs that domi- nated the latter '30s, were old Indians and Harley's that were so worn out by then they rarely stayed together for an entire race. Freddy, as he was called in the racing fraternity, was one of the most popular riders of his day and was liked by fans and fellow competitors. Quick with his bright smile, he could also be prickly at times. Fred was once involved in a multi-bike pileup. Afterward, in a riders meeting, he was trying to explain his side of the story to the other riders involved. Just then a rider who didn't figure in the crash offered a little advice, to which Toscani replied: "Listen you, I'm talking like a gentleman to a couple of guys that need some explaining, but if any of you other birds butt in, you are going to get punched right in the nose." Like many Class A riders of his era, Toscani looked at the burgeoning Class C production racing as amateurish. However, in reality, that was where most of the factory backing had been for several years. As Class A died out, Toscani retired from racing and lived out his years in New Jersey as an auto mechanic. Toscani's racing accomplish- ments were recognized years later when he was inducted into the Indian Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1992. Also that year, Fred was enshrined in the now-defunct Eastern Speedway Historical Society Hall of Fame based in Lebanon, New Jersey. The Record newspaper, then New Jersey's second-largest newspaper, carried a feature on Toscani for his induction. Toscani passed away in 2001. He was 92. He was inducted posthumously into the Motor- cycle Hall of Fame in 2003. Toscani is not one of the better-known champions in the history of the sport. Perhaps that's because he represented a fading era of the sport, that prob- ably held on too long. CN Subscribe to nearly 50 years of Cycle News Archive issues: www.CycleNews.com/Archives

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