Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~ with the li kes o f Iny dad, l bnl S i ~ 0:: ~ W ~ ;3 • ton~oe Leon ard . Charli e West a nd Everitt Brea sh ear was grea t, In th ose days we d idn' t stay in fancy mot el s; mos tly it was under a tar p in a field. but it was the most fun a nd m y mem o ri es of the circu it are j ust th at - a lot of fun , ..At the end of the vear I believe I put a bou t 520,000 in th e ba nk. a nd if you re late that to rodav's cost o f living index a nd wha t money was worth the n. th at seem ed pretty big," 1958-59-60-61 Carroll Resweber " I just lo ved to race a nd loved to wi n," says 47-year-old Carroll Resweber, the onlv rider to win the N umber O ne pla te fou r times. Carro ll was going for ti tle number five wh en he wa s invo lved in a horrendous crash in Li ncoln. Illi nois, which left h im wi th a bad ly shattered leg , a broken neck and so much nerve damage that he had no movement in his left ar m . Stil l. he has fo nd mem ories of h is raci ng days. Twenty-nine years of Number Ones Goin' for The Pate By David Edwards and W.H. Spencer Th ey ca ll it Th e Pl at e. Number One. Th e Grand N ati on al Ch ampi on ship. In th e 29 yea rs that th e AMA h as run th e se r ies, o n ly 17 r ide rs h ave been a b le to pull togeth er th e ski ll , equipment, d et ermination and lu ck n eed ed to win th e cove ted Number On e. All o f th e Champions are st i II al ive roda y. Th e most recen t wi nn ers, o f co u rse , are sti II ra ci ng. and shooting for anothe r titl e. Most of th e retired Champs are sti ll involved with motorcycl es or ra cing. Others have d ropped fro m th e mo torcycling sce ne a ltoge ther. H ere. th en , is a cl o ser loo k a t th e m en w e kn ow as Grand Ja tion al Champi ons a n d what th ey are doi ng n ~:)\v . 1954-56-57 Joe Leonard J oe Leonard will a lways be remembered for two things: He was the firs t Grand Nat ional Champion a nd. like European road ra cer John Sur rees, he . made a successfu l jump to automobile racing, where h e became the USAC National Champ. > z o :r « ::; ~ ~ his races. " In my three titles the re a re ma ny fine mem ories of traveli ng and racing with rid ers like (Charl ie) West. (Everitt) Breash ea r and yo ung Brad Andres." H is move 10 ca r racing was not entirely voluntary, though , " I was sort of forced to do it by the (H arley-Da vid son) factory. " explains Leonard. " whe n th e o ffer was tendered o f o n ly a couple of bikes and parts while newer riders lik e (Ca rroll ) Resweber were gett ing bett er backing...In the late '50s, when these other riders cam e along, my name didn't appear 10 have any real adv ertisi ng val ue. so when the ch a nce came to j ump to Champ ca rs, I did. " As to the present , I still have a few in vestm en ts a nd rea l estate hold in gs th at keep me going, a nd I ha ve been doing m ore a nd more work as a n expert witn ess in accident (""dSCS , workin g with law yers on deposit ions a nd tri al s. I'm kept prett y bu sy. bu t I still get to th e loca l ra ces and I still love to ' go wat ch th e Mi le h ere in San J ose." 1955 6 "There were some good da ys th en ." says Leonard, remembering so me o f Brad Andres Brad Andres ca n be found these days tendi ng th e fam ily busin ess in terests in the Sa n Diego, Ca li forn ia , area . W hil e the Andres ' H a r levDavidson shop wa s sold in 1976. over the vears Brad a nd fat her Leonard han: inves ted in rea l esta te, shoppi ng centers and apartment buildings. > z o :r « "The}: were the bes t 10 years of my life." he says now . " It was exciting a nd I got to travel around a nd mee t a lot of people. I wouldn 't trad e those lO years for any thing . In my best year I thi n k I won a bo u t 98 percen t o f m y races a n d grossed S18.000. T he bonus for ge tting Number One was $500, But the doll ar was worth more th en ; I was making a good living. " It took two yea rs for Carroll to recover from hi s ra ce inj uri es to a point wh ere he co u ld walk again . Eventually th e nerv es in hi s neck grew back a nd h e now ha s a bo u t 85 pe rcent movem ent in hi s ann . For a bo u t lO year s a fter reco very. Resweb er worked as a wel der in his home sta te of Texas. a period o f hi s life th at Ca rro ll describes si m p ly as " blah ." Then in 1972 Harl ey-Davidson raci ng man ager Dick O 'B rien asked the j us tdivo rced Resweb er is he woul d like a job in Ha rley's Milwa uk ee ra ce shop as the team's deve loper and fabr icator. Reswe ber is still there today. liviug in a house just across the street from th e factory. ::; >...I ~ Recalling hi s cha m p io ns h ip sea so n, Andres says, " T he re isn 't really o ne thi ng that sticks out in m y m ind. o the r than th e trav el involved in those days . G oing across the co u nt ry , , 1962-65-66 Bart Markel " Black Ba rt " ~f a r k d works today as a tool a nd d ie maker for Ge ne ral Mo tors in Fl in t, Mich igan , just as he di d a ll d ur ing h is racin g caree r. T his vea r mark s hi s 25th wi th G l\1. . Of ficiallv Bart ha s never retired from racin g , He still holds Na tio na l number four an d alth ough he no lon ger b la st s hi s fa ct ory H ar ley around th e miles and h alf miles, you can find him co ntes ting th e north ern ice racing series o n a H onda. " I never set o u t to be Number One," sa ys Markel of his earlier racin g exp lo its. " Raci ng was just something I did because it was enjoya ble. My main object ive was riding. ; ,,

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