VOLUME 57 ISSUE 30 JULY 28, 2020 P109
all those Expert guys were just rubbing their hands,
waiting for me, because I was such a cocky guy.
They thought they were going to trim me real good,
but then they threw flag, I got a good start, passed
a couple guys and won the championship in my
first race. That hooked me. I had to go home and
explain to my parents that church was at Ascot."
Obtaining his pro license in 1960, Van
Leeuwen went on to win 24 straight races
his novice year, and he only got quicker as
he progressed through the ranks. Why then,
wonder of all wonders, did it take him seven
long years to finally earn a Grand National
victory? Van Leeuwen says he knows the
answer: He just didn't care about winning
Nationals all that much.
"The only thing that mattered to me was
that everybody knew I was the fastest guy
there, so consequently I would hit the wall
or break down, tear stuff up or torch it," Van
Leeuwen says. "I was the fastest guy there,
but I didn't finish too much. They used to say,
'Van Leeuwen, you're going to go, blow or
put a hole in the wall!'"
But then, in 1963, Van Leeuwen won the
100-lap TT Championship at Ascot. He would
go on to remain undefeated in the event for
the next five years.
"Those [100-lappers] were the biggest
races at Ascot, just like a National," Van
Leeuwen says.
During that time, Van Leeuwen says, he
changed tuners and backed his hell-for-
leather riding style down about four or five
degrees," and he started to win even more.
By 1967, it was dumb luck, not his own, that
kept Van Leeuwen off the AMA Grand Na-
tional winner's list.
"In 1963, I led it all the way until about 10
laps from the end, and then the engine blew," Van
Leeuwen recalls. "That's the year Dick Mann won
it [the race and the Grand National Championship],
and Dick Mann will tell you that he thanks me to
this day for blowing up, because that's what got
him number one. But way back then, I was leading
them."
THE GOOD-TIMES GUY
