Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127369
on the beach in February 1902, an an n ual even t which rapidl y developed in to o ne o f th e highlights of the Ameri can social scen e as well as a vital op port u n ity for car mak ers to dem onstrat e th e performance of th eir designs to a wealthy audience. Drag raci ng as we kn ow it tod ay was first held on th e beach in 1905, though before the n in 1904 Gl enn Curtiss had set th e first motorcycl e rec o rd of man y to be establishe d at Daytona over the years wh en he took his self-built V8-p ow ered machine to a measured mile sp eed of 136.3 mph - a spee d not a tta ine d in Eu ro pe for more than two decad es on two wh eels. In du e course a number of ou tri gh t World Land Sp eed Records were set o n th e Dayt ona sand by heroes suc h as Sir H enry Segrave and Sir Malcolm Campbell , all of wh om a re rem embered tod ay in th e names of many of Daytona's streets, but it wa sn't till 1936 th at a race as opposed to speed trials and record a tte m p ts took place at th e Florida resort. In th at year th e city fathers decid ed to stag e a 250-mile stock ca r race on a combined beach and road course whi ch cou ld hardly have been more simple: north a lo ng the beach for 1.5 m il es, around a bank ed left turn through a cu tting in th e sand dunes onto a narrow and poorly surfaced road which th en ran du e south for the same di stance befor e turning left back onto th e bea ch again through a wide, sw eeping bend. The field for th e handicap rac e incl uded a th en-obscure Daytona gas sta tio n proprietor named Bill France: he finish ed fifth in his flathead V8 Ford, before finding his true vocation as an astute promoter wh o was mainl y responsible for Day- tona 's lat er rise to world fam e, via his N ASCAR o rga ni za tio n. T oday , th e Fran ce family still contro l th e fortunes of th e Da yton a Intern ati on al Sp eedw ay. T he foll owing year, on J anuary 24, 1937, th e first -ever Da yton a 200 mot orcycle event was held on th e 3.2 m ile Beach Course, now with the two turns hard-surfaced with m arl to provide better grip. Winner Ed Kretz's 750cc sid e-valv e Indian V-twin av era ged 74.10 mph for the two and threequarter hour race, but a sign of future tim es was th e cha lle nge to th e Indian a nd H arl ey-Davids on estab lish me n t posed by second-pl ace finisher Clark Trumbull 's 500cc oh v Norton . In due course, hard-drinking Ca nadia n Bill y Ma th ews gav e th e British marque it s first win in the now a n n ual 200-mile event in 1941, before WWII brought th e series of rac es to a hal t. In 1947, with Bill France soon in charge, th e race was reviv ed, but in 1948 moved to a simila r co ur se at th e far southern end o f th e Daytona Beach pen insula beyond wh at is tod ay th e township of Port Orange. T he two stra igh ts were extended to two miles in each directi on, giving an o fficial la p distance o f 4.1 mil es but taxing th e forti t u de of e n g i n es eve n more . Between 1949 and 1952 Manx Nortons spec ia lly prep ar ed by th e legendary Francis Beart gave Mathew s another win and his teammate Dick Klamfoth th e first of four Da ytona 200 hat-tricks: Brad Andres o n the Beach Course a nd Roger Reiman and Kenny Rob erts a t the Sp eedway were other three-time winners, though nobody ever won races on bo th beach and banking. Klamfoth had been first through th e 90 mph race avera ge barrier in 1951 (92.81 mph ), a nd with J oe Leonard 's H arley averaging 99.86 mph en route to vi ct ory in 1958 , th e time wa s obvio usly rip e to move to th e newlyco ns truc ted tri-oval Sp eedway whi ch the NASCAR stock ca rs first used in 1959. T wo years la ter th e bi kes moved off th e beach too, though for th e fir st th ree years it was th ought too dangerous (or too unspectacular? ) to let them us e th e ban kings. Inst ead , Roger Reiman, avera ging 69.25 mph , to ok th e fir st of his three wins in th e 1961 inaugu ral on a 2.0 mile co u rse set o u t entire ly in th e infield, a variat ion of which was used for th e firs t U.S. G Ps in 1964 a nd 1965. In th e first of tho se years , the bik es were finall y allowed on to th e bowl , Reiman again taking th e first-ever victory, a vera ging 94.83 mph , o n th e 3.8 1 mil e co m bine d infield a nd sp eedway circ u it us ed co nti n u o u sly until 1985 with the add itio n o f a backstraight ch ica ne in th e interim str etching its dista nce to 3.84 and th en 3.87 m iles . In 1985 a nothe r chi ca ne was introduced after T u rn I a nd the Turn 2 hors eshoe brought clo ser and renamed Turn 3. The resultant 3.56 mile co ur se has yet to see the speeds o f th e older layout, making Kenny Roberts ' 113.143 mph avera ge speed in 1984 on hi s fears ome 680cc square-four Yamaha OW69 to win th e fin al Daytona 200 for 'real' (i.e . not production-based ) racing motorcycles th e ben chmark for sp eed th ere for th e tim e bein g. In half a cen tury of ca r and bike ra cing, Da ytona has witnessed more dr am a a nd history th an most ot he r trac ks a part from the Isle of Man put together - more, certainly, than can Dick Mann, the 1970 and 1971 Daytona winner, recalls racing on the beach, be co nveyed in this brief chap ter. It also sp awned m ore than it s fair sh ar e o f heroes, few o f th em abl e howev er to com pare with the unique record of two-time Dayt on a 200 winner Dick 'Bugsy' Mann. Born in 1934 in U tah, th e so n of Morm an parents , Mann m oved to northern Cali fornia wh en he was a ch ild a nd in com mon wi th an other fam ous residen t of th e sa me are a, Kenny Rob erts, made hi s mark on th e mo tor cycle rac ing scene after start ing to ra ce a t an early age. But apart fro m th at, the tw o men 's ca reers could hardl y be more diff erent: no overnight sensation, Dick Mann made his way to th e top through sheer hard work a n d gritty dete rm in ati on , cr iss crossing Am eri ca for two decad es from one ra ce to anot he r, working a t the job o f mo torcycle ra cing. In th a t time he the envr ron men t. For Inform ation reg ardin g an MSF rid er co urse, p lease ca ll 1-800-44 7-4 700 Do not d rink and ride. It is illegal and d angerous Spec ifications sub ject to c hange Without notic e