25th Annual Del Mar Concours D'Elegance International
VINTAGE.
BiI!e Week West
By SCott Rousseau
Photos by Vicki,e Mahony and Rousseau
DEL MAR, CA, OCT. 14
_ _- , . he record will show that the San Diego Antique Motorcycle Club's
25th annual production of the Del Mar Concours D'Elegance international drew 14,460 spectators, 150 vendors and numerous swap meet
particpants to the infield of the mile horse track at the Del Mar Fairgrounds.
It also attracted 500 antique bike entries, each with their own little slice of
motorcycling's history, to judge, and be judged in one of the finest antique motorcycle
shows on the planet.
.
But it is still the men who set the records and made those motorcycles great, the legends, who one by one make their appearances on the main stage at Del Mar, that keep
the show a cut above the rest, and it is they who the crowd came to see.
Sadly, the 1996 version of this classic event took place with two fewer of its hallowed heroes, as the passing of inaugural Daytona 200 winner Ed Kretz Sr. and 1937
World Speedway Champion Jack Milne meant that just a little bit more of the visible,
visceral history of motorcycling has slipped away like sand through an hourglass. This
year's show was dedicated to them.
(N
(Above) legends are what make
the Del Mar show unique, and
the legends of the '50s '60s and
'70s were out In force this year.
(left to right) Dick Hammer,
Eddie Mulder, Sammy Tanner,
Joe leonard, Mark Brelsford,
Skip Vanleeuwen and Gary
Nixon were among the famous
faces in attendance.
(Above) Stuntman Bob Correll launched his famous "Kltecycle" over a pair of semi trucks
on the back straighaway of the mile. Correll landed hard enough to suffer a separated
shoulder during the perfomance
(Above) Motorcycling art: Painter Jeff Watts was one of several
"alternative" vendors at Del Mar. Watts' rendition 'of actor Mlckay
Rourke from the movie "Harley-Davidson and the Marlboro Man"
really caught our eye.
(Abova) Motorcycles that made history shared space with
motorcycles that are history. At left is Joe leonard's factory
Harley-Davidson KR750. At right Is a 1915 Cyclone, faaturlng
one of the first overhead-cam motorcycle engines ever
produced.
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