Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ran TIMEREMEMBER D 1953 AMA G dNational Champion Bill Tuman E 00 0'\ 0'\ ...... ":t' ~ l-< Q) ..n S Q) :> o Z 24 By Mike Law Photos courtesy of Ralph and Janeice Lee he Springfie ld Mile. Tha t name conju res up images of dirt track racin g at its be st, w it h s o m e o f Ameri ca ' s toughest m otorcyclists facing off aga inst one another at T speeds in excess of 130 mp h on a groo ve wid e eno ug h to handle three or more of them side by side at just about any give n time. But Spring field is also ab out people. It is abo u t the legions of loyal fans wh o have pa cked the stand s for decad es, an d it is abo ut the riders who have mad e this race track famous. Most fan s know that the lat e Rick y Graham was - and always will be - "Mr. Springfield ." But long befor e Rick y G. was even born, there was the Springfield Mile, an d it was just as spectacular then as it is tod ay. . It was in that bygone era - which featured brakeless motor cycles bea ring the nam es of such famous marques as BSA, Indian, Norton and Harley-Davidson - that the win ner of the Sp ringfield was awarded the AMA's num ber -on e plate. Aft er 1954, a points sys tem was u sed, similar to the system tod ay. But to win the Springfield Mile in the early years took a very special ride r - a guy like Bill Tuman, the last rid er to win the old Springfield Mile championship in 1953. Not only has Tuma n gone down in h istory as th e last "o n e-d a y " Grand National Cha m pion. but he is also cred ited with givi ng the Ind ian marqu e its last nu mber-one pla te. Tuman bega n riding mo to rcycles in the 19305 as a teenage r before giving racing a try severa l years later. After turning a few hot laps on a racing motorcycle, he was hooked . Th e ye ar was 1945, and Tuman had relocatedto the West Coas t due to World War 11. After riding several TTs, w here brakes were a llowed , the you ng race r determined that the br akeless flat-track bikes were more to his liking. Over the next two years, Tuma n paid his d ues as a N ov ice, and then jumped directly to Expert. It was at this time tha t Tuman becam e a motorcycle mechanic in San Francisco for the legendary "Ha p" Jones. "I was shop foreman for Hap in his s ho p for a while, " Tuman recalls . " I re member a motorcycle race in Sa n Rafael on a baseball d iamond, and Hap asked me to buil d an engine for a local rider, Mario Stillo. The race was a 5O-Iap fina l, with Stillo and Sam Arena . These two tangled on the las t lap and went d own. Some people in the crowd got them back up, but they go t Arena poin ted in the wrong di rection . Stillo crossed the line first, and he got the win on my engine. It was an Indian, too." In 1947, Tuman' s career kicked in to high gear and he competed in 46 events. He wo n 41 race s, pla ced second twice and third three times . Althou gh a Nationa l victory eluded him tha t year, his riding performance di d a ttract the attention of the Indian Motor Co., and of E.F. Smith from Smitty's Tri-City Indian Shop. The relationships that were then for med ultimat ely be came th e corner sto ne of his career. "Smitty wa s the insti gator who w as responsible for ge tt ing me tangled up wit h the factory," Tuman says. "I rode all of the race tracks in the Midwest at the time, and I go t to know Smitty because he took in all the races. Anytime I got in a bind for parts, I called Smitty, and he'd conjure them up. He called \yaH Brown with the factory on e day, and a new bike showed up in 1948 - a big-base Scout, which I still have. The factory never paid any expenses like the local dealers, bu t they did furn ish the bike and parts - that is, until they ra n out (of business)." Aside fr om being o ne o f th e mo st competitive racers on the circuit, Tuman was a gr eat ambassad or for racing, and he was regarded as one of the best sports o f the d ay. At one hal f mile Na tional event, Tu man rode har d and found hims elf battling for th e lead wi t h Bill Matthew s. Both Matthews and Tu man rode so close that Matthews' fro nt tir was constantly on Tuma n's left foot for the entire 10 laps. Tuman wo n the race, further establis hing himself as a force to be re cko ned w it h . Sev era l races la ter, Tuman and Jim my Ch ann rode hand lebar to handlebar until Charm wen t into a high-speed wobble. Tuman moved ove into the loose dirt to give Chann room to recover and , in doi ng so, also ga ve him the win . "I th ink I finis hed th ird ," Tum an remembers. " It was ju st o ne o f th ose thin gs that happens in racing. I had one of those sa me problems when I w ent down to Te xa s, when Chuck Grover

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