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Dick Hammer
chased girls. Then they got the idea
to buy motorcycles. Van Leeuwen
remembers his early relationship with
Hammer quite well.
"Dick started riding on a threespeed Mustang, and then I went out
and bought a Triumph Tiger 110, so
then Hammer bought himself a '53
Triumph Thunderbird," Van Leeuwen
recounted. "We used to go and drag
race those things all over town. The
cops would chase us and run us all
over the place, but our bikes were so
much faster than the cops' '56 Fords,
we'd get away easy."
Gardena Speedway (later renamed
Ascot Park) was running half-mile
races on Friday nights at the time.
Hammer and Van Leeuwen heard
about that and started riding their
bikes over to watch the races.
"We'd get all jazzed up," Van
Leeuwen said, "and race all the way
(Left) "Never Say Die": One of the
most famous dirt track photographs
ever. Dick Hammer at the limit on his
Hartey-Davldson at Ascot Park.
(Below) Victory Lane. Hammer (16)
celebrates his second-straight win In
the 250cc Lightweight Grand Prill
class at Daytona in 1964.
By DON EMDE
PHOTOS BY DAN MAHONY
ick Hammer had his share of ups
and downs on the racetrack, but
now he's riding a win streak in the
race of his life.
What do you know about Dick
Hammer? Ask anyone who has
known him for very long and the
descriptions are all pretty similar.
They'll tell you about a guy who
takes everything he gets into very
seriously and never gives up. You say
you've already heard stories of guys
who never give up? Well, read on,
because Dick Hammer is a very djfferent breed of cat.
He was born in Los Angeles in
1939 and grew up in Bellflower, a
community on the Southwest side of
town. By the mid-1950s, Dick and his
best buddy Skip Van Leeuwen were
leading pretty typical lives for
teenage boys growing up in Southern
California. They played sports and
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