CN
III ARCHIVES
BY SCOTT ROUSSEAU
P138
CARROLL RESWEBER:
DIRT TRACK'S
FIRST SUPERSTAR
played like kids do."
To Resweber's benefit, that
horseplay translated well on the
big dirt track Harleys, with their
spindly, three-inch-wide tires.
Soon, Resweber had made friends
with Brashear, and he began trav-
eling with the racing veteran.
"Everett got me hooked up with
Ralph Berndt," Resweber says.
Berndt was a very talented me-
chanic who worked in the racing
department at the Harley-Davidson
factory, and he happened to have
a spare motorcycle upon which
he placed Resweber for a trio of
three smaller races in Wisconsin.
Resweber proved himself worthy
Soon after Resweber crossed
paths with the game's greats, such
as Leonard and Everett Brashear,
they were convinced that they
were standing in the presence of
greatness themselves.
Those who saw Resweber ride
marveled at his incredible balance
and feet-up style, skills learned on,
of all things, a Cushman scooter.
"I just loved to get sideways
on a motorcycle," Resweber
remembers. "I started doing it
on a Cushman scooter on a high
school playground. We'd start
making big circles and then just
tighten 'em up and tighten 'em
up until we got sideways. We just
Carroll Resweber (1), feet up and
hauling, leads Bart Markel (8) at
Livonia, Michigan, June 5, 1960.
W
ith all due respect to the
great names who raced
before, with and after him, Carroll
Resweber most likely was dirt
track's first superstar. Blessed
with incredible, raw talent, he
came, he shined bright as the
sun, and he suffered a cataclys-
mic end, just like a real star does.
Unlike many of his peers, Re-
sweber, a self-described Harley-
riding "wild one" on the streets
of his native Port Arthur, Texas,
didn't really know much about
motorcycle racing before he got
involved in it.
"I'd only seen one race before
I started racing," Resweber says.
"I didn't even know they raced
motorcycles on dirt. I remember I
went to this race and stood down
in the number-one corner, and
I seen this guy coming, and it
looked like he laid it down, so I
just started running to get out of
the way. When I turned around,
all I saw was this big cloud of dirt,
and away he went. It was Joe
Leonard. That really got my heart
pumping, and Joe became my
idol. A few years later, I was sitting
on the starting line with this guy
who had impressed me so much."
