Cycle News

VOLUME 57 ISSUE 43 OCTOBER 27, 2020 P139 by winning all three. "So, then I went home for the winter, and Ralph called me and told me that if I would come back up there, he would give me a ride," Resweber says. "That was in 1956, but we didn't go to any nationals that year. We rode in a lot of farm towns and got me some more seat time. I didn't start going to nationals until '57." And it didn't take long for Resweber to start winning them. Before season's end, he would score two wins in the eight AMA National races held that year, his first one coming on the half-mile in Columbus, Ohio, on June 16, 1957. Resweber recalls that his tremendous gift of balance served him particularly well that day. "You talk about picking up my foot," Resweber says. "In the main event, I was sitting there with Everett Brashear, Joe Leonard, Brad Andres and Al Gunter, and I'm thinking, 'Man, what am I doing here?' But I got to the corner first, and about three laps later, my steel shoe came off! I couldn't put my foot down, and that's when I really noticed that it works better. Sit in a chair and pick your foot up and feel where the weight of your butt on the chair goes. When you pick your foot up, that's just more weight on the rear wheel." Resweber picked up his foot and picked up even more race wins in 1958. The title battle ultimately came down to Resweber and his good pal Leonard at the season finale Peoria TT, and Resweber earned his first career AMA Grand National Championship. After that, his career exploded like a supernova. Through 1959, where he won three of 10 nation- als; through 1960, where he won four of 12; and through 1962, where he won five of 12—includ- ing four in a row—there was just no stopping Resweber. Nobody on the track could beat him to take the number-one plate away. In the end, it was taken away from him in a single, violent incident. Resweber says that he remem- bers very little about September 16, 1962, in Lincoln, Illinois, a day that radically changed his life. "They tell me that it was dusty, but I don't remember how bad it was," Resweber said. "What happened was that they let six go out, and then another six go out. I was in the second pack and was catching up to the first pack when somebody in there fell, and some- body ran over his motorcycle and then somebody else ran over him. They ended up taking five of us to the hospital, and Jack Gholson, a good friend of mine, was killed." In addition to the fatality, the accident ended the careers of Resweber and Dick Klamfoth. "I was in a body cast for four and a half months, and I couldn't walk without help for two years, and my left arm didn't work for two years," Resweber recalls. "When I was recovering, that was kind of frustrating, but it was going to be my last year anyway," he says. "The factory was pulling out of racing, and I was working a deal with a fellow named Paul Fisher to go Late Model [stock car] racing. But just before that accident happened, that was my best year at Springfield. I'd gotten a good start that year, and after about 40 laps, I came up on Bart Markel, and I was wondering what I was going to do to get by him. Then my bike started missing and it quit. I pulled off, and when it was over, I asked who won, and they said, 'Bart did.' I almost lapped everyone at Springfield in 1962. I could do no wrong that day, but the gas tank split open." After relearning how to walk and also regaining some mobility to his damaged arm, Resweber ultimate- ly returned to racing—albeit behind the scenes—when he accepted an offer from former H-D racing boss Dick O'Brien to come to work in the factory racing department in Milwaukee. Resweber spent 20 years there. He retired in 1992 and moved back to Port Arthur. Editor's Note: Carroll Reswe- ber passed away May 8, 2015, at the age of 79. He was induct- ed into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame Class of 1998. This Archives edition is reprinted from issue Issue 5, February 9, 2005. CN has hundreds of past Archives editions in our files, too many destined to be archives them- selves. So, to prevent that from happening, in the future, we will be revisiting past Archives articles while still planning to keep fresh ones coming down the road. -Editor Subscribe to nearly 50 years of Cycle News Archive issues: www.CycleNews.com/Archives

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