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VOLUME 58 ISSUE 12 MARCH 23, 2021 P125 the title away from the factory teams, although they had been valiant in their attempts to do so. Consider that, following the '70 and '71 seasons, where the top three spots in the standings were swept by factory riders of dying British brands, priva- teers figured heavily into the championship chase. Privateer Gary Scott was second to Mark Brelsford in 1972, embarked on a brief stint with Triumph before winning his only title for Harley in 1975 and then returning to the privateer ranks to battle new Harley factory star Jay Springs- teen to the wire in 1976. Then along came Eklund of San Jose, California, in 1978. He had been hovering inside the top five since the 1976 season, which earned him Rookie of the Year honors. Proving himself as a capable short-tracker and TT racer, Eklund started 1978 with a bang, sweeping both rounds of the season opener in the Houston Astrodome and col- lecting three more victories in the middle of the season—two of them were half-miles, illustrat- ing the progress his big-bike program was making—to finish second to Springsteen by just five points. The year 1979 was to be Eklund's. Springsteen started the '79 season on the ropes, for that was the year that a mysterious stomach ailment, one that con- tinues to haunt the legendary rider to this day, took root, caus- ing him to miss four Nationals. With good finishes in the first half of the season and bolstered by a big mile win in front of his home crowd at San Jose, Eklund built a 40-point cushion that he merely needed to main- tain to ensure the title. He would only land two more wins, the TTs at Santa Fe and Ascot, and he would score just one point in the final two races of the season, but the pressure was on Spring- steen. Second in the standings after a miraculous comeback charge, he still needed to win the final two Nationals of the year. He won neither and thus Eklund became the first priva- teer rider to land the AMA Grand National title since Mann some 16 years earlier. None too soon, either, be- cause that was the final season of a decade otherwise owned by the factory teams. Thus, Eklund's title is an unbreak- able link in a chain, you see. He is the privateer champion of the '70s, just as Ricky Graham would become the privateer champion of the '80s (1982) and '90s (1993), scoring important titles for the also-rans when such titles desperately needed to be scored. Thanks to privateers Joe Kopp and Chris Carr, the sole remaining Harley factory team has been shut out in its attempts to earn a title in the new millen- nium. Maybe that will change. Maybe not. [Kenny Coolbeth won the first of his three- consecutive Grand National Championships in 2006 on a factory H-D. -Editor] The point is that for all the money that BSA and Triumph and Yamaha and then Honda, and yes, Harley- Davidson, have poured into the sport, the backbone of flat track has been and always will be the privateer. Sadly, that backbone suffered a severe blow with the loss of Eklund after the Albuquerque, New Mexico, Half Mile on June 17, 1990. Leading factory Harley rider Chris Carr late in the National, Eklund appeared on his way to victory when he col- lided with a lapper and struck a guardrail post, suffering massive head injuries. After languishing in a coma for more than a year. Eklund passed away on Septem- ber 26, 1991. CN Eklund was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1998. This Archives edition is re- printed from issue #25, June 30, 2004. CN has hundreds of past Archives editions in our files, too many destined to be archives themselves. 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