CN
III ARCHIVES
BY LARRY LAWRENCE
T
he lineage of Harley-
Davidson factory racers
goes directly back from Kenny
Coolbeth, to Scott Parker, to
Jay Springsteen and so on, all
the way back 95 years to Red
Parkhurst, Harley-Davidson's
very first factory racer.
During its first decade of exis-
tence, Harley-Davidson purpose-
ly stayed out of racing. In fact,
there is good evidence that one
of the founders, Arthur Davidson,
was dead set against racing.
Indian was by far the leading
manufacturer of motorcycles in
the 1910s, and the company built
its reputation in a large part from
racing. Harley-Davidson took
the opposite tactic, earning its
standing by way of making mo-
torcycles known for serviceability
and a means of reliable transpor-
tation. But with Ford ratcheting
up the production of its Model T,
by the early Teens, motorcycles
were already moving from the
realm of cheap everyday trans-
portation to more of a vehicle of
recreation.
In addition to Indian, manu-
facturers like Thor, Cyclone,
Merkel, Pope, Reading-Standard
and others were all earning
publicity through racing. Just be-
cause Harley-Davidson's official
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108
RED PARKURST: HARLEY'S
FIRST FACTORY RIDER
a complete surprise to Harley-
Davidson and they in no way
sanctioned the record run, but
they touted the accomplishment,
nevertheless.
In the background, The Mo-
tor Company hired Bill Ottaway
from Thor. Ottaway had been
the engineer behind Thor's very
successful racers of the early
stance was to stay out of racing,
that didn't mean all its customers
paid attention. By 1913, private
Harley-Davidson riders began
to have success. A pair of riders
named Ray Watkins and Ben
Torres set a speed record on a
Harley in 1913, and the company
produced its first win ad. The ad
pointed out that the record was
a complete surprise to Harley- stance was to stay out of racing,
Red Parkhurst moved
to Milwaukee and
became the very first
member of the Harley-
Davidson team.
