Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

had left a lasting impression on the new H·D road race r a nd since then , Mark Brelsford has been one of the great American road racers as attested to by Cal Rayborn, Dick Mann and Mert Lawwill and even Kel Carru th ers. While the regular National circuit wasn't all that good , the indoor winter series in San Francisco was the greatest. A National win for the rookie had made his name great in the San Francisco Bay area and when the indoor season started after the regular National was over Mark was ready. A little vacation and some talk with sponsor Dud Perkins and promoter Bob Barkhimer and another vista of racing was opening. Again team work was prevalent. Rider, sponsor, p romoter, combining to b uild a sport. The indoor races are now a regular part of the winter racing an d guys like Brelsford helped to make it as big as the $14,500 purse at New York's Madison Square Garden. " I really have to give a lot of credit to Dud Perkins for that winter. He really helped me get pumped up an d I won just about everything t here was to win and with the help of Bob Barkhimer the racing was great. I was getting hand icapped to the back row and win ning. I t was unreal. I won a couple of thousand that win ter ." The start of th e 1970 season at Houston wasn't too spectacular and Mark got two n in th s. "In the IT I crashed with Dick Mann at the start and remounted to finish ninth and in the short track I was riding the last of the rigids and got a ninth and a case of sore kid neys." Daytona carne up and went w ith heat problems for the new XR. "It was a disaster, that year. ( was the only one to finish a road race." It was truly a disaster for the team of Me rt La ww ill and ~Iark Brelsfo rd . Lawwill was plagued with all sorts of ills that left a bad taste in many H-D mouths as the Number One colors weren't doing a thing. It was sheer determination that brought the Lawwill/B relsford team in with the numbers 6 & 7. "I got second behind Jim adorn in the short track at H oust o n and broke a motor after being second fast qualifier in the IT ." The year 1971 w as looming a little brighter around the edges. Mark and his Sportster we re rea lly the fastest th in g aro u nd. The year earlier at a IT in Sacramento, Mar k was lead in g rookie Dave A ldana b y eig h t seconds o n the mil e-a nd- a-h alf wh en th e gas t an k came o ff in hi s hands. "I trie d to h old the tank dow n and ride and shift and all that at the sa m e ti me a nd got confused a nd d ro p p ed it." Even with the fact of a National TT win at Ascot under his belt and fast qualifier at Houston and other '1'1' experie nce, Mark didn 't feel he was the best in anything. It was still more talk about the guys he used to see in the o ld days that were the greatest. The winners in the early part of th e National scene were Mann and Carruthers. Laconia, 197 I. Bingo. "I put a brand new tire on the front and rear just before the Main, Cal was coaching me and the tire thing was a big part of it. I was going to use my head on this one. I let everybody go by and worked the tire in and then set the pace. I caught up to Buggs and Carruthers but decided not to pass th em early because they would pick up the pace. I pulled up to Carruthers a nd passed him anyway . It was easy. and then he really p icked u p the pace and got me back. On the last lap we carne down to the last tum and we were passing Don Castro and I got really close from that and then If you're Number One and get beat, you're on a downhill run. when we carne o ut of the tu rn passing another guy. He took the high groove and I took the low groove and I got out fas ter than h e did. His h igh lin e took h im out thro ugh some grease sweep stuff and I won." It was Ha rl e y 's first win in road racing in two years. The rest of the year was spent in keep ing th ings together ....rit h a second at Corona and another win at Ascot. While ~Iark doesn't consider himself the best in anyone thing he considers himself right in there with the rest. " I think I'm right in the top five but not number one. If you're Number One and you get beat, you're on a downhill fun ." Mark learns racing every time he gets on the track. "Yo u never stop learning, that's the whole bag. When you start riding the scrambles circuit around here you' re like run ning a packaged circuit of your own and that's where motorcycle rac ing is at. ,. It is t hat sort of attitu de that Mark Brelsford has had a ndpracticed in order to get to where he is t o d a y and it will b e th a t sa me attit u de tha t may we ll carry h im to a Number O ne plate in the A MA Natio nal circuit. "Equipment and consistency are the two things that I've come to learn are needed to make a Number One and now after three years as an Expert ( think that I have got those things going for me. I watched Mert win and then the next year wind up with troubles everywhere he went. The key is not to have the little things get you down. Watching Mert lose a race because of a throttle cable and things like that, watching him not be able to hold onto that plate, I think that I will have to take care of my machines and my head as best as possible. "I learned how much it meant to take care of the little things by being with Mert , The year 1971 was a downer for the road racers and we still had problems with heat on the dirt tracks. Like the Laconia motor. It was an old racer we used on the miles. It had real small air cleaners on it and it wouldn't handle the gas flow. We didn't make any of the programs. It worked for that but it wasn't until the end of the year that we took off the four-inch velocity stacks. Then, at Nazareth, I ran out of g-as." Mark is much more c o n fid e n t in his ability fo r 1972 and has his own special key to success. Considering that the BSA and Triumph tearn are down and the H-D's are running great , it may well be time for Brelsford to make his calling. With specialist 's being what they are today , the all-around rider is the one to beat. When confronted with the question of who will be the men to beat for the Number O ne plate the answer comes to be quite lenghthy. '" th ink Jim Rice will be a th rea t on anything but a road race. Not knowing about some of the other guys like Aldana and Castro makes it harder to say what they w ill be able to do, but there are a whole bunch in the hunt. "For those guys coming up like Dave Hansen, Robert E. Lee and other such guys, it's going to be tough, but that's the way things are in the A~IA. There isn't any such thing as superior dirt track equipment so these guys can be righ t in there. Bu t if they don't h a ve a good road racer, they can't compete for the big plate. I'm going to be lucky by having Jim Belland fly to the races to help me and with Harley signing Babe DeMay to do the overseeing, the team effort looks good. The guys coming up are also going to be good politicians and salesman as the fac tories are going to get o u t of th e ac tual support and th e cigarettes and drinks p eop le are going to h av e to h elp support th e effo rts. "I'm not as concerned with winning Nationals as I am with winning Number One. One race isn't the way to go. You got to think ahead and what's happening in the long run. The factory and the mechanic and the rider make up the team and they all have to be running right." The day of running 80% for Mark Brelsford is done. It's all W Fa . "The key to running as much as we do when we travel so much is to be able to keep your head in shape when you're traveling down the road. I have Andy Ahlgren to travel with me and it really helps to have a buddy that can understand what it's all about. When you have to travel 1000 miles in a day to make a race, you go t t o have somebody that knows how to help so that when you get to the race you can give your best effort. "I really don't see a happy future in traveling the United States racing like I do and even though some guys can make it to 35 in the game I can't think past 30 ." While many racers are burned ou t of the actual hard core raci ng in a short few years the life style of the hard core National racer has to be set on one's own basis, so if Mark Brelsford doesn't know when he w ill want to quit the game , then that's tha t and u ntil th e time comes he will race to the best of h is ability. To end the interview Ma rk wa nted to express one th ing . ' T h e key to my future is maybe; Number One rests wit h four guys and I think I have the best one go ing. It 's Jim Belland, my t u ner, Dud Perkins, the ma n I ask for advice and who h as really helped me all t he way through. And my sidekick and traveling companion - we 'll call him m y psychologist - Andy Ahlgren. This is what it boils down to and that includes everything I have to do. The fourth is H-D team manager Dick O'Brien ." Mot orcycle racing is a never-ending story of one race after another and to keep the story going, the highlights of Mark Brelsford. racing career read like this. "I had a two lap duel with Dick Mann at Richmond one day and afte r two miles he pitched a chain . I went on to lead it but blew an engine later, but I can really remember hitting those bumps with Dick ~Iann. The highlight of my Junior year was when ( d ec id ed to become a racer and be with that scene. \\'inning my first National at Ascot was great. At the same time I had a lo t of do wners. Racing h as a lot of b oth and I've had my share." The story isn ' t over. In the early days, 163Z was.... easy to spot - riding with his feet up on the pegs. .. Brelsfo rd 's f irst big th rill was winning the Sacramento Mile. M ~ g' 0.. ~ Cl I,; .ri tf ~ ~ w d ~

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