CN III ARCHIVES
P114
BY LARRY LAWRENCE
DAVID "BONES" ALDANA
T
here probably will never be a racer as colorful,
loved by the fans and hated by his competitors
as David Aldana. The reason the fans loved Aldana
was that he was fast, aggressive, unpredictable
and always looking for mischief. These were the
exact reasons that his fellow racers tried to stay
as far away as possible from him. But perhaps
most of all Aldana was a showman. If there was a
chance in the race to do a wheelie, he'd do it. After a win he would stand up on his pegs and wave
in acknowledgement of the fans' cheers. During
introductions Aldana inevitably got the loudest
applause.
And he came up with
some whacky ways to
get attention. The most
popular of all his antics
was his skeleton leathers he debuted at the
1975 AMA Grand National season opener
in Houston. The fans
loved it. But some of
the older, more conservative riders and AMA officials weren't so thrilled. Maybe deep down the riders were a little jealous that Aldana was getting so
much attention and it didn't help that he never gave
them an inch on the track and often he pushed and
shoved his way to the front.
Aldana still laughs about the infamous leathers,
which became his trademark.
"I say sometimes in jest, I wish people would remember me for my racing accomplishments rather
than those leathers," Aldana said. "But, hey, as I've
figured out, whatever it takes. I'll take it now."
It was 1975. Aldana had been a Norton rider and
parent company Norton Villiers Triumph was in major financial free fall and its American racing support
came
to a screeching halt.
That left Aldana a
privateer.
"I went to Bel-Ray,
I went to Harley-Davidson, I went to other sponsors thinking
I'd get a free set of
leathers," Aldana remembers. "In those
days they were only three or four hundred dollars.
I figured somebody would pay for a set - I'm David
Aldana! And the winter was going on and nothing
was gelling. I couldn't get anyone to back me up
on anything."
He no longer had to wear factory issued leathers, and no sponsor was anteing up, so he
thought, why not do something fun. A little crazy
sure, but still fun.
The inspiration for the skeleton leathers came
from multiple images he saw all around Halloween of 1974.
"First I saw this kid cross the street with a black
outfit with florescent white bones. That got my attention. Then I saw a skit on Saturday morning
