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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1456050
Get it right and Harley-Davidson could even revive its factory effort and reinvigorate a dealer network that defined the sport for decades, while reigniting its century-old rivalry with Indian, providing both serious incentives to further en- trench themselves in the sport. Indian Motorcycle likely felt equal amounts of relief and an- noyance with the understanding that, while it wasn't going to be excluded, it was destined to be subjected to some painful restric- tions, the extent of which were still undefined. For its rivals, there was some amount of vindication in the pledge. This was an official ac- knowledgement from the series organizers that, despite all the millions of dollars and thousands of hours poured in, they hadn't been outclassed because they had done a substandard job in developing and tuning their bikes or because their riders weren't skilled enough. Besides that official affirmation of their combined plight, Indian's challengers were also relieved that the FTR750 wasn't going to be unceremoniously excised from competition, even if to their direct benefit. "I don't want to get rid of them," Hayden said. "In a perfect world, I think they should pro- duce a production engine like ev- eryone else, and we'd have one set of rules that everybody goes racing under. I know that's a long shot, and it's not that easy. "But we need more manufac- turers, not less. To run one away would be foolish. They've done a lot for the sport, and they've been a good partner for the sport. I have nothing negative to say against Indian. They did a magnificent job and built a fabu- lous bike. But at this point, it's affecting the sport negatively and we need to react immediately to get things back on track." But in the challengers' collective opinion, it was past time for AFT to play Charles Atlas and give the rulebook an overhaul for the bikes that got dirt kicked in their number plates for the past five seasons. >BALANCING ACT In fact, AMA Pro Racing has been striving to find balance for years. The difference now is it has finally accepted that the only FEATURE I STATE OF AMERICAN FLAT TRACK: PART 3 P100 The production-based Harley-Davidson is no match for the race-designed Indian FTR750 that ultimately drove this classic rivalry into the ground and led to the withdrawal of the factory H-D effort in AFT, which is not good for anyone, even for Indian.