Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1460403
VOLUME 59 ISSUE 11 MARCH 15, 2022 P141 added the infield road course spe- cifically to host motorcycle races. "Big Bill stepped in to help expand the AMA road racing schedule," McLaughlin explained. Had it not been for the addition of Talladega, road races on the 1970 AMA Grand National Championship calendar would have been down to just three events—Daytona, Loudon and Seattle. Talladega's motorcycle course was like Daytona in that it com- bined the NASCAR oval and an infield road course section. But riders who raced there report the banking was steeper (31° vs 33°) than Daytona, the banked oval even more broad and the infield flowed better and featured eleva- tion changes. It would become the fastest racecourse on the AMA national circuit. At the first AMA Grand National at Talladega in May of 1970, quali- fying was done by way of a flying lap around the NASCAR oval. Gene Romero won the pole with a lap at 156.521 mph on his fac- tory Triumph Trident. The big sur- prise in the national main event was rookie David Aldana taking the victory on his factory BSA Triple. Aldana was an undeniable talent and fans and fellow racers knew he'd be a winner, but few expected him to score his first national win on a road course. Even Aldana admitted to being very green in terms of road racing experience at that point. Talking about the win, Aldana says BSA had some very special parts from the British factory. "I had the fastest bike on the track," Aldana said. "The British bikes at Daytona went back to the UK. My trick stuff went unde- tected because of my 12th-place finish at Daytona. I was still learn- ing from riders around me during Talladega." Aldana won $7860 purse money for his win and a $5000 bonus from BSA, making his payday the equivalent of almost $100,000 in today's dollars! His race average of 104.589 mph made it the fastest national in AMA history to that point. The long stretches at full throttle always took a toll on the bikes at Talladega. Less than half the starters went the distance in that inaugural motorcycle race. The first Talladega event was successful enough, with 13,000 fans, that the race was moved to Labor Day weekend for 1971. It would run on that date through 1974. The race was promoted and run by the same folks that ran Daytona, and after moving the date, the Talladega AMA event was the final promotion of the season for the Daytona personnel and the parties on Sunday night after the race became legendary. Heat and humidity greeted riders and fans at the 1971 race. It was another first-time AMA Grand National winner in Yvon Duhamel on a Kawasaki. And un- like Aldana, who won a national road race before anyone thought he would, it was the exact op- posite for Duhamel who everyone expected to win a road race na- tional years earlier. Many times, since he came on the scene in the late '60s, Duhamel had been the fastest rider and led many races, but mechanical issues, crashes and every other prob- lem a racer could face, kept the popular Canadian off the top of the podium until Talladega. It was worth the wait though since Ka- wasaki paid Duhamel a $10,000 bonus for giving the company its first Grand National victory. Duhamel's win was helped by blazingly fast pit stops. His first stop took just four seconds, aided by the dry break refueling system and a quick crew directed by team manager Bob Hansen. Attendance increased to 15,000 in '71 despite the oppres- sive heat. A big issue that year was the Outlaw motorcycle gang showed up at the track's campgrounds at night and began stealing motorcy- cles, sometimes at gunpoint. Ala- bama State Troopers and sheriff's deputies showed up in force and arrested 200 gang members. Cliff Cook was one of those campers and remembers the Outlaw gang incident. He said law enforcement suddenly showed up in huge numbers and were lined up around the camp- ground rifles aimed. "They were accustomed to putting down civil unrest in the day and absolutely took control," Cook said. "When finished they had a pile of firearms and a pile of drugs. Also, they used school buses to haul the Outlaws off to jail and nobody was using the word 'pig' to criticize them." Duhamel came back and won