VOLUME ISSUE SEPTEMBER , P133
bangers were well on their way
to the history books, they were
still competitive in '73.
The road racing season
began, as always, at Daytona.
Nixon and his Kawasaki team-
mates Art Baumann and Yvon
Duhamel took turns leading the
field that day. Duhamel and Bau-
mann both crashed and Nixon
took over for 10 laps before his
Irv Kanemoto-tuned machine
seized. Nixon, who hadn't won
an AMA National in three long
years, would have to wait a little
longer to taste victory.
It would come in late June,
at Loudon, New Hampshire, on
a racecourse which the late CN
writer Gary Van Voorhis called
"Nixon's track." He would take
the lead away from Kenny Rob-
erts midway through lap one and
would not look back, leading the
remainder of the way to win the
75-mile national.
"Gary won Loudon," Van
Voorhis wrote, "and he did it
BIG!" He even lapped Dick
Mann, who finished ninth
and stretched out his lead
to 35 seconds at the fin-
ish. Nixon probably had
time enough to strip his
leathers to his waist and
light a cigarette before
second-place Kenny
Roberts would even
see the checkered flag.
That same week-
end, Nixon held Rob-
erts to another run-
ner-up spot, narrowly
winning a fiercely
fought battle in the
250 Expert/Junior
combined race.
A month later,
Nixon was on
top again, this time
at Laguna Seca. The race had
belonged to Duhamel, but when
the French Canadian crashed in
the corkscrew, Nixon took over
and held off teammate Cliff Carr
for the win. "I think my luck's
changed," he said after the race.
It certainly had, and it would
continue just a few weeks later
at Pocono, Pennsylvania, where
Nixon scored his third con
-
secutive road race win. Taking
the lead from Duhamel again
(whose Kawasaki broke down),
Nixon scored another win, with
Kenny Roberts again in second
place.
After three years without a
win, Nixon had now won three
races in a row. According to
Emde, it couldn't have happened
to a nicer guy.
"I met Gary when I was still a
novice in 1970," Emde recalls.
Voorhis wrote, "and he did it
BIG!" He even lapped Dick
Mann, who finished ninth
and stretched out his lead
to 35 seconds at the fin-
ish. Nixon probably had
time enough to strip his
leathers to his waist and
light a cigarette before
second-place Kenny
Roberts would even
see the checkered flag.
That same week-
end, Nixon held Rob-
-
ner-up spot, narrowly
fought battle in the
top again, this time
at Laguna Seca. The race had
belonged to Duhamel, but when
Nixon en route to victory at Loudon in 1973.
