Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

IWS Part One: Brineins BikesToThe GErden q o o o o otorcycles didn't have a gr€at rePutation with the general public back in the early 1970s. \{hile riding a Harley-Davidson is considered fashionable today, riding one 35 years ago would get you long, unfriendly stares from law enforcement. Remember, this was during the height of outlaw-biker movies and AltamonL lf none of that rinSs a bell, let's iust say they weren't presenting bikes in the GuSgenheim back then, It was with this backdrop that a little-known promot- er named Don Brymer decided to try to bring motorcy- cle racing to Madison Square Garden. This is the Madison Square Garden we're talking about here, The mecca of sporB in the ciq/ of cities. This was where Willis Reed gallantl/ limped on the floor to help the Knick win their fi.st NBA Championship. This was the building whe.e Ali and Frazer would meet for the first time, and Nadia Comaneci would stick her perfect 10. More than a few in the industry laughed at the very thought of bringing a bunch of smoking two-stroke race bikes to the Garden. Just when Brymer thought he had even/thing lined up and had finally convinced a sponsor to back him in his crazy endeavor, they got cold feet and backed out of the deal, leaving the very costly enterprise out of reach. Then, at the I lth houc Brymer finally found his match, Yamaha was starting to make a name in America, and the company wanted to up the ante. What better way than tg sponsor a motorcycle race smack dab in the hean of the Big Apple? rnotors, racing old ialopy xock cars at lirct. His first real association with motorcycling came when he found out that a guy was doing good business taking Hondas ofi the dock from Japan, assembling them and deliv- ering them to the dealers ready to sell. Yamaha had arrived on U.S. shores, and grymer oflered to do the same for them, and they agreed, The assembly busi- ness grew rapidly. 'At fint we were assembling bikes right there in the wrecking yard," Brymer remembers. "We eventually moved to a big warehouse on Ninth Street in Long Beach, and had up to 40 employees working on an assembly line putting together the Yamaha motorcycles and delivering them to California and Arizona." Brymer and his crew would service and test celebrity loaner bikes on the polished concrete floor of the warehouse. Some of the guys got pretty good at sliding the bikes around on the glossy surface and it didn't take long before impromptu races began breaking out. "l told my partner that we ought to take this show over to Long Beach Arena," Brymer said. His partner thought Brymer was half ioking, but he wasn't. "we went to the arena, worked a deal and had a success with it right off the bat. We got some ofthe top riders such as Ralph \{hite, Sammy Tanner and even Gary Nixon came in to race-" The races in Long Beach Arena in the late 19605, just like in the assembly warehouse, were on the bare, polished concrete floor. The races drew up to 3000 fans looking to watch the incredibly tight races. There were a lot of crashes, but the speeds were low and riders rarely got hurt. One thing that had yet to be worked out was ventilation. No one had thought of racing motorcycles in the arena when it was built. So how did they keep everyone from keel- ing over from the fumes? "We opened the doors on either end oI the arena," Brymer explaind. "That was our ventilation system." To keep fans entertained Brymer would dream up all kinds of intermission shows. There were bands, of course. and the obli8atory motorcycle slunt jumper. They thought outside the box, too, and brought in off-the-wall entertainment such as the Long Beach Gymnastics Club. "We'd have the kids out their flipping and flopping around," Brymer says of the gymnasts. "One liftle girl was really good and it turned out it was [future Olympianl Cathy Rigby." Bolstered by success in Long Beach, Brymer dreamed up the idea of taking the show back East. specifically to New York City and Madison Square Garden. Whereas Brymer could make a tidy liftle profit with 3000 specta- tors in Long Beach, he'd need three, maybe even four times that just to break even in New York. lt was a big gamble, but BrTmer was confident that the New York area had plenty of motorcycle-racin8 fans. With Yamaha's sponsorship and the agreement with Madison Square Garden, Brymer set up ah office in New York City and went to work lining uP top riders and getting the word out to potential fans. The build up for the race was incredible. He brought in movie stars and celebrity athletes to help promote the race. The New York Times covered it and a young TV newsman named Geraldo Rivera reported on the scene. Terry Tiernan, vice president of Yamaha America, agreed to give Yamaha's backing to the Madison Square Garden race at Daytona in lYarch of l97l . Tiernan was hanging out with l'lalcolm Forbes at the races that year, and when the deal was made, Forbes invited Brymer to fly with him and Tiernan back to New York so he could finalize plans. "We flew back to New York on Plalcolm's prirate jet,'' Brymer said. "When we landed there was a limo waiting for me, and they drove me straight the l'4adison Square Garden oflices." Brymer's intuition proved correct. There were tons of motorcycle-racing fans in New York Cit/ and on January 25, 1971. they packed the Garden to the rafters, 17,500 strong. Farst-year Expert Al Kenyon led, start to finish, on a Bultaco. He won $2740. "People couldn't get tickets and were lined up outside buying from scalpers at $20 a pop," Brymer recalls. "The Harley-Davidson folks were one among those who thought lwas crazy and wouldn't back me, and they were right out there trying to get tickets with the rest of them." Brymer's pipe dream of bringing motorcycles to Madison Square Garden was a rousing success. So much so that the company that owned the MSG purchased Roosevelt Raceway on Long lsland, and asked Brymer to bring motorcycles to that venue. He did, and again it was another sellout at the big horseracing track. Brymer's name was now instantly recognizable in motorcycling circles. A seed of an idea planted on the dusty floor of an old warehouse on Ninth Street in Long Beach blossomed into one of the biggest races of it era. GN Al Konyon holds lhe winner's lrophy ol the first motoEy.le roce held in Modison Squore Gordon. Suirounding Kenyon from lefi ro righr ore muri

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