Cycle News

CN III ARCHIVES BY LARRY LAWRENCE Y ou've seen the Dos Equis beer commercials featur- ing "The Most Interesting Man in the World?" In mo- torcycling that title may well have belonged to 1950s and '60s racer Al Gunter. Gunter led one of the most interest- ing, albeit risky, lifestyles that you'd ever imagine. The proverbial candle burning on both ends, Gunter eventually snuffed out his own life at the age of 42, but man, did he ever pack a major bundle of adventures into a relatively short lifespan! The BSA factory team was prepping for the Daytona 200 in March of '57. This was in the waning days of the beach race, so there was no track to test on. The teams improvised by going inland and finding a se- cluded rural road. They'd often stationed people on either side of a long stretch to make sure no traffic was coming and riders would blast up and down that stretch of road at full speed to set up their machines. It had been done like this since Daytona started in the 1930s with local law enforcement largely looking the other way. Well for whatever reason—a new sheriff, com- plaints from the growing population of residents—the cops weren't playing along in '57. From years of ex- perience, the police knew the roads the teams used and this time they were going to crack down on the unauthorized testing, positioning officers hidden off to the sides of these quiet roads. Sure enough here comes Dick Mann and Al Gunter on factory BSA Gold Stars, zooming past at triple-digit speed. The cops were waiting and gave chase. Mann and Gunter dutifully pulled over, fully expecting the cops to simply issue them a warning or discreetly offer to point them to a better loca- tion to test. But soon after the stop it was obvious this was no friendly pull over. The cops intended to book both the riders. Gunter decided to make a run for it. He was on the pole for the 200 that year and wasn't about to let some redneck cops keep him from his best opportunity ever to win Daytona. He was on a fac- tory BSA and knew he could outrun the police cars and find backroads where they'd never find him. He bolted, the cops hastily shoved Mann into the backseat and gave chase, but it was no contest—Gunter easily got away. It didn't take a lot of sleuthing by the locals however to figure out who it was who gave them the slip. They caught up with Gunter, pretty quickly, knocking on the hotel door of his beachside room as he sat in- nocently watching TV with the curtains wide open. BSA boss Ted Hodgson had to post bond and bail to get both Mann and Gunter out of two differ- ent county jails in time to compete next day. Gunter led much of the first half of the race, but a long pit stop handed the win to his Harley rival Joe Leon- ard. Gunter finished second. Why did Gunter run from the cops? He had to know they were going to figure out who he was, but Gunter was an action addict in a big way. He wasn't living unless there was drama and he was on the very edge. Motorcycle racing perfectly fit his personality, but even the tension of racing wasn't enough for an adrenaline junkie like Gunter. Running from the cops was just another fix, a way to get his need for a thrill filled in that moment. His thrill seeking wasn't confined to two wheels. THE SHOOTING STAR P104

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