IN
THE
WIND
P32
WHAT PEORIA FANS WANT
A
lot has been said about the
Peoria TT running Grand Na-
tional Twins machinery next year
in the GNC1 class. Many riders
have been vocal about not lik-
ing the idea, with a few notable
exceptions such as Henry Wiles
who said he was not against the
move. Surprisingly it would seem
Wiles would be the rider with the
most to lose since he's clearly
got riding Peoria on 450cc DTX
machines dialed in.
I thought it might be interest-
ing to go up on the scenic Peoria
hillsides and talk to the fans to
find out what they thought about
the possibility of Twins coming
back to the TT. I was stunned at
what I found. In spite of talking
to over a dozen fans I could not
find one person who was against
bringing the twin-cylinder ma-
chines back. In fact nearly all I
interviewed were enthusiastically
for the change.
I approached people on the
hillside asking them if they knew
anything about the race mov-
ing to Twins next season. I was
a little surprised to find that
about half of the folks I talked to
were not aware of the potential
change of machinery. Funny
enough one guy said, "What?
They're not racing Twins now?"
He was totally unaware that he
was watching 450cc single-cyl-
inder motorcycles on the track.
If they said they'd heard of the
Twins coming back to Peoria,
I simply asked them what they
thought of the plan.
Much of the response was
similar to what I got from 74-year-
old Jules Curtis who said he'd
been coming to Peoria for years
and was not thrilled with the
450s. "I was here once or twice
when they ran the Twins and if
they come back I'll have to see
them," he said.
Don Qualls from Cape Gi-
rardeau said his dad brought
him to Peoria in the '50s and he
got to see the big Harleys and
Indians run around the TT circuit.
"I think the 450s put on a good,
show,' he said before adding,
"but I'd rather see the big bikes
come back. They maybe didn't
jump as far because they were
heavier bikes, but they put on a
real good show."
After about six or seven
surveys, all saying they wanted
to see the Twins back I became
determined to find someone who
wanted to keep the 450s, so I
approached some younger fans.
I found Jordan, a 23-year-old fan
from Champaign, Illinois, who
was not old enough to remember
when the Twins raced on Peoria,
but even he was for the bigger
bike. "I'd like to see the Twins
come back," he said. "Even if
they don't jump as far I think the
racing would be a little more
competitive."
I continued until the racing
was about to start again and
talked to over a dozen fans and
their friends and was not able to
find one person did not want to
see the Twins return.
Larry Lawrence
