VOL. 54 ISSUE 10 MARCH 14, 2017 P73
T
he Daytona TT this Thurs-
day, March 16, kicks off
the 2017 American Flat
Track season and what is the
most highly anticipated flat track
season in decades. Looking
back at the 63-year history of
the championship, the pre-
season excitement for 2017 is at
least on par with just about any
previous year's campaign.
You have to look back to
1954, when the AMA Grand
National Championship became
a series instead of a winner-take-
all, one-race Springfield Mile title
decider; the 1969 season when
the British-made bikes were
given equal engine displace-
ment as Harley-Davidson; and
1983 when the Honda factory
launched the stunning RS750
to come close the re-entry of
the iconic Indian brand and the
assemblage of one of the stron-
gest factory squads ever.
With Brad Baker, Jared Mees
and Bryan Smith all together with
factory Indian, it's almost game-
set-match before the first green
flag drops on 2017. That is until
Harley-Davidson responded in
a big way with an equally talent-
filled factory team of Kenny
Coolbeth Jr., Jake Johnson and
Brandon Robinson.
Wow, talk about your battle
royal!
The mere fact that two Ameri-
can companies have each as-
sembled such powerful teams
to go head to head is reason
enough for fans to get excited
about this year's championship,
but long-time flat track fans who
might have not been thrilled to
watch motocross-based bikes
racing on the national short
tracks and TTs may also be com-
ing back to the track to watch
the big twins race on the tighter
and more technical tracks of the
series.
All 18 rounds, from the sea-
son-opener, will air in one-hour,
tape-delayed telecasts on Thurs-
day nights on NBCSN through-
out the summer and fall.
The series has been rebrand-
ed American Flat Track (AFT)
STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY LARRY LAWRENCE
Beginnings
New
Harley-Davidson vs. Indian
creates the most highly
anticipated flat-track
season in years
