Cycle News

CN III ARCHIVES BY LARRY LAWRENCE T he Laconia (NH) Classic was once the second-biggest motorcycle race in America, second only to Daytona. The race had origins that pre-dated even Daytona. What's interest- ing about Laconia is that unlike Sturgis, which originated as a motorcycle race later to become much more famous as an annual motorcyclist rally, Laconia actually started as an annual Gypsy Tour dating back to 1917 and was a well-established gathering, that spawned into a national race years later. Motorcycling, which thrived for the first half of the 1910s as a major mode of transportation, began to slip by the mid-decade with Ford's continuous improvements to its mass production techniques and the resultant low-cost Model T. In 1917 America's motorcycle industry body, the Federation of American Motorcyclists (FAM) was looking for ways to stimulate motorcycle ridership and sales and came up with a series of tours they dubbed Gypsy Tours. These tours would take place across the country, but almost immediately the tour held in New England became the big- gest. It made sense, in that the bulk of motorcycle makers during the early year of the industry were in New England. Indian, the biggest motorcycle manufacturer in the world at that point, was in Springfield, Massachusetts. And the Laconia Gypsy Tour had the major pop- ulation base of Boston and New York City from which to draw. The rally grew rapidly and would hold the honor as the biggest annual gathering of motorcyclists until it was overtaken by Sturgis probably sometime in the 1970s. Big-time national racing came to the New England Gypsy Tour with the advent of AMA's then new Class C (production based) racing category. Swanzey, New Hampshire, hosted AMA 200-Mile TT Nationals starting in 1934. A local hero, Babe Tancrede, won that first 200-Mile TT National on a Harley-Davidson. Then another local, the relatively unheralded Hanford Marshall won the big TT event in '36. The '36 race was dubbed "The Derby of Death." Racer Richard Ashbrook died when he ran off the course into a tree and a spectator was killed when he was hit attempting to cross the track. The Swanzey TT course was 3.3 miles long over rough roads, up and down hills and many turns. A newspaper estimated the crowds at the Swanzey TT at 10,000, a massive gathering dur- ing the Great Depression. Old Orchard Beach, Maine, hosted the New England Gypsy Tour in 1937 and a 100-mile National was held. The race was won by Indian- backed rider Lester Hillbish, who actually had to borrow a motorcycle from a spectator at the last minute, when his bike quit running. Hillbish was offered the bike by motorcycle dealer Horace Fritz, from Hillbish's hometown of Reading. Pennsylvania. Hillbish won the 100-miler, not only having to make an extra stop owing to a stock tank, but it was especially notable since Fritz had ridden the motorcycle 500 miles to the The Origins of the Laconia Classic P98 The start of the 1939 Laconia TT National before the track at Belknap Park was paved.

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