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Flat Track Racing Mega Thread - INCLUDES SPOILERS!

I haven't kept this thread active as I've lost some enthusiasm for AFT under Gene Crouch. I still watched race highlights and there was some great racing this season.

AFT news:
- Jared Mees locked up his 10th National Championship at last weekend's Lake Ozark Speedway Short Track. Mees announced his retirement from racing Sunday afternoonon Instagram. Mees has been a fierce competitor and would have been at the front during any era of Flat Track racing. He's said he's moving on to a new chapter but didn't provide details. Presumably, his race promotion business will continue which includes the Lima, Ohio Half Mile and the Springfield Mile.

- AFT has finally and officially removed pure race engines from eligibility in the Twins class for 2025. This was supposed to happen several years ago but then Indian wanted to build and compete with the race-only FTR750. This was a boon for AFT as Indian pumped a lot money and interest into the series. However, the original three-year agreement continued far too long while AFT waffled on a new rules package.

The XR750 and FTR750 are officially retired (for now). I haven't seen the 2025 rules or much detail on what the Twins teams plan on racing next season. The KTM 790/890 platform didn't turnout to be the all-conquering platform everyone expected. Yamaha, Suzuki, Honda, Kawasaki, BMW, KTM, Ducati, and Royal Enfield all make supposedly eligible twins but whether that transfers to the race track is still in question. We know Yamaha's worked well under the old rules but its not known if the new rules will be as liberal for production engines. Stay tuned.
 
Mees is a record breaking Champ. +1 on him being in the game in any ERA.

Opens the door for others to taste Championship glory.
 
Now that the XR, RS and FTR are gone will the field be open to riders also? The supertwins with only few riders was killing our sport, 12 premiere bikes at Peoria. Will we ever go back to where if you have a expert card you can try to qualify? Tired of only the elite teams deciding who can ride and who can not. :2cents
 
I read about that on RACER magazine's website yesterday. It was only one point of view from one of the plaintiffs so hard to tell the whole story.

I think AFT needs to produce a 2025 schedule and full rule book or they won't have anyone showing up to race no matter the license.
 
bikeama said:
Maybe a crack in the Frances family control. I hope someone in AFT does the same, so we can have open qualifying.

NBA Legend Michael Jordan Just Sued Nascar.
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That is super crazy stuff. He has a point, but will he be successful? :dunno
I remember when he had the same feelings for AMA Racing.. saying no matter how much $$ he put into it he could not match the factory teams.

Such a cool livery.
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I was talking to someone about flat track and the lost and lamented Sacramento Mile today
Any news on rule book + schedule?
 
Here is the 2025 schedule. 6/7 says to be announced. The racers are already in CA so perhaps Sac?? :dunno

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And a new race format?? :wow
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Last nite on American Pickers, they hit a garage in Maricopa Az. old guy with a flat track bike, and family history into the teens.
Early video of speedway bikes on dirt, looking like board trackers, with dropped handle bars, leaning over the front, sitting down. Progressing to European racing of national teams, US with a strong showing.
Way before the thirties, they were riding sitting, leaned over, like a short tracker, progressing from beach bars inverted, to right side up, with JAP engines new to racing.
Stuff I didn't know about.
 
Fans Choice TV will be covering CTR series and delayed coverage of the ATF series. Need to read the fine print to see details.

REMINDER: FansChoice will auto renew at 6 months unless canceled before the renew date. Make sure you do not subscribe to early or you will pay $54 for one race at the end of the series.


FansChoice.tv’s offerings include:

  • Mission Foods CTR Flat Track Series Livestreaming: FansChoice.tv becomes the exclusive livestreaming home for the Mission Foods CTR Flat Track Series. Subscribers will have access to live and on-demand content from each event.
  • Progressive AFT Content: While all livestreaming coverage of Progressive American Flat Track is now exclusively on FloSports, FansChoice.tv subscribers will have access to a comprehensive VOD archive. This includes full coverage from every AFT National from 2017 through 2024, and following each FloSports livestream in 2025, full coverage of each AFT National will be published as VOD on FansChoice.tv. Additionally, historic content from the golden years of the AMA Grand National Championship will be available.
  • Subscription Options: FansChoice.tv offers two subscription plans: $9.99 per month or $54.99 for six months, granting access to both Mission Foods CTR Flat Track Series Livestreaming and the extensive AFT VOD archive.
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Zombie (thread) resurrection!

Maybe I should start a separate thread in General, but I suspect that the people who are likely to know the answer are probably subscribed to this thread.

For some reason I was recently thinking about the late great Freddie Nix. When I first came to motos he was the newest sensation on the mile with four consecutive wins before dying in a car crash. Anyway, I found this great article in the Cycle World archives about the 68 Sac Mile. BTW, the CW archive is an endless source of fun for me.

So what's the question? Several places in the article they make reference to a "spring frame". For those who don't know, lots of racers were still racing hardtail frames in FT. These are neither hardtails nor swingarm frames, but something else. Do any of you know what one is?
 
'68 I was at Sacramento, '68 was also the year Cal Expo opened. The mile was at the old fairgrounds in '68. The last mile at the old fairgrounds was 1970 as seen in "On Any Sunday" As far as rear suspension I do remember some bikes were going to rear shocks. Mainly English bikes, HD was still running the 750 flat heads against the 500 OHVs. The only rear springs I know of without a swing arm were the plunger frames, not sure any ran in the mile. These were 1940 bikes. I do remember going to the mile in 1963 with my dad watching George Roeder qualify when they ran one at a time. George Roeder went into turn one and the sound of the HD never changed, he just through it sideways. Everyone stood up and yelled.

Side note. they did run a road race at the old fairgrounds using the streets of the old fairgrounds. I went up with a friend who ran his Triumph Bonneville TT special. About 1/2 the bikes were TT dirt track bikes and 1/2 were road racers. I do remember seeing a 4 valve 50cc Honda the head was larger than the cylinder. At the riders meeting the ref told all the rider to ride slow the first lap of practice to make note of the manhole covers that will change the normal line in the corners.
 
fun article! plus Mr Yvon Duhamel on a 350 Yamaha … :laughing

after reading the article, I’m pretty confident that in 1968 the “spring frame” H-D being referred to are what we’d recognize as swingarm rear suspension.

I couldn’t quickly find any pics of vintage flat-track or board-track race bikes with leaf-spring rear suspension, but when I hear “spring frame,” about a vintage bike, the leaf-spring rear suspension is what I think of …

Indian made its “cradle spring frame” that had leaf spring rear suspension … supposed to be credited for making Indian successful in board track and flat track racing and allowing Indian to become the largest USA motorcycle manufacturer in the early 20th century:

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In SoCal, the grueling Big Bear enduro lead to aftermarket solutions to allow rigid Triumphs to be converted to swingarm rear suspension that were casually referred to as “spring frames” as compared to the more common-at-the-time ridged-rear suspension bikes … 1949 Big Bear Scrambler Triumph TR5 Trophy:

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Thanks for the thoughtful reply, John. Maybe your explanation is correct. My doubt comes from the use of different nomenclature between the author's description of HD and Triumph bikes. If the Harley had anything like a swingarm rear suspension, why wouldn't he call it that when he used that term to describe a Triumph (see below)? It's not like HD had trademarked it.

Now I'm wondering if it was like the leaf spring solution you mentioned, or even like an old Moots mountain bike that didn't have a swingarm pivot, instead allowing the chain stays to flex which is sort of like that Indian.

"Skip Van Leeuwen played guinea pig for Johnson Motors on a swinging arm Triumph, none other than the ex-Dick Hammer road racer for Daytona, with twin oil tanks, overhead oil cooler and high-low megaphones.'
 
yes, the descriptions of the various frames was a bit confusing … :thumbup

I just chalked it up to the writing style of the author. 1968 isn’t that long ago … we’d remember if H-D was using something other than a rigid or a swingarm frame to race nationals in ‘68, I think? idk.

I’ll try to keep poking around and see if I can find a pic of a H-D 1968 flat track racebike with unusual suspension, but I didn’t have any luck, quickly, this morning. :ride
 
SFMCjohn said:
yes, the descriptions of the various frames was a bit confusing … :thumbup

I just chalked it up to the writing style of the author. 1968 isn’t that long ago … we’d remember if H-D was using something other than a rigid or a swingarm frame to race nationals in ‘68, I think? idk.

I’ll try to keep poking around and see if I can find a pic of a H-D 1968 flat track racebike with unusual suspension, but I didn’t have any luck, quickly, this morning. :ride
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Yeah, not that long ago, and while rigids remained popular in FT for a long time, swingarm frames had been common everywhere else (road, desert, etc.) for about a decade.

Thanks for looking, John.
 
fun stuff! :thumbup

the SFMC has a ridged-framed Aermacchi hanging on the wall. I’m told a flat track racer would buy the frame from their local Harley dealer, and go try his/her luck at the local tracks …

I’ll have to see if I can find a photo of it … :ride
 
Well, I just spent some time on what ought to be called bikepornhub.com (Mecum Auctions) poring over photos of KR's they've sold or are selling. I can find rigids and swingarms, and nothing in between. In fact, the swingarms started earlier than I would have guessed. I'm attaching the photos of a 57 with a swingarm, a 62 rigid that I'm guessing from the year and the plate was Bart Markel's, and a 67 with a swingarm that carries #4 which I think also makes it Markel's. I'll continue my search by searching for photos by using the rider's last name and KR as my search terms (i.e., Lawill KR). I'll see if I can find anything.
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