Motorsports
Robert Gilchrist Huenemann
November 12, 2003
I was lucky enough to participate in three different motor sports.
On the starting grid of a Midwestern Council of Sports Car Clubs sedan class race at Blackhawk Farms, about 1965.
I ran one full season with MCSCC at Blackhawk Farms Raceway in Northern Illinois, Wilmot Hills Raceway in southern Wisconsin and at Meadowdale International Raceway outside of Chicago, and got a second in class for the season. I also ran many gymkhanas and ice races and one rallye in this VW bug, which was set up by Carrera motors. It was decambered to minus 7/8ths of a degree and had Koni shocks and an Empi sway bar. I ran Pirelli Cinturato tires. This combination beat a few Porches in gymkhanas. It was a joy to put this car into a full four-wheel drift all the way around the more than 180 degrees of Doane’s corner at Meadowdale.
Ice racing in the winter was really great for your reflexes. When I came back to the asphalt in the spring, if I got the back end out a little bit too far it felt like I had forever to correct it.
There is a lot of interest in the cars of this era. One web site devoted to vintage races is www.victorylane.com.
I ran this 250 cc Maico at several motocross tracks in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin and northern California.
This race was at Byron, Illinois in 1971. The jump was a great place to pass.
In 1962 and 1963 and again in 1966 and 1967, Torsten Hallman won the 250 cc world motocross championships on a Husqvarna. In the late 60s and early 70s, he came to America with the greatest European motocross riders of that era. I got to see Joel Robert, Roger DeCoster, and a host of others at Elkhorn Wisconsin, and at Saddleback and Carnegie in California. DeCoster, with five world titles, is probably the most popular motocross rider of all time. But Robert won six titles, and he did it with a flair that is legendary.
I saw Robert ride at all three of the tracks above. He totally dominated the other riders. Saddleback had a downhill that was so steep and pockmarked that many riders could hardly get down it on the brakes. I saw, and heard, Robert come down that hill. Every place he could get a little traction, he wicked up the throttle. Unbelievable. And at Carnegie, in the heat that only central California can provide, the other riders were collapsed in their support vehicles between motos. Not Robert. I watched them retape his hands, which were bloody like raw meat. Then he jumped on a Suzuki minibike and did front wheel stands all around the pit area. It was a masterful psych job.
Of course I had to try my hand. Starting with a Honda SL90. And then on the Maico.
I ran this Yamaha RD400 for one season with the American Federation of Motorcyclists.
This is the hairpin at Sears Point, around 1975. Another great place to pass by braking late.
I had watched the greatest riders of that stellar era. Kenny Roberts, Wayne Rainey, John Kocinski, Jim Felice, Eddie Lawson and Freddie Spencer are just a few of the riders I saw in action. And again I had to try it myself. I just wish I had run something better than Dunlop K81s. Later I ran Metzeler Comp-Ks on a 1984 Honda VF-700F, but only on the roads between Bolinas and Coalinga.
The AFM runs a great program with strict safety standards. I would recommend it to anyone. I do remember one amusing incident from a race at Sears Point. Before each race, you always get one lap to check the track. Coming up to the starting grid, some riders swing from side to side to warm up their tires more evenly. One novice rider did this and managed to lay the bike down in the process. With the whole grid watching.
The AFM runs a sidecar class. These bikes tend to drop more oil than the others. At one riders meeting, the race marshall commented that special care was being taken to clean up any oil dropped during the sidecar races. One solo rider piped up that it wasn’t the oil that was the problem, it was the monkey shit.
Motorcycle Observed
Trials
I truly admire the world’s great motocrossers and road racers. But I am astonished by the skill of the half dozen or so riders who can win an observed trial at the international level. Click on this link and then select photo gallery to see photos of these incredibly skilled gymnasts.
Bikes I Have Owned
Yamaha YDS-3C
Honda SL90
Maico 250
Yamaha RD400
Honda VF700F
Honda XR250