Part VI:
As it did around the globe, the Great Depression served as a grand a catalyst within American motorcycle culture. Both the sport and the industry were forced to adapt to the economic decline in and the changes spawned an entirely new culture. Indian and Harley further refined their smaller 45 cubic inch models, packing them with value, and leaning into a focus on design to weather the storm. With the addition of the American motorcycle Associations professional 45 class, both companies newest machines became American favorites. Still, the financial crisis marked the end of the road for Excelsior Motorcycles, one of America’s Big Three manufacturers who had been in business since 1908. Despite having found success on both the road and the track, including being one of Indian’s fiercest competitors in the golden age of the motordrome, Excelsior shuttered its doors in 1931, leaving Springfield and Milwaukee to duke it out for supremacy.
With access to more economical 45 cubic inch motorcycles, dealers and clubs rallied together, creating events in hopes of driving new sales. National stars like Joe Petrali, Wells Bennett, and Orie Steel still grabbed headlines as the rocketed up steep hills on either coast, but professional races were dwindling in number. Local races allowed men of all experience levels to be competitive on their lightly modified stock machines. Events like the Jack Pine Enduro and the reemerging Gypsy Tour races saw a spike in popularity. The decline of factory-backed Class A racing forced the AMA to introduce a new class in 1933. They hoped the new Class C would foster wide spread participation and bring more people back to the sport. Lightly modified, stripped-stock 45 and 74c.i side valve machines were now a part of three new categories— dirt track, TT, and road race, with three divisions each, novice, amateur, and expert.
For the first time organized and sanctioned motorcycle racing was accessible to everyone. Any card carrying AMA member could ride their bikes to the track, pull off a few bits and bobs, race, and sparing any calamity, ride back home after the event. Moreover, unlike the board tracks and speedways of the previous decades, flat dirt ovals had been a feature in nearly every community throughout the United States and remained a venue of choice. Class C was just the injection of interest and participation that the industry needed. It marked a turning point in racing history and became the foundation for the second renaissance, a new golden age that emerged in the decades to come.
As the AMA developed their new Class C in 1933, the Southern Motorcycle Dealers Association devised a scheme of their own to drive business, once again bringing the thunder of American racing to the southeastern coastline. The group sponsored a 200 mile race on Savannah’s old Grand Prize circuit, the same course that once hosted the Vanderbilt Cup in 1911 and where Harley-Davidson’s first factory team made its debut in 1914 as the country transitioned away from the deadly board track motordromes. Over the coming five years the 200 mile motorcycle race would move between courses in Savannah and Jacksonville Beach, FL, before finally settling in at the new 3.2 mile semi-paved course in Daytona Beach. Finally, in 1937 the inaugural Daytona 200 was held, returning motorcyclists to the same sands that Indian’s Oscar Hedstrom first rolled his prototype racer onto at the very beginning back in 1903. Indian’s Ed Kretz, America’s first Ironman took home the checkered flag at that inaugural event and the Daytona 200 became a marquee race for the next 80 years.
Competition was briefly halted for the war in 1941, but the culture was healthy and would return stronger, just as it had after the first World War. AMA Class C flat track racing became the backbone of American motorcycle competition and the sport grew more popular than ever. The AMA’s membership boomed as soldier’s returned home seeking freedom and adrenaline. A proliferation of new motorcycle clubs strengthened a growing community full of new events, tracks, and rallies, while an influx of surplus machines and a flood of new import brands from the U.K., Europe, and eventually Japan produced a frenzy of new racers, mechanics, and customization. Once again, having come full circle, the eyes of the world focused intensely on the warm sands of Daytona Beach to see who was going to wear the crown of the fastest man on earth and the dawn of a new Golden Age of motorcycle racing had arrived.