Charles F. Barrett, Utica NY, Summer 1915

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This photo pops up from time to time but as happens too often the story behind it is missing. However, about a year ago there was a great conversation in the FB comments section that revealed a bit more detail, info that I stuffed away in the Archive Moto files. Since then, my buddy Dale, proprietor of the Shangri La that is the Wheels Through Time Museum in Maggie Valley, NC was asked if he knew any more about the photo. Dale in turn suggested to the curious gentleman, who happens to be the manager at the Harley-Davidson dealership in Utica, NY, that I may have come across some information to add. The fellowship of the ring not yet complete, the gentleman also reached out to the good folks at the Motor Co.’s archive department and together we were able to uncover a bit more of the story behind this wonderful photo. I would like to share what has been pieced together as the result of one man’s interest, and the efforts of half a dozen other enthusiasts in a collective effort of preservation.

This photo comes from the summer of 1915, the first year that the Harley-Davidson Motor Company officially threw its hat into the sport of professional motorcycle racing with a determined and tenacious factory program headed up by the masterful Bill Ottaway. The gentleman seen here is Mr. Charles F. Barrett, the son of Italian immigrants who worked at textile mills as a teenager in Utica, NY. A local enthusiast, Barrett stands confidently as he displays his trophy in front of the local Harley dealership after just having won the first annual Utica Auto Club Hill Climb on July 3rd, 1915. Barrett sits atop what is most likely an 11K4 track-configured single, one of the eight “specialty” racing models that Harley offered for the 1915 season, a machine which was no doubt acquired by Arthur F. Ferriss, Utica’s first Harley-Davidson dealer. Ferriss’ dealership, located on the block of Washington St. and Columbia St. proudly displays the victory advertisements of Harley’s breakout year across his storefront windows. To the left is the latest victory advertisement after the one two punch of Joe Wolters and Otto Walker at the La Grande 200 Mile Road Race in Oregon that June. It was this same weekend that Barrett made his triumphant ascent in New York that the factory team demolished the competition in Dodge City and forever making their mark on the culture. It is quite possible, if not most likely that Ferriss sponsored Barrett at the hill climb to keep in line with the Motor Co.’s newest marketing strategy, one which equated winning at the track with sales in the showroom. In the years follwing Barrett’s victory Ferriss ran a number of ads in the local paper touting the superiority of Harley-Davidson on the local hills.

Unlike the near vertical off-road hill climb competitions that were just beginning to take shape on the west coast, the inaugural Oriskany Hill Climb was more of European style event focusing on a timed sprint up an existing road, a popular event before WWI. The Oriskany competition was structured into 5 event classes and staged in a joint effort by the Utica Auto Club, the A.A.A., the New York State Motor Federation, and the local Firemen’s Convention Committee. The course selected was a 7/8 mile ascent up the College Street hill in nearby Oriskany Falls, NY, just south of Utica and featured, at its steepest a 15 percent grade. The 23 year old Barrett mounted his spry little Harley-Davidson track-configured single and shot up College Hill in a reported 48 1/2 seconds, nearly 65 mph, besting the fastest automobile to enter by 15 seconds. The time disparity between Barrett, his Harley, and the rest of the automobile entrants would result in the 1915 event being the first and last to allow motorcycles to participate. So far nothing more of Barrett’s racing career has turned up, though it is known that like so many of America’s professional and amateur motorcycle men Barrett went on to serve in Europe during WWI. Barrett enlisted summer after his big win in Oriskany Falls and was deployed in the early spring of 1918 as a Sergeant Major in the motor mechanics regiment of the National Guard and returned later that winter. A big thanks to everyone who helped reconnect the life behind this remarkable photograph.

William Wells Bennet, Mt. Hood, OR, August 1924

Here’s a quick followup to this week’s post on Wells Bennett which also just so happens to tie in perfectly with the One Motorcycle Show in Portland this weekend. I won’t be up there but I know a ton of great folks that are so if you are in the area definitely head that way.

Having taken on the flat tracks as a teenager back in Kansas, and then rising to fame conquering America’s infamous motordrome circuit, Wells Bennett could have easily retired from the sport no less a legend, but he was far from done. With the suspension of professional racing throughout America’s involvement in WWI, Bennett found himself keeping busy with cross-country record runs and stunt riding for filmmakers in Hollywood. When professional racing resumed in 1919 Bennett got right back to work onboard his trusty Excelsior. Gone were the circular motordromes on which he had made his name, replaced in the early 1920’s with +100 mph speed records, high speed flat track racing, hill climbs, and transcontinental records. Bennett conquered them all, claiming trophies and smashing records in nearly every format in post-war American motorcycle competition, including a 24 hour record that stood nearly to WWII. His well seasoned grit in the saddle along with his knack for publicity became Bennett’s signature on the culture, but as one of the few pioneers to actually live to confront retirement Bennett began to look outside of the race track for his living. So, as the original legends each began to pull back from competition so too did Bennett and he retired by opening an Excelsior/Henderson dealership in Portland, Oregon.

Just after his 33rd birthday, in August of 1924 the veteran racing icon from Wichita, Kansas decided to again try his hand at the impossible in favor of two-wheeled adventure and set off to the icy slope of Mt. Hood. The plan was for Bennett to reach the 11,200 ft., snow-capped, and craggy summit of Mt. Hood onboard his trusty 28HP Henderson DeLuxe Four. Not satisfied with the traditional southern route of the annual American Legion climb, Bennett decided to attempt his climb on the more treacherous northern face of Mt. Hood. Three of Bennett’s men from the dealership, Joe Walker, Ard Pratt, and Roy Jones, as well as a camera man from Fox News Weekly accompanied him on the journey, clearing a trail the best they could and standing by to catch the machine in the event of a spill. As reported in the local paper following the attempt, Bennett’s journey was “Gallant though unavailing,” and he only managed to make it to Cooper Spur, about 8,500 feet above sea level. However, though the summit was not captured that day the publicity certainly was and Bennett enjoyed the fruits of his efforts for many years to come. Though Excelsior remained one of the major motorcycle manufacturers throughout the great atrophy of the teens and 20’s, the company could not outrun the great depression, and as they closed their doors Bennett moved on to a position within the sturdy Ford Motor Company. William Wells Bennett later retired to a ranch at the base of his old geographical friend Mt. Hood until he passed at the age of 78, truly an icon of our culture.

William Wells Bennett, St. Louis Motordrome Summer 1914

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It was during a 15 day, 1,100 mile tour from Kansas to Colorado that a 20 year old man from Wichita named William Wells Bennett arrived at the Tuileries Motordrome in Denver on August 19, 1912. A notable flat track racer in his home state, Bennett had never seen a track quite like the wooden saucer at Tuileries.  Built just the summer before, the 1/3 mile Tuileries Motordrome was only the 3rd circular wooden motorcycle racetrack in the country and featured a constant banking of 47 degrees. Despite his experience and comfort racing flat tracks back home in Kansas, Bennett claimed to have been quite intimidated by the steep and terribly fast boards at Tuileries, but as in any of the great pioneer racers, the spirit of the challenge got the best of him.

After watching in awe the spectacle of the 61ci, twin cylinder races Bennett made his way into the pits to get a better understanding of the sport. Curley Fredericks, who was running a factory Excelsior 7 had just won both the 3 mile match and 5 mile open events and was no doubt the target of the aspiring racer from Kansas. With the encouragement and guidance of racers like Fredericks, Bennett consulted the official, acquired an Indian 30.50ci single, and decided to give it a go. A last minute entry, Bennett was billed to the crowd as the “Kansas Champion” for the 2 mile 30.50ci event and lived up to his reputation. On that hot August afternoon, without ever having set foot on a steeply banked wooden motordrome track before, much less having had a practice lap, Wells Bennett threw his leg over and charged the boards at nearly 70 mph, taking the checkered flag and besting two experienced local professionals.

From that moment it seems Bennett was convinced that he was meant for such a life. Within a month he and his new wife Maggie packed up and left Kansas for Los Angeles, where Bennett quickly established himself as one of the top board track racers in the country. This image of Bennett was taken a couple of years later in 1914, the final days of the American motordrome, a time when Bennett was touted as one of the best riders in the country. Having only seen his first motordrome less than two years ago that fateful day in Denver, Bennett had become a a top factory rider for Excelsior and had traveled the country racing ever since. He was contracted to captain the Detroit Motordrome’s “Tiger Squad” team during the summer of 1913, and as such Bennett spent the majority of 1913 and 1914 running motordrome races throughout the midwest. Seen here inside the insanely steep 62.5 degree boards of the St. Louis Motordrome at the age of 22, an iron-jawed Wells Bennett sits atop his considerably modified Excelsior 7 factory board track racer in the summer of 1914. 

Flying Merkel's Maldwyn Jones and Cleo Pineau, Savannah, GA December 27 1913

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Maldwyn Jones and Cleo Pineau, two prolific pioneer American motorcycle racers prepped and ready to charge the the sandy roads of Savannah, GA for the 1913 American Classic 300-Mile Road Race. The original Milwaukee motorcycle manufacturer, Merkel had a stake in the sport of motorcycle racing for nearly a decade by the time this photograph was taken, having fielded machines and racers since 1905. Without question the champion of the brand, Maldwyn Jones, seen on the left had helped to establish Merkel as a worthy competitor to the resoundingly dominant Indian factory program. A more recent addition to the Merkel team, Cleo Pineau remained one the company’s most loyal racers until their last days, continuing to compete on Merkels until founder Joseph Merkel left and the company shut its doors just before the Great War. Together the two men remained a stronghold for the brand into the mid-teens amidst a shrinking American motorcycle market and the increasingly fierce and well financed competition departments of Indian, Excelsior, and a eventually Harley-Davidson. 

Though even the most casual antique enthusiast will recognize the unique signature orange paint for which Flying Merkel is famous, many do not know that Merkel’s racing team announced their presence at the track with a different shade. Known as The Yellow Jackets, the Merkel squad often ran machines painted yellow, the riders themselves wearing jerseys and pants to match, there is even mention of painted helmets and boots. Both staple men of the Yellow Jackets, Jones and Pineau would also both enlist for service come WWI. Jones served US Army Air Service at McCook Field where he would be able to continue his passion for racing on the weekend which resulted in him establishing a new relationship with the Harley-Davidson program. Pineau shipped off to the front lines as a fighter pilot in the Royal Flying Corps, becoming one of the elite few American Aces. It is said that, much to the bewilderment of his fellow pilots, Pineau kept a grimacing yellow wasp painted on the sides of his plane throughout his deployment, a tribute to his Yellow Jacket team back home and his loyalty to the once great American motorcycle company who had help start it all. 

As for the day that this image of the pair was snapped on board their sleek, fully suspended Flying Merkel racers. The young Pineau pushed hismachine too hard while coming around a sandy corner on the 11th lap, snapping his handlebars off during a tremendous spill in front of the grandstands. Jones however put on a clinic, leading the race for a couple hundred miles at an average speed nearing 70 mph. With only 2 laps to go Jones’ chain snapped which caused him a 19 minute delay in order to repair, Excelsior’s Bob Perry made up the time and claimed the $500 1st place prize, Jones trailing not far behind to claim 2nd place.

For more about Flying Merkel, Jones, Pineau, the Savannah 300, and countless other unique stories and old photos in the pages of Georgia Motorcycle History, available HERE!