Bert Baisden, 1933 Savannah 200 Champion, ca. 1934

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Bert Baisden, winner of the 1933 Savannah 200 Mile Championship Road Race, onboard his Harley-Davidson RL ca. 1934.

Mired in the depths of the Great Depression, it was in 1932 that a group of southern motorcycle dealers came together under the name of the Southeastern Motorcycle Dealers Association with a plan to bolster their dwindling sales. The motorcycle industry in America had atrophied since the explosion of manufacturers before WWI, and with the closing of the Excelsior shop in 1931 only Harley-Davidson and Indian remained. In their own bid for driving depression-era sales each of the companies offered rugged and reliable side valve engine platforms and an array of vibrant colors. The sport of professional racing had taken a hit with the country’s economic downturn as well. The golden age of big names stars, top-fuel machines, and thrilling board tracks were gone, having given way to highly specialized and costly Class A competition which was then focused mostly on 1/2 mile dirt track speedway races, near vertical hill climbs, and straight line speed records. However, the gentlemen of the Southeastern Motorcycle Dealers Association had a brilliant idea… get the everyday enthusiast back into the racing game themselves and you would revitalize the marketplace.

The association organized their first event in April of 1932, opting to utilize 3.3 miles of the now two decade-old Grand Prize road circuit in Savannah, Ga. The race was a 200 mile TT style road race for stripped stock machines, and on the day of the big event 13 men lined up in hopes of capturing the glory, and the $500 prize. A local enthusiast, Ralph Edwards, who had already established his reputation for being a skilled competitor crossed the line first in ’32 on board his own Harley-Davidson, and though not quite as successful as the association had hoped for, the idea of organized competition for “owner-racers” would stick. For the 1933 race the date was pushed back to the 4th of July weekend and the entry list grew to 23 competitors. Longtime AMA Secretary E.C. Smith was later quoted as saying that this race in Savannah in would mark the birth of a new class of competition, one which would grow to become the most popular form of the sport for the coming decades, the AMA Class C. Another local racing enthusiast, Bert Baisden claimed the victory and the $500 in 33 onboard his Harley-Davidson. Baisden, seen here onboard his Harley-Davidson RL in this photo from around 1934 was an avid racer, winning championship road races and hill climbs throughout the 1930’s, but as a non-professional it was the advent of Class C competition that allowed him to secure his place in American motorcycle history. 

The 200 mile race became an AMA National Championship in 1934 and relocated to a new course at Camp Foster, near Jacksonville, FL. Yet another Savannah native, Bremen Sykes wound out a Harley-Davidson for the win, beating the field of 35 entrants, including his friend Baisden who came in 3rd, and becoming the first AMA National Champion on the books. Shortly after Sykes’ victory Harley-Davidson began running their “Ride a Winner” advertising campaign touting the success of their rugged, reliable, and fast side valve Rl and VL machines. The race was again staged in Jacksonville in 1934, being won for the first time by an Indian ridden by Rody Rodenberg. As Class C competition began to rise in popularity, both Harley-Davidson and Indian realized the potential in this “everyman’s” competition and development quickly focused not more on improving their stock models rather than their competition purebreds, and with factory focus so too came a new breed of professional class of riders. In 1936 the 200 mile National Championship race returned to the road course in Savannah, attracting riders from all over the country. Now a national event with national publicity, the Savannah 200 had grown into a major competition in American motorcycle racing and helped to revitalize a region, an industry, and a sport. Ironman Ed Kretz onboard an Indian bested the 72 entrants at Savannah in 1936, and would go on to repeat his victory at a brand new course the next year, one which would remain a cornerstone of American competition for decades to come… Daytona.

Motorcycle racing in Daytona would go onto become an American institution, as would the legendary men who would compete for Indian, Harley, and an eventual invasion of imported makes. However, it was men like Bert Baisden, the everyman's champion, one of the fore father’s of Class C competition, and events like the Savannah 200 that helped to pull an industry, and a sport from the brink. 

Read more about the birth of AMA Class C racing and the many roles in which the Georgia motorcycle culture of the 1930’s had to play in the pages of Georgia Motorcycle History, available now HERE.

Perry E. Mack and his Harley-Davidson, Milwaukee, WI, June 3, 1905

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This image, though quite poor quality, represents a milestone moment in the history of America’s most beloved motorcycle brand, Harley-Davidson. It was taken back in the summer of 1905 as the young startup venture was just getting its feet underneath itself. Though countless sources, including a rather erroneous documentary series will proclaim many details concerning the origins of the might Harley-Davidson, the truth remains much murkier than many are willing to admit. What is confirmable though is that by June of 1905 there were at least 4 Harley-Davidson motorcycles on the road and in a letter to the local paper Arthur Davidson officially announced that the Harley-Davidson Motor Co. had been formed to “manufacture motors and motor-cycles.” This grainy glimpse into that watershed moment came just the week before that article ran when two of the young company’s best took their newest machine out to the Milwaukee Mile to tests its measure. 

On June 2, 1905, co-founder Walter Davidson rolled up to the starting line of the Wisconsin State Fair horse track onboard the latest Harley-Davidson creation, a 27ci loop frame “heavy.” Despite the excessive weight compared to the day's standards, the new Harley kicked the dirt up to the sky and Davidson beat out Henry Zerbel and his underpowered Merkel by a reported 1/8th of a mile. The next day, on June 3rd, the company’s first employee, a proficient engineer named Perry E. Mack took another of the new big bore Harley’s to the Milwaukee Mile. Mack bolted around the oval, coming in first in the 3-mile race clocking nearly 48 mph, setting both a new State and track record of 1 minute 16 seconds, all while beating his boss to boot. Success in Milwaukee field the fire of ambition in Arthur, Walter, and Mack and they set their sites on the big Fourth of July races in Chicago. One month later, on July 4th the motormen from Milwaukee made their way to Chicago’s Garfield Park where a series of high stakes championship races were to be held on the 1/3 mile cement oval. Glenn Curtiss started the event off with an exhibition of his monstrous ‘Hercules” v-twin, covering 5 miles in 5 minutes and 5 seconds, nearly 60 mph on a track in 1905. Walter Davidson then went on to claim victory in the 10-mile open and came in second behind Perry Mack, who averaged a speed of 47 mph in the 15-mile race. However, when Mack was leading the 10-mile championship race a small fox terrier darted out onto the track directly in front of a speeding Perry Mack. The collision was unavoidable, the dog was done in an instant, and Perry Mack was only barely able to stumble his way into the infield before collapsing with a 6-inch gash cut across his forehead.

Mack would eventually recover, and the Davidson boys would continue to test the waters of competition, but for Perry E. Mack his run at Garfield Park would be his last in the sport. He continued his role as an essential asset to the Harley-Davidson Motor Co. until leaving in 1906 to explore his own ideas in motors, motorcycles, and cyclecars, blazing his own trail as a pioneer in OHV engine design associated with brands like Waverley, P.E.M., and Jefferson. Poor quality though it is, this is Perry E. Mack behind the U.S Post Office on Wisconsin Ave in Milwaukee, June 3rd, 1905. This is the company’s first known competition photograph, with what is possibly the second or third Harley-Davidson ever made.

A special thanks to Dick Werner and Herb Wagner for sharing with me their in-depth research on this momentous moment in our history.

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.