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AGV Backmarker: Rider’s Notebook from Catalina Island, Dec. 30, 2009-Jan. 2, 2010
January 7, 2010 by Mark Gardiner
Filed under Backmarker
Once the weather cleared, I suppose Avalon, on Catalina, seemed a little less like Douglas on the Isle of Man. But I even saw a tail-less cat along the waterfront. –Gardiner photo
I boarded the Catalina Island ferry at Dana Point, in a cold drizzle uncharacteristic of balmy SoCal. The journey took about an hour and a half in rolling groundswell. The seasick and vomiting woman, whoever she was, was the happiest to see the wharf at Avalon, but we all disembarked and sort of milled about, as if finding land legs after a much longer trip.
From the ferry terminal, a curving and palm-lined promenade along the harbor ends at the “Casino” (it was never a gambling hall, but rather a huge, beautiful art deco film house and, above that, a famous ballroom). Narrow streets fanning out from the harbor are lined with quaint hotels.
The weather had something to do with it, but I had the profound feeling that I was back on the Isle of Man. I half-expected to climb a couple of blocks up one of those side streets and see half-a-dozen used bikes parked for sale in front of Padgett’s.
If I magically found Padgett’s, then my buddy Steve—who manages the shop in Douglas on the Isle of Man—would’ve been up for a pint after work at the Terminus. There are no real pubs on Catalina but there is a sports bar called The Locker Room. If anything, it smelled worse, on New Year’s Day, than its namesake. Picture a dark dive with big-screen TVs in the front room and pool tables in the back. On the walls, imagine a better-than-average display of sports memorabilia. The frames hold a mix of local history and signed posters of athletes from “mainstream” sports.
And, there in the corner, eight or ten great old black & white photos of motorcycle racers. Considering the company they’re in—O.J. Simpson, Tiger Woods (philanderer), Mark McGwire (steroid user); Pete Rose (gambling addict); and Mike Tyson (rapist, ear-biter)—you’d almost wonder why motorcyclists ever got a such a bad rap….
For eight years in the 1950s, Catalina was a sort of baby Isle of Man. The Catalina Grand Prix was inspired by the TT, but since there were hardly any paved roads on the island, it was a race for scramblers. It attracted the best riders on the West Coast, and the course—which was part asphalt, part gravel road, part trail—put a premium on versatility.
Although there were faster desert races—Catalina race-average speeds topped out around 35 mph—this was one of the highest-profile races in the Western U.S. It was the first American race for the Yamaha factory, but in eight years and across all classes, almost every race was won on a European bike. (The two Harley-Davidson wins were on a machine of European design, as the 165cc Hummer was based on a pre-war German DKW.)
Nowadays, you can’t even bring a motorcycle to the island unless you’re a resident. It’s a funny little place, with only a few roads, and the most common vehicle, by far, is a golf cart. There are a sprinkling of mopeds and scooters, and the occasional motorcycle. You’d think it would be a great place for a dirt bike, but almost 90 percent of Catalina’s land area is a nature preserve that’s closed to vehicles.
So this is how it ends—a few photos on the wall of a dingy bar—but if you know your motorcycle history, the names in the photos are evocative: Chuck “Feets” Minert, Ed Kretz, Nick Nicholson; all are members of the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame. –Gardiner photo
There were two different courses used during the races. Lightweight bikes raced ten laps of a six-mile course. The premier-class bikes raced on a ten-mile course that started right in town at the harbor and climbed to about 1,500 feet in the first few miles. I walked up there, following the course, on a road that was gravel back in the day but is now paved. It’s just a series of linked hairpins with a wall of dirt and rocks on one side and steep drops on the other—it would’ve been dangerous but an absolute blast. At the high point, the course took a much more technical turn, descending a ridgeline back toward Avalon.
The town is laid out at the mouth of a narrow canyon, where the canyon opens out onto a small alluvial plain at the sea, so it’s roughly triangular. At the back, there’s a huge monument to William Wrigley Jr., the founder of the Wrigley chewing-gum business. Wrigley was from Chicago, but in the early part of the 20th Century he acquired all the stock of the Catalina Island Company, which effectively made him the owner of the island, and he spent quite a bit of time there.
The bikes roared past the Wrigley monument, raising clouds of dust. At that time, to be called a Grand Prix (according to the AMA), a race had to have a percentage of paved course, so the racers raced right through the center of Avalon, along the harbor front, each lap.
If they still ran the Catalina Grand Prix, it would be America’s coolest event. Unfortunately, it was the victim of its own success—by 1958, it was attracting 300 competitors (the motorcycles were brought over by barge) and 7,000 fans. That was more than twice the island’s population, and although the event organizers were inspired by the Isle of Man TT races, they never figured out how to make the locals enjoy—or at least tolerate indefinitely—having their island overrun by motorcyclists.
What I couldn’t figure out was how they managed to put the race on at all. The early ’50s was a bad patch for American motorcycling. The Hollister “motorcycle riot” of 1947 was mostly a media fabrication, but the ensuing paranoia was real. The Hearst newspapers’ breathless accounts of Hollister, followed by Life magazine’s famous photo, and then Harper’s magazine’s 1951 story “The Cyclists Raid” stirred things up. Then in 1954, the release of The Wild Ones dramatized and supercharged America’s fear of motorcyclists.
Anyway, there I was, wondering how anyone had convinced Avalon and Catalina Island to allow the race to take place. Hollywood has, by and large, not done our sport too many favors, but proximity to the SoCal film industry meant that a few stars came over to ride, lending the event some extra glamour. Film star Lee Marvin and prolific character-actor Keenan Wynn both rode the Catalina Grand Prix. (Wynn also appeared in The Great Race, but that 1965 film was about a car race.)
Considering that this was the impression most Americans had of motorcycling in the 1950s, it’s surprising that Catalina welcomed hundreds of motorcycle racers and thousands of fans.
Still, I was sure that it must have taken more than a few film stars to convince the island’s residents and the Catalina Island Company (most of the course traversed the company’s land holdings) to welcome an amphibious landing by an unruly mob of bikers. Or, for that matter a ruly one. And I was right. It turns out that P.K. Wrigley, who inherited the island from his father when the latter died in 1932, was an avid motorcyclist himself.
The Wrigleys were of a different era; they may as well have been the kings of the island—for years, William Wrigley Jr. had his Chicago Cubs baseball team do all its spring training on Catalina. So once son P.K. was on board, the race was going to happen—at least it was until ’58. Our sport could still use a few such patrons.
In the end, Wrigley turned almost all the island over to the Catalina Conservancy, which means there will never, ever, be a race like that again. In 2008, my crazy friend Eddie Mulder tried to organize a big vintage bike show on the island, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the final Catalina Grand Prix, and to honor the memory of 1955 winner Bud Ekins, who’d recently died. Eddie’s event sort of fizzled, but I can at least fantasize about the rise of quiet and non-polluting electric dirt bikes…. Is there any chance we could convince the Catalina Conservancy to let us resurrect the Catalina Grand Prix as a zero-emissions race?
Catalina Grand Prix Winners
1951
OPEN: Walt Fulton (Triumph)
250: Nick Nicholson (BSA)
125: Glen Clinton (Puch)
1952
OPEN: Nick Nicholson (BSA)
350: Aub LeBard (BSA)
250: Nick Nicholson (BSA)
200: Johnny Quick (Francis-Barnett)
125: May Weiman (BSA)
1953
OPEN: John McLaughlin (Velocette)
350: John McLaughlin (Velocette)
250 (2-S): John McLaughli (Velocette)
250 (OHV): Marty Dickerson (Jawa)
1954
OPEN: Jim Johnson (Velocette)
350: Dave Ekins (NSU)
250: Walt Axthelm (BSA)
200: Ed Kretz (Triumph)
165: Dick Chase (Harley-Davidson)
125: Weldon Brown (NSU)
1955
OPEN: Bud Ekins (Triumph
350: Weldon Brown (Velocette)
250: John McLaughlin (Velocette)
200: Don Hawley (Triumph)
165: Hazen Bain (Triumph)
125: Allen D’Ald (Ducati)
1956
OPEN: Chuck Minert (BSA)
350: Jerry Ballard (BSA)
250: Walt Axthelm (BSA)
200: Ed Kretz (Triumph)
165: Dick Chase (Harley-Davidson)
125: Weldon Brown (NSU)
1957
OPEN: Bob Sandgren (Triumph)
350: Nick Nicholson (BSA)
250: John Seibrandt (Maico)
200: Ralph Adams (Triumph)
165: Johnny Smith (Triumph)
125: Leon Evans (NSU)
1958
OPEN Bob Sandgren (Triumph)
350: Nick Nicholson (BSA)
250: Cordy Piper (Puch)
200: Don Hawley (Triumph)
175: Dave Schuler (MV Agusta)
125: Harlan Bast (NSU)
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Walt Fulton, father of Walt Fulton JR
Nick Nicholson, Greeves Importer
Aub LeBard, Of LeBard & Underwood BSA, sponsor of David Aldana
John McLaughlin
Dave Ekins, devloped the Honda Scrambler
Walt Axthelm, later factory Suzuki MX rider, developed the TM250/400
Ed Kretz
Bud Ekins, the Great Escape Jump!
Don Hawley, flat track and sprint car racer
Hazen Bain, owner (?) of Bellflower Triumph, I worked there once
Allen D’Alo, with brother Bob, founded ARD Magnetos, one of my sponsors
Chuck Minert
Harlan Bast, Uncle of Mike and Steve Bast
In 1955, my uncle, Gary Sowell got 7th overall.
Cheers,
Devon Sowell
Nice..very nice work. Especially for people like myself who had no idea!
Devon — Thanks for adding those bio notes! It really goes to show two things: how much talent showed up on Catalina (despite the fact that the race paid _nothing_) and; how versatile racers were in those days.
Mark, I have been researching the Grand Prix as a hobby for a little while now. I was in Catalina this past weekend and a front page story in the local paper announced that for 2010 a one time permit has been issued to the AMA district 37 to hold a Grand Prix in early December 2010. I know nothing else about it, but I only started looking online. The AMA has not announced anything yet. I will keep you posted.
Woody
I too was recently on Catalina and Woody is right on, the race will return on December 4 and 5th. Saw the 1958 race, my photos were published in AMA Magazine (my copy is long lost). Helped unload the barge load of motorcycles and the sound truck early in the morning and with race preparations. Rollie Harper, Glendale Motorcycles and Frank Cooper were among the many involved.
No one on Catalina that I talked to can explain exactly how the race got approved again but never mind, it is a definite go!
CAN U TAKE YER MOTORCYCLE ON THE FAIRY TO CATALINA AND RIDE AROUND ??
No Nate, Motorcycles or cars on Catalina tightly regulated, permits take many years to obtain. Hundreds of golf carts are everywhere though, you can rent one or a bicycle. You can even take your own bicycle on the Catalina Express for a modest fee.
Note to moderator: Off a bit on my previous post, the race I saw was in 1952, the second of the eight previously run. Have located the June issue with my photos, it is on its way.
Those were great years. At that time I rode for Louie Thomas at Modern Cycle Works on Atlantic Blvd in East LA. The 250 BSA I rode at Catalina was 1 of 4 1939 model that Louie had in his basement dyno room. We put goldstar gearboxes and oiltank in them so the would hold enough oil to go the 50 mile distance. In that day they put out 21hp at the rear wheel on Louies dyno.
Best to those of us left,
Walt Axthelm
My stepdad, Bob Sandgren, rode in the grand prix in ‘57 and ‘58. He took first in the open both years. He has been invited to the grand marshal of the race in December. He still has all the posters and pictures that were taken back then.
howdy walt-see u at catalina—Dave Schuler,the mva i rode in 58 was being raced at airport in el monte owned ,by d’alo’s mechanic ?most of good riders were out when ito (yam) went wrong way causing restart, why didnt we hear about that?