Backmarker: Still More From Honda’s Flat Track Heyday

I hope no AGV Backmarker readers are laboring under the mistaken impression that I know where these stories are going to lead when they’re posted—or for that matter, that I know much of anything when it comes to the history of our sport. In fact, I don’t write this column to tell you what I know at all; I write this column to learn what you all know.

Mike Stuhler provided the great shots of Jerry Griffith and Freddie Spencer’s NS750 that I posted a little while back. He also documented the RS750’s triumphant appearances at the Indy Mile a few years later. He got some great shots of Team Honda in action, which he recently dug out of his archives, scanned, and emailed to me. His note was so evocative of the period that I got his permission to post it, along with a few more of his photos. Here’s Mike:

The [Honda NS750] story really brought back some more great memories. FYI, I don’t really have a professional “business” per se with the Stu’s Shots R US; I just use that as my moniker. I have been shooting for over thirty-five years now with my old SRT-101 Minolta. I have had a few photos posted on RRX and Superbike Planet, but I mostly shoot for my own pleasure.

Here are some shots from the Indy Mile in 1984, when the Honda RS750 had pretty much taken over the sport. Honda really did their homework on this jewel. They brought together three of the most formidable threats [Graham, Shobert, and Chandler] in the sport ever—it was magic, and the results were really coming at that point.

Me and my buddies were all pretty much Honda fans back in those days—we still are, for that matter. We all had CB750 or 900Fs at one time or another. Mine was a black ’82 900F. The Interceptors also burst onto the scene in ’83—there were three in the group that I rode with—so we were all pretty darned excited when Honda started kickin’ @$$ and taking names in the flat track program, as well.

I remember the weekend I took these photos. Dreyer Honda, on the west side of Indy, had an open house that Friday afternoon with the flat track team. I talked with Doug [Chandler] about his foray into road racing. He’d only done a few races at the time but was already looking promising. Ricky and the late, great Sparky Edmondson (who was Ricky’s wrench at the time) came outside in the parking lot to shoot the $#!+ with me and a couple of buddies.

Sparky noticed my 900. “Does yours do this?” he asked while moving his body from side to side, adding, “Man, mine had a hinge in it!”

I agreed, and we laughed about the slap-happy nature of those old CB900Fs. Mine didn’t have a steering damper, so it had quite the hinge in it as well.

We were pumped to see Team Red come to our hometown and take both races that year. These pics are from the Sunday afternoon race. Of course there were some hardcore Harley-Davidson fans that didn’t appreciate the results as much as we did!

Back then, Honda rented an apartment or condo off of 34th/High School Road on the west side of town—not far from where I lived. They had a shop down on Gasoline Alley Blvd. about a mile south of IMS, and their program was based out of there for a year or two. By that time, Gene “Burrito” Romero was running things. We’d run into him hanging with Johnny Parsons and/or Robin Miller (Robin works for SpeedTV now, but back then he worked for the Indy Star newspaper).

Times were a lot different then in flat track, especially. Even Indy would put about 15,000 people in the stands and infield. These shots were taken out of Turn 2. That year the gate/fence guards were real cool. Someone in our group knew one of them, and because I was carrying my camera, they let us stay out on the fence for the duration of the National. Ricky won that afternoon, again, and went on to take his second title.

I got some of the best ever shots I had taken, up to that time, of flat track. The “thumbs up” from Bubba in the one shot is proof of how close we were. I got him to autograph a print of that picture, years later, at Mid-Ohio. Great dude!

Honda pulled out altogether in late ’88 or early ’89 although they kept making parts for a few years. Sam Ingram (remember when he claimed The King’s motor in ’77 or ’78 at Indy?) told me in ’90 or ’91, when his boy Danny was doing so well, that they still had cranks available from the’80s, but they were just so damned expensive. At that time, you could buy a Harley XR crank for about $900, but the Honda crank fetched $3500. Quite a bit of difference in any economy. Nonetheless, Ricky came back in ’93 and Terry Poovey ran a Honda religiously until the fires went out and the parts dried up.

Well, I better get going here. I hope you can use the shots. I really enjoy sharing this stuff, and it’s great to know anyone still cares after all these years. They were great times!

Mike’s letter captures some of the interest that was created by Honda’s challenge of Harley-Davidson’s long dominance on America’s flat tracks. Chris Carr echoed that sentiment too. Despite being a “Harley man” himself, he told me that more brand involvement, rivalry, and fan interest would be good for everyone, even if it meant sharing wins and titles.

That’s one of the things I hope to get DMG’s opinion on. But what do you think? Does flat track need brand rivalry?

Anyway, I’ll be keeping the flat track theme going for another week or two at least. Over the last couple of months, Ascot Park—the legendary half-mile in south L.A.—has come up in conversation several times. It’s time to let a few of those stories be told, so tune in next week.