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Speed Dating: July 26 – August 1
July 27, 2010 by Jeff Feathers
Filed under Speed Dating
July 26
Happy birthday to Glen “JR” Schnabel (US), was born on this date in 1979. A fixture in the AMA Grand National Flat Track series, Schnabel began racing professionally in 1995 and won several premier events during the course of his career, taking victories at the Springfield TT short track, Daytona, and Peoria. JR currently sits eighteenth in the Expert Singles class and fourteenth in the Grand National points.
Ryan Elleby • Photo by Andrew Wheeler
Road racer Ryan Elleby (US) was born on this date in 1983. Elleby entered AMA Pro competition in 2006 on a private Honda, campaigning the Supersport and Formula Xtreme classes. In 2007 he raced a Rockwall Racing-tuned Honda CBR600RR in the AMA Formula Xtreme championship and scored six top-ten finishes. Ryan raced for Hooters Suzuki in the 2008 and 2009 seasons, competing in the Superstock and Superbike classes. He also won a race at Barber Motorsports Park in the SunTrust Moto-ST series on a Ducati 848.
July 27
SpeedTV announcer Brian Drebber (US) was born on this date in 1950. Drebber’s on-air career dates back to 1978, and he’s a longtime fixture on AMA Pro Road Racing broadcasts. Drebber got his start in the racing world as a velodrome racer, but when he stepped up to the microphone to cover reporting duties, his talents as a broadcaster were quickly realized. Brian has covered a multitude of sports, including the Olympics, Pan American Games, and the Goodwill Games, and has served as a play-by-play analyst and commentator for a variety of racing series broadcast on SpeedTV.
July 28
Craig Vetter (US), the designer of the Windjammer fairing, was born on this date in 1942. His Vetter Corporation developed the Windjammer fairing in the late 1960s, and the fast-selling fairings revolutionized the look of sport touring motorcycles. Vetter also worked with Triumph in designing the X-75 Hurricane, and has most recently been developing experimental motorcycle fairings similar to the dustbin fairings of 1950s Grand Prix racing, intended to maximize fuel economy and performance.
Dave Sadowski (US) was born on this date in 1963. Sadowski began his racing career in the AMA’s 250GP class and had success in the late 1980s in GSX-R Cup and 750 Supersport racing. Sadowski is best known for his win in the 1990 Daytona 200 on a Vance and Hines-tuned Yamaha FZR750RR, and for being a two-time Formula USA champion. After his retirement from riding, Sadowski did some commentating work for AMA Superbike broadcasts on Speedvision.
On this date in 1993, famed Isle of Man winner Stanley Woods (IE) died at the age of 89. Until the Mike Hailwood era of IOM TT competition, Woods held the record of ten TT wins and twenty-six European Grand Prix victories in the 1920s and 1930s.
July 30
Giancarlo Falappa (IT) was born on this date in 1963. Falappa, whose aggressive and ragged style was a staple of the early World Superbike scene, was seriously injured in 1994 at the Albacete circuit in Spain while testing his Ducati World SBK machine. After enduring a four-week-long coma and a challenging recovery process, he continued to serve as a Ducati brand representative at motorsports events, though he never raced again. Falappa retired from World SBK competition with sixteen wins to his name.
Nicky Hayden • Photo by Andrew Northcott
Happy birthday to Nicky Hayden (US), born on this date in 1981. Hayden, who grew up on American dirt track circuits, quickly became a force in AMA road racing, winning the 1999 AMA Supersport championship on an Erion-backed CBR600. The next year, he moved up to the Superbike class on a factory Honda RC51 and won the AMA Superbike championship two years later. Hayden moved to MotoGP for the 2003 season, riding for the Repsol Honda factory team alongside then-reigning champion, Valentino Rossi. Hayden scored his first MotoGP win at the inaugural USGP at Laguna Seca in 2005 and took two more wins in the 2006 season on his way to the overall MotoGP championship. After two additional—and frustrating—seasons with the Honda team, Hayden moved to Ducati for the 2009 season. He finished last year in thirteenth place but has drastically improved his performance aboard the Desmosedici GP10 this year, and currently sits sixth in the World Championship.
On this date in 2003, Steve Hislop (UK) was killed in a helicopter crash near his birthplace of Hawick, Scotland. A star both in road and circuit racing, the Scotsman won the Isle of Man TT eleven times, won the 1990 British 250GP championship, and was a two-time British Superbike Champion in 1995 and 2002. Best known for his win over Carl Fogarty at the 1992 IOM TT, Hislop took his underfunded Norton 588 to victory despite Fogarty’s 123 mph average speed around the island course. A statue of Hislop was erected in his honor on Onchan Head at the Isle of Man, overlooking the TT course.
August 1
John Britten (NZ) was born on this date in 1950. A mechanical engineer by trade, Britten set about building a racing motorcycle of his own design, the V1000. With a carbon fiber monocoque chassis and an engine he’d built himself, the V1000 became a dominant force in Battle of the Twins and BEARS racing during the early 1990s. His first success with the V1000 came in 1991 when two of his bikes finished second and third in the Battle of the Twins competition at Daytona International Speedway. Only ten Britten V1000s and V1100s were built, plus one prototype. Sadly, Britten died in 1995 due to illness attributed to skin cancer.
On this date in 1976, Pat Hennen became the first American to score a Grand Prix victory, during the 500cc Finnish Grand Prix at Imatra, Finland. Hennen, who began his career on the AMA dirt track circuit, rode a factory Suzuki RGB500 to victory over Tepi Lansivouri and Giacomo Agostini.
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