Motorcycling 2. Racing
in the United States
Racing was banned on most public roads in North America early in the 20th century, so motorcycles, like autos, were raced primarily on tracks. There was a big difference, though: many board tracks had already been built for bicycle racing across the United States, and they were just as suitable for motorcycles as for bicycles. Board track racing became the most popular form of the sport in the U. S.
As motorcycles became more powerful, they outgrew the bicycle tracks, so longer board tracks wer built specifically for motorcycle racing. The first of them was the Coliseum Motordrome in Los Angeles, which opened in 1909 and was about 1/3 mile in length, compared to 1/7 mile for the standard bicycle track.
Dirt track racing also won some popularity in the United States. Again, hundreds of tracks already existed, mostly at fairgrounds across the country, originally meant for harness racing. Motorcycles often shared billing with horses and autos at those tracks. The hill climb is a uniquely American form of competition. The first motorcycle hill climb evidently took place near Boston in 1904 and similar events soon sprang up elsewhere, culminating in the Pike's Peak Hill Climb, for both motorcycles and autos, which was first held in 1916.
Endurance contests were also common. Usually run over public highways, but not as a head-to-head race, the endurance contest was a way for a manufacturer to demonstrate the reliability of a model. The first nationally famous motorcyclist, Cannonball Baker, won his fame by riding in many endurance contests, most of them on behalf of Indian. One of Baker's most common stunts was to race a passenger train from city to city.
The Federation of American Motorcyclists (FAM) was founded at a meeting in Brooklyn in 1903 to sanction races and keep track of records. Ten years later, the organization almost fell apart because of a controversy over board track racing. In late 1912, two riders and six spectators were killed in a crash at the Newark Motordrome. That was the worst in a series of fatal accidents on board tracks and many FAM members wanted that form of racing banned entirely. The issue came to a head at the FAM's July 1913 convention in Denver.
As it happened, Denver had a 1-mile dirt track and a 3-mile board track; they both wanted to host the championship races that were to be held during the convention. After a debate that lasted until 4 a.m., the dirt track finally won. Later, though, the backers of board racing were somewhat appeased when a meet of non-championship races was awarded to the board track.
That controvery marked the beginning of the end for the FAM. In 1914, A. B. Coffman was elected president of the organization's and managed to keep it going, but he resigned after two years because he couldn't get financial support from the motorcycle industry. The FAM then essentially went ouf business.
The Motorcycle and Allied Trades Association (M&ATA) was founded by motorcycle manufacturers and suppliers in November of 1916. Three years later, the M&ATA added a Riders Division. By 1924, the association had about 10,000 members, most of them motorcyclists, and the Riders Division was spun off as the American Motorcycle Association, which became the American Motorcyclist Association in 1976.
The AMA nominally oversaw motorcycle racing, but there wasn't much racing going on in the U. S. at the time. Competition was made up mainly of races on short dirt tracks, run as sideshows at fairs, rodeos, and other events. The number of factory teams was decreasing because the number of manufacturers was decreasing as sales leveled off, and that trend accelerated during the Great Depression of the 1930s.
In 1933, the AMA established a new class designed to encourage individual, amateur riders to get involved in racing. Class C, as it was designated, was for stock production motorcycles, with only minor modifications allowed, running on ordinary gasoline. The new class definitely had the desired effect. By the end of the 1930s, the AMA was sanctioning about a thousand meets a year, as compared to 56 in 1925, but almost all of them were for amateurs.
As already mentioned, road racing was much more important in Europe than in the United States. But short-track racing became popular during the late 1920s in Great Britain, where it was known as "speedway racing." Several American motorcyclists went to Britain to race during the 1930s because there was considerably more prize money available there. In 1937, Americans swept the top three places in the world speedway championship, led by Jack Milne.
Meanwhile, the U. S. was developing its own version of road racing, run on paved tracks designed to simulate highway racing. The Daytona 200 was launched in 1937 as the country's first truly major road race. At that time, the motorcyclists simply raced up and down a 2 ½-mile stretch of Daytona Beach. Now, of course, the race is run at Daytona International Speedway, which opened in 1959.