The Vintagent Selects: Grit Part 2

SUMMARY

Archive Moto presents GRIT Part 2 of a three part documentary series looking at the history of one of America’s most infamous and sensation sports, motorcycle Board Track Racing. Just as quickly as bicycle fever swept the nation in the 1880s, so too did motorcycle mania in the early 1900s. Motorcycles followed the blueprint of the industrial revolution, utility and refinement drove production and profit. Manufacturers of motorcycles , parts, and accessories sprang up by the dozens. Trade magazines kept enthusiasts up to date with the latest innovations and newest trends in the wheelman’s world. Shops made space on their showrooms for new motorcycle stock, and growing manufacturers further expanded their distribution markets. Social groups formed promoting riding, lobbying for accommodation and better roads, and organizing socials, long-distance tours, and exhibition races on local hills and horse tracks. The saying goes, that the first motorcycle race occurred the day the second motorcycle was built, which isn’t all that far from the truth. Daring enthusiasts and champion cyclists alike could be found gathering at local horse tracks to pit their machines against one another. It was one such track, Los Angeles’s Agriculture Park on May 7, 1901 that former cyclist Ralph Hamlin bested 3 other entrants on his Orient motorcycle at roughly 32 mph in what is widely credited as America’s first motorcycle race. Eleven years later, Motordrome fever in America was just beginning to enthrall the American public, and in time, larger, steeper tracks would allow more riders to race in a single heat and break record after record as the top speed climbed. By 1912, Motorcycle racing was entering its golden age, but the gruesome, deadly reality of speed on the perilous wooden motordromes would soon catch up. Enjoy Part 2, A Battery of Gatlings of GRIT, the third and final chapter will be released soon.

PATREON – Support this history, consider becoming a Patron at the new Archive Moto Patreon page.

RELATED MEDIA

Website

Watch GRIT Part 1