End of an Era: Flat Track on the Indian FT750

It’s the racer equivalent of ‘the walk of shame.’
The long, quiet drive home after not making the show.
Jake Shoemaker drove nearly two hours without saying a word.
Our white Chevy van rolled north through the night.
Even with the AC on max,
you could feel the heat of frustration radiating off him.
His stare could have melted steel.

We left Pennsylvania Friday after working all week.
Drove through night to get to the track in Georgia.
Jake started off looking racy but got lost chasing settings and didn’t make the main.
Soul-crushing for a guy who’s been on the podium.
All while hemorrhaging his own money, too.

Finally, he spoke.
“Dude, I gotta get an Indian. This Kawasaki ain’t cutting it anymore. No Indian, no chance.”
The writing was on the wall.
The days were numbered for a built Kawasaki junkyard motor in a flat tracker frame.
A guy like Jake could build his own race bike and be competitive for $10-15k.
The new Indian FTR750 was available to the public for $50k.
The cost of racing just jumped, if you wanted to win.
Everyone knows it takes money and expertise to run a Harley Davidson XR750.
Indian had upped the game.
Their bikes didn’t break, and flat-out worked.

“I need a sponsor with deep pockets or like fifty grand plus for an FTR750.
Come on, Mike; you gotta know somebody or something.”
The only thing I could do was write about it.
I sketched out “Flat Track and the Single Dad” in my head that night.
The article hit well with the community,
and someone with an Indian FTR750 reached out to Jake….

Those were exciting times.
Signs of rebirth in the American Flat Track (AFT) series.
Indian was back in flat track racing.
We hoped they’d be competitive.
We heard Jared Mees was testing the bikes on Mondays
after the Nationals. (no testing is allowed prior to events at that track)
First time I saw the Indian at Santa Rosa in 2016
I thought ‘what a handsome machine’.

Santa Rosa was supposed to be a shake-down run for the new FT750.
Retired champ Joe Kopp was riding,
it ran up front all day and didn’t break.
We would have laughed if you predicted this was the last win for a factory XR750.

Indian invited journalists to try the FTR that Monday.
The bike looked like it just rolled off the showroom floor.
It didn’t have that custom/home-built feeling of most flat track racers.
Fit & finish was as good as any brand-new production motorcycle.

I was the first journalist out.
The other journos hung back,
the tragedy of two racers killed there days before fresh in their minds.
“Follow the camera truck for two laps in second gear for the action shots.
The driver will wave you past, then let her rip.”
Mile race tracks are serious business.
The quote ‘speed doesn’t kill, but it complicates mistakes’ rang in my head.
I vogued for the cameramen for two laps,
then the driver waved me by.
I rolled open the throttle, upshifting to third.
The FTR snapped sideways and hooked up, catapulting me forward.
For a split second, I thought I would torpedo the camera truck.
So did the cameramen, from their startled looks.
I flicked the bike left, rocketing by for the action shot.
I was carrying so many RPMs it was safer to upshift to fourth and let her eat.
The rear suspension squatted as we lunged at the horizon.
She felt like a power boat cutting through the waves.
The acceleration was ethereal.
We rolled into turn three with great feel.
She tightened up her line effortlessly.
This motorcycle makes a good rider look great.
I got off the bike, feeling I’d got away with something.
Didn’t mind the cameramen teasing me, either.

Now it’s 2025, and AFT has banned ‘race’ engines, so it’s the end of an era,
and the end of Indian FTR750, now in the pantheon of great racing motorcycles.
Indian invested millions into flat track racing,
both in development of the FTR, and paying racers’ contingency money.
After the news broke, I spoke with Gary Gray,
Vice President of Racing and Service for Indian motorcycles.
Gary was diplomatic, and ‘disappointed’ with the decision to ban race engines for 2025.
He’s more than a corporate talking head,
Gary actually rides and races motorcycles.
(Yes, I do find it odd that some industry people don’t ride.)
Gary confessed to having 15 motorcycles in his garage.
Claiming he’s not the fastest rider, but has set a land speed record on an Indian,
and vintage raced an Indian jockey shifter at Mid-Ohio.
He worked on design with Polaris’ original brand, Victory,
including their Pike’s Peak & Isle of Man compeititons.
He spoke of his dream job of designing the FTR750.
They studied the strengths and weaknesses of the competition.
Their early goals were to finish on the podium in the first several races.
Perhaps fight for a championship in 3 to 5 seasons.
Well, they won the first official race they entered, the season opener at Daytona,
finishing 1-2, and won every race that season but the TT events.
Gary said he was shocked they won Daytona,
and it’s one of his favorite memories.
Indian has won the championship every year since.
Total domination.
But was that really a shock?
They had the budget, the best two tuners, and three of the hottest racers on their bikes.
Soon, it wasn’t the races they won that stood out, but the races they did not win.
Briar Bauman gave his Kawasaki a win at Lima.
Jeff Carver gave the XR750s a final win in Texas as a privateer.
And Henry Wiles owns the Peoria TT.
Those were the exceptions.
To beat the Indians, it took immense talent, a huge heart, big balls, and the right bike for that track.
Soon, every rider wanted an FTR, but the factory guys had a leg up on them.
You had to run factory livery if you wanted the lucrative Indian contingency money.
The tracks looked like a dominating army of Indians, which they were.
So AFT tried to level the field to keep the show going fairly,
but still, the Indians kept winning.
The new rules allow only production engines for 2025.

Back when they rebranded AFT,
They knew they needed TV coverage to grow the sport and attract sponsors.
They hoped history would repeat itself with another Harley/Indian war.
Unfortunately, the new Harley was not competitive, regardless of talent and money.
COVID stuck just as they were to launch the Premier class on live TV with NBC.
The timing could not have been worse.
But the action on track has always been incredible.
The new Indian era was a great one.
Who will fill the void now that Indian is gone?

Whatever happened to Jake Shoemaker?
Well, it wasn’t for lack of talent or trying.
The dice didn’t roll his way,
and Jake faded away from flat track.
Started his own business and became successful,
married a pretty girl and had children.
It feels good to see the same winning racer drive carried into the rest of his life.

What does Ten-Time AFT Champion Jared Mees think?

“Reflecting on my time with the Indian FTR750 brings back so many incredible memories. I was there for its very first start and had the honor of making the inaugural lap on the bike. The 2017 Daytona race, where we won on the FTR750’s debut, stands out as one of the most memorable moments. The uncertainty surrounding how it would perform made that victory even sweeter.
That year, winning 10 races and clinching the championship a few races early solidified my belief that the FTR750 was going to be the ultimate flat track race bike. It’s hard to put into words how much I’ll miss racing it.
The support from Indian Motorcycle, not just for me but for flat track racing as a whole, has been nothing short of remarkable. There was a time when I could walk into any Indian dealership and be recognized, which speaks volumes about the brand’s impact.
Cheers to Indian for creating a legendary bike and making a mark in the sport. You know you’re a bad ass – being restricted multiple times wasn’t enough, so they excluded you. It’s a true testament to the brand’s greatness.”

And from Race Winner/Indian Privateer Davis Fisher:

“I’ve been lucky enough to ride the Indian FTR750 for the past 6 years. I saved up and bought my own Indian in the beginning of 2018. I jumped on it for the first time at the Calistoga Half Mile and I was fastest first practice. Indian motorcycles built the greatest flat track bike. The first time I started up my FTR750 Indian and rode it around the block I was amazed with the smooth power delivery over my Kawasaki EX650. It was like a sewing machine and didn’t miss a beat. Throughout the years in the American Flat Track series it has been handicapped several times but it still is a competitive bike. I grabbed my first premier win at the Charlotte Half-Mile in 2021. I’m glad I got to be apart of the Indian FTR750 era.”

And from factory Harley Davidson (on the XG750), privateer on Harley Davidson XR750 & Indian FTR750 race winner Sammy Halbert:

“It sucked trying to beat the Indians. I like the XR750 better.”

And from Privateer Shawn Baer:

“When the FTR 750 Indian entered into the world of Flat Track Racing it was viewed as a ‘dream horse’ that brought in a new era. It was the machine that ran out the majority of racers that had weekday jobs, paying for and building their own equipment. Knowing how good the FTR was right out of the gate, I knew at that moment this form of racing was headed down a narrow path. For one it pretty much doubled the cost of the bike needed to line up for competition.”