1971 Race of Champions

[@tomwilliams4885]

Oh man, this is gold. 1971. The year the boom began. "On Any Sunday" came out in the theaters with some of these riders featured. I was 11 yrs. old at the time and had been riding 3 yrs. at that point. These professional dirt tracks are just groomed specimens of the kind of tracks you'd race your buddies on after school and on weekends. American dirt track is a medium for all riding, dirt or street, in America. Only in America baby.

[@randygriffin7973]

Well HELLO THERE ..Old--School... LOL

[@WestCoastBritish]

Awesome, know/knew a few of these greats!

[@JK-ch1xk]

I am a San Jose Don and So was Joe Leonard. Way cool piece of history for our club. Thank you for sharing.

[@bryanwhitton1784]

If you're still around I wonder if you remember my Parents. Richard and June Whitton. They were both in the San Jose Don's and toured all over California with the group. My uncle was Sam Arena and I was just starting to race in 1971.

[@chucklantz8290]

Great stuff. The announcing was a bit lame, as was usual back then, but Joe Leonard did his best, and ABC deserves a lot of credit for broadcasting flat-tracking on network TV. It's nice to hear race bikes before the rules requiring mufflers were written. Racing is supposed to be LOUD! While most of us who raced in that era still have at least a bit of ringing in our ears, no one I know of ever went deaf. And this particular race brings back a lot of very personal nostalgia, since I actually decided to retire from full-time racing while driving from Reno to this race. My right hand, wrist and elbow had never fully recovered from a crash at another half-mile earlier that season, making it impossible to operate the twist grip properly (and safely). So as I drove across the mountains near Donner Lake towards San Jose, good sense finally prevailed over adrenalin and I decided to pack it in rather than risk both my own neck, and the necks of other riders. No big loss. I wasn't that fast anyway. ;)

[@dennisralph2199]

Chuck Lantz What do you say?

[@chucklantz8290]

@@dennisralph2199- I'll say this; ... I'm in mild shock after reading Matt Foster's comment about Keith Mashburn getting into politics after retiring from racing. Yikes!! I wish I could have voted for him, twice.

[@mattf49006]

our family moved to santa susanna (simi valley now)...used to talk to keith mashburn out in the wash behind the old airport when i was riding my 125...he went on to own a dealership and join the ventura fire dept and simi valley city counsel

[@tomkozic8505]

So cool. Thanks for posting

[@stevematz7354]

1971, The year the AMA got a wild hair and decided National Numbers would be assigned on points from the 70 season. Veteran Racers with familiar numbers(i.e. Nixon 9, Keen 10, etc. that had the same number for years and were mostly recognized by their NN, now had odd ball numbers that didn't go well with race fans and riders alike. AMA got the message that nobody liked what they did and all returned the way it was for the 72 season. Sometimes leaving well enough alone is for the Best ...

[@Phillip-y6d]

most the time, leaving well enough alone is he Best....

[@phillybeef211]

Look at me.... I was at this race, I was there MAN! It was LIVE TV... lol.... It was a non-National, Invitational AMA/ABC-TV Race.... put on a week or so after the seasonal final. It was Halloween day and Super Joe jumped a bunch of cars on a motorcycle, after the race

[@jeffracey5684]

+Phillip Reyes Hi Phillip - sure wish I could find some footage with my dad who raced against the greats in the late 60's thru mid 70's - Bill Racey #74r and #144

[@phillybeef211]

There are quite a few videos from '69, '70, '71 and maybe even 1972 at San Jose on my youtube page... Just search "San Jose half mile" and the year.

[@mikelandreth8773]

Eddie Mulder did the jumps in Magnum Force from Ship to Ship and did the jump and crash over the fire pit in Viva Knievel. Although they used Knievel's crash footage from Wembley in the final cut.

[@stefanieholton2220]

I wish I could find footage of my dad and uncle that raced with these guys and they were great! They were from Washington State. Steve and Dan Holton. Steve was my Dad and Dan was my uncle if anyone has anything they knew or footage please reply. Thank you very much!

[@Denisealea1]

My Uncle Ritchie Dorresteyn was national #76. They called him Mr. TT, he won the 50 mile National at Ascot in '62. I know ABC filmed it and aired it on Nov. 3 '62 but I haven't been able to find the footage.

[@MichaelSmith-jh2ib]

Where's Mert Lawill?

[@stevenpatterson7942]

Jimmy Lynch from Bakersfield California racing number 158 riding a 750 Triumph at that time

[@DirtyMerkin]

AWSOME 👍👍👍👍👍

[@MrKneppert]

#16 Dave Sehl , Waterdown Ontario Canada

[@wonderfulwino4265]

Such beautiful limie music. What Keith and Joe dont tell ya is Eddie didn't give a shit about points or prize money. GODDAMN Dorsch stole his lighter.

[@MichaelSmith-jh2ib]

Let's go racin.boys!

[@keithsage7258]

BSA for life..

[@Phillip-y6d]

a Triumph won it