Jim McMurren Short Track Racer

[@stevematz7354]

Poor Jim passed away this year. I remember him riding at Santa Fe Speedway in Hinsdale,Ilinois back in the 60's. Santa Fe was a ST and almost as famous as Ascot Park. I believe it was the only AMA ST along with the Astrodome that was an AMA National back in the 60's. Jim was an H-D Sprint CR Guy which was probably the most popular and fastest single cylinder 4 stroke @ that time. As a privateer you could buy one of these CR Dirttrackers as a Kit Bike from your HD Dealer. The Engines were 250cc Italian Aermacchi RRing Engines; so the cam was really radical and easy to fall under if you didn't keep the RPM up. They were just a Horizontal OHV Pushrod Single but they made a lot of HP and could wind 10,000+ rpm. The frame was a rigid hardtail and you assembled the bike yourself which most racers did or had your dealer do it. Jim probably had more riding time on a CR than anyone. Banging Handlebars with the likes of Fred Nix, Art Barda, John Tibben and many other Santa Fe Regulars on Wednesday and Friday nights which was very competitive and exciting for the Crowd to watch. Sad that like Jim and most of the other riders that rode there have passed on, along with Santa Fe Speedway also. I hope Jim and all these other Racers are Racing Once Again Some place, Somewhere....GOD Speed JIM..R.I.P.