An Index

Updated each time a new page is added, which is once or twice a month.

I started this index by making seven categories. The content of the first three should be obvious.

1. AFM Club Road Racing,
2. AMA Professional Road Racing,
3. Sporting Street Rides,
4. Technical and Wrenching Stories – stories about race preparation, bike modifications, analysis, comparisons, etc.,
5. “Racing the Gods” book-related content –- excerpts from the book and adventures while promoting of the book,
6. Interviews and People – stories about racers and racing people but not necessarily about racing,
7. Other – the things that don’t fit elsewhere.

Then I sorted the stories into the categories. Some of the stories appear in more than one category. Instead of scrolling up and down a long list you can use this index to find stories of particular interest. Each one is listed by its page title and a sentence or two about it. The page title is a link directly to the page. Let me know if any link doesn’t work correctly.

Stories About Club Road Racing:

• ZX. The Wet Ontario Six-Hour. The 1978 Ontario 6-hour endurance race when it unexpectedly rained for five of the six hours (the forecast was for sun). This is a detailed race report, including the results for my own team.
• ZV. The Ducati Sport goes Endurance Racing. The complete race report of the 1977 Ontario 6-hour, when it didn’t rain. Instead it took over three days to figure out who won.
• ZQ. California Club Racing in the 1970s. The tracks, the racing classes, and the race-day schedules of the time.
• ZK. The Ducati 350 Desmo Racer. A technical analysis of the race bike I race in 1974-1975. I had to make a lot of changes to make the bike race-ready, all documented here.
• ZH. Tracks I’ve Raced. A trip down memory lane for me, describing the tracks I’ve raced, including all the club racing I did.
• ZE. Rollin’ and Tumblin’. Top Ten reasons racers crash, illustrated by crashes of my own and others. It includes crashes at club events.
• YV. Shift When it Gets to F Sharp. This is the corrected version of the story from the book. I claim I had two AFM races on a 6-speed Yamaha RD125. No such thing, it was a normal 5-speed. I remembered it incorrectly. I tried to fix it before the book was printed but I was too late.
• YU. Young Randy Mamola. Now famous, Randy started road racing with the AFM when he was 16. I was able to watch him grow both in stature and racing skills. It describes what Randy was like before he became famous.
• YM. Once around Sears Point. Describes one lap of my home track.
• YL. The History of the AFM, from Origin through 1964. The beginning of the club.
• YJ. AFM History, 1965 through 1969. These were the elder Wes Cooley years.
• YG. AFM History 1970-1972. Featuring a guest author, Dain Gingerelli, who was there.
• YE. AFM History pt 4, 1973-1978; Years of Growth. More history of the club.
• YB. Stories from the Lap Times. Reprints from the club newsletter between 1976-1978.
• WR. The DKG Frame. This frame was used by a number of top AFM racers in the late 1970s to early 1980s. The story is part technical analysis and part interview.
• WP. My endurance racing experience.The ups and downs of five long-distance races of the late 1970s.
• WN. Tires Matter. Some experiences with tires, including AFM racing with slicks.
• WL. Why a Ducati Diana? How it came to happen that I chose a Ducati Diana for my first race bike.
• WI. How Dedicated are You? A story about how even club racer will overcome major obstacles to get to their races.
• WH Ask me Anything. A re-print of the more interesting questions and answers from my reddit.com’s “Ask Me Anything” session. It contains items about club racing, pro racing, and street riding, and more stuff the defies classification.
• WE. Raceday! A story about the unique allure of a day of club racing, circa 1974.
• WD. The Evolution of Style. This story includes both AFM club racing and AMA Pro racing. It’s about how racing styles change over the years.
• VZ. Racing Starts. Observations about race starts, both club a”nd pro level.
• VW. Beyond Racer Road 1 – the Toe Gets Dipped. The first in a series of articles by guest author Cook Neilson. This one is about his first road racing experience.
• VU. Beyond Racer Road 2 – Learning the Craft. – Cook Neilson describes a season of club racing the Ducati 750 GT, and reveals some hop-up tricks to get more horsepower from the motor. He also becomes a better road racer.
• VQ. Beyond Racer Road 3 – Overdog! – For the 1975 season Cook and Phil switched from a 1972 Ducati 750GT to a 1974 Ducati 750SS. They raced it in club races as well as the new AMA 750 Production class. It was the fastest 750 by far (hence the nickname) able at times to run with the Open (1000cc) class bikes.
• VM – Beyond Racer Road 5 – The Hot Rod is Born – Cook Neilson describes his and Phil’s 1976 racing season, both AMA Pro and some club racing. They converted the Ducati 750SS from 750cc to 883cc and went after the AMA Superbike class.

Stories Of AMA Pro Racing.

This is a relatively short section because most of my AMA adventures are in the book.

• ZN. The 1977 Superbike Manufacturer’s Championship. There wasn’t an AMA manufacturer’s championship in 1977, but what if there had been? Five brands won the seven races that year. Who would have been top brand? I worked it out and published the results on this page.
• ZJ. Superbikes, a New Racing Class. My take on why the Superbike class was created and how it got popular so quickly.
• ZH. Tracks I’ve Raced. A trip down memory lane for me, describing the tracks I’ve raced, including all the AMA Superbike race tracks I rode.
• ZE. Rollin’ and Tumblin’. Top Ten reasons racers crash, illustrated by crashes of my own and others, including some crashes at AMA Superbike events.
• ZD. Early Superbike Iron. A mildly technical analysis of the AMA Superbike racers of the 1976-1979 seasons.
• YX. The Heat Race. The 1977 AMA Superbike heat race at Sears Point. An excerpt from the book “Racing the Gods.” I nearly crashed, ran off the track and still won the 5-lap sprint. Woo!
• YO. Superbike Pioneers, 1976-1979. Excerpted from the book “Racing the Gods” then augmented a bit, these are personal looks at the people who put Superbike Racing on the map. These were the Racing Gods I competed with and against. Pridmore, Nielson, McLaughlin, Pierce, Emde. It also looks at the tuners like Schilling, Leoni, and Newton.
• YF. Ten Memorable Crashes. Ten of my most clearly remembered crashes, including some AMA Superbike tip-overs.
• YC. Ducati vs. BMW Superbike Racer Comparo. I write about the differences between the Dale Newton Ducatis I raced in AMA in 1977 and 1978 and the ex-Butler & Smith BMW I raced in 1979.
• WJ. Notable Superbike Teams of the 1970s. Seven rider/team combinations that won AMA Superbike races or championships in the 1970s.
• WH. Ask me Anything. A re-print of the more interesting questions and answers from my reddit.com’s “Ask Me Anything” session. It contains items about club racing, pro racing, and street riding, and more stuff the defies classification.
• WD. The Evolution of Style. This story includes both AFM club racing and AMA Pro racing. It’s about how racing styles change over the years.
• WA. My Fantasy A short story about one of my racing fantasies.
• VZ. Racing Starts. Observations about race starts, both club and pro level.
• VQ. Beyond Racer Road 3 – Overdog! – For the 1975 season Cook and Phil switched from a 1972 Ducati 750GT to a 1974 Ducati 750SS. They raced it in club races as well as the new AMA 750 Production class. It was the fastest 750 by far (hence the nickname) able at times to run with the Open (1000cc) class bikes,
• VO. Beyond Racer Road 4 – A Square Four Two-Stroke – This doesn’t really fit in AMA Pro Racing because it’s about a 500cc FIM Grand Prix motorcycle.
• VM – Beyond Racer Road 5 – The Hot Rod is Born – Cook Neilson describes his and Phil’s 1976 racing season, both AMA Pro and some club racing. They converted the Ducati 750SS from 750cc to 883cc and went after the AMA Superbike class.

Stories From and About the Book “Racing the Gods.”

• YX. The Heat Race. The 1977 AMA Superbike heat race at Sears Point. An excerpt from the book “Racing the Gods.” I nearly crashed, ran off the track and still won the 5-lap sprint. Woo!
• YV. Shift When it Gets to F Sharp. This is the corrected version of the story from the book. I claim I had two races on a 6-speed Yamaha RD125. No such thing, it was a normal 5-speed. I remembered it incorrectly. I tried to fix it before the book was printed but it was too late.
• YS. The Magic of Muscle Memory. Twenty years after last wrenching on a Ducati single, I discover that my hands still know how to do it even after my mind has forgotten.
• YN. It’s About the Book. This tells why and how the book came to be, and how it evolved through six versions until it became good enough for publication.
• YK. Road Trip! Oregon to Austin. Not really a story, just a note about why there is no story.
• YI. MotoGP at Circuit of the Americas. About our trip to the MotoGP/MotoAmerica races at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin Texas. The book’s publisher, Octane Press, is headquartered in Austin, and the book debuted that weekend. We had some interesting adventures while there.
• YD. Sacramento Mile 2015. The page documents the people I met while there and the Flat Track race itself. We were there as guests of promoter Steve McLaughlin.
• YA. Repetitions of a Theme. Excerpts from three different parts of the book that illustrate one of the themes that has run through my life/
• WX. Meeting Old and New Friends at Laguna Seca. We went to the World Superbike-MotoAmerica races at Laguna Seca to watch the races and sign books. During the weekend we met a bunch of cool folks, including Ducati’s Vicki Smith and Quentin Wilson, Yamaha man Bob Starr, Randy Mamola, Cameron Beaubier, Josh Hayes, and to top it off, Wayne Rainey. Wow.
• WN. Adventures in Alabama. Dee and Russ and I flew to Birmingham for the Barber Vintage Festival this year, for fun and to promote the book. It was a great trip.
• WN. Tires Matter. Some experiences with tires, including an excerpt from the book.
• WG. A Terrible Gift. Thoughts about a phrase in Joe Gresh’s Book Review of Racing the Gods.

Interviews and People

• ZT. An Interview With Pat Hennen. Taken from a 1976 issue of the Lap Times. Talking to the first American to win an FIM 500cc GP race, about his adventures in New Zealand and the upcoming season racing as a teammate to Barry Sheene.
• ZA. Fathers and Sons. It’s all in the family: a list of American racers whose sons followed in their footsteps. Emde, Roberts, Ulrich and Pridmore are just some of the names.
• YZ. In Memory of SSMark. This page is a tribute to Mark Alpen, a good friend who was killed while riding in 2014. He was the original Squidicus Sandbagerus. I miss him.
• YY. The Berkeley Burner. Mostly borrowed from Larry Lawrence with my own personal observations added, this is the racing story of John Williams. John was unique, an African-American who loved motorcycle road racing, and was good at it. It’s an inspiring story.
• YU. Young Randy Mamola. Now famous, Randy started road racing with the AFM when he was 16. I was able to watch him grow both in stature and racing skills. It describes what Randy was like before he became famous.
• YP. Wester Shadric Cooley, 1932-2015. The father of the 1979 and 1980 AMA Superbike champ Wes Cooley, the elder Cooley helped keep the AFM going during the late 1960s, and I felt his passing should be noted.
• YO. Superbike Pioneers, 1976-1979. Excerpted from the book “Racing the Gods” then augmented a bit, these are personal looks at the people who put Superbike Racing on the map. These were the Racing Gods I competed with and against. Pridmore, Nielson, McLaughlin, Pierce, Emde. It also looks at the tuners like Schilling, Leoni, and Newton.
• WR. The DKG Frame. This frame was used by a number of top AFM racers in the late 1970s to early 1980s. Doing research for the article I called and talked to its inventor, Dave Garoutte. The story is part technical analysis and part interview.
• VN. The 2016 Barber Vintage Festival – Our 2016 trip to Alabama. Conversations with Cook Neilson, Brian Slark, Peter Egan, Leo Gofff, and others,

Technical and Wrenching

• YW. The Last Bevel Drive Singles. After Ducati quit making single-cylinder bikes in 1975 the Spanish firm Mototrans continued to develop and produce the bikes, under license from Ducati. This is the story of Mototrans Ducatis.
• ZD. Early Superbike Iron. A technical analysis of the AMA Superbike racers of the 1976-1979 seasons.
• YS. The Magic of Muscle Memory. Twenty years after last wrenching on a Ducati single, I discover that my hands still know how to do it even after my mind has forgotten.
• YC. Ducati vs. BMW Superbike Racer Comparo. I write about the differences between the Dale Newton Ducatis I raced in AMA in 1977 and 1978 and the ex-Butler & Smith BMW I raced in 1979.
• ZK. The Ducati 350 Desmo Racer. A technical analysis of the bike I raced in 1974-1975. I had to make a lot of changes to make the bike race-ready, all documented here.
• WY. The Garbage Can Special. This story describes a special water-cooled 125cc GP racer built by Philippe DeLespinay in 1976.
• WW. The BSO and Kriedler Specials. Two very different successful custom-built single-cylinder race bikes from the 1970s, one 500cc air-cooled, the other a 50cc water-cooled.
• WU. Kevin Cameron on Brakes (in 1976). This is a reprint of a reprint of an article Cameron wrote for the AAMRR newsletter. It was re-printed in the Lap Times and again here.
• WS. Top Five Race Modifications to the Ducati 750 Sport. When I started racing my 1974 Ducati 750 Sport I had to make some changes to make it more suitable to the track. This story describes the top five of those changes.
• WR. The DKG Frame. Dave Garoutte built a better frame for the Yamaha twin racers. The frame and Dave are featured in this story/interview.
• WQ. The Moto Guzzi Rig. I describe my Moto Guzzi-powered sidecar rig that allows me to control the rig from the chair. There’s both technical details and riding impression.
• WN. Tires Matter. Personal research with tires, both race and street.
• WB. Inflation. A discussion about motorcycles getting bigger and bigger engines.
• VP. Race Gear Then and Now. Race gear today compared to the stuff I used in the late 1970s. They are pretty different.
• VN. The 2016 Barber Vintage Festival – Our 2016 trip to Alabama. There’s some technical analysis of the VeeTwo Imola EVO motorcycle.

Sporting Street Rides

• ZW. Wetleather pt 1 – the Fish Fry. Not really a ride story, it’s more of a story about people who ride. It was my first meeting of WetLeather people.
• ZS. WetLeather pt 2 – The Gather. The 1997 Gather and the ride where I earned my nickname.
• ZO. WetLeather pt 3 – The Blackbear 100. A mini-bike race at the 1998 Gather. The Old Guyz kicked ass.
• ZI. WetLeather pt 4 – Chase the Snake. Riding the curvy roads of SW Washington state.
• ZP. Running with the Big Dogs. My one experience with Long Distance Riding – 500+ miles in 8 hours on mostly Oregon backroads.
• YT. One Spectacular Ride (an excerpt). From Fortuna to Red Bluff, motorcycle heaven. Taken from the book “Racing the Gods.”
• YQ. The Hawk, the Harley, and the Hurricane. Three friends ride the roads of the Oregon Coast Range.
• ZG. A Few Interesting Street Rides. Three of my favorite rides from back in the day.
• ZF. A Ride in the Desert. A ride from Escondido to Lake Havasu and back in 1998.
• WZ. Crashes on the Streets. Not really a ride, but a list of crashes I had while street riding, including the one that made me turn to club road racing.
• WH. Ask Me Anything. A re-print of the more interesting questions and answers from my reddit.com’s “Ask Me Anything” session. It contains items about club racing, pro racing, and street riding, and more stuff the defies classification.

Stories that don’t fit the Other Categories.

• ZY. About Me. A short moto-bio of my accomplishments.
• ZZ. Introduction. About the blog and how to navigate.
• ZL. A Brief History of the First Women’s Motocross Division. How AMA District 37’s Women’s Division was created.
• ZC. Moments of Enlightenment. Moments in racing when I learned how something should be done.
• YR. Top Five Bonehead Moves of Top Road Racers. Five really bad errors of top level (e.g. Marc Marquez) road racers.
• YB. Stories From the Lap Times. Reprints of various stories from the AFM’s Newsletter from 1973-1978.
• WV. Some Numbers from this Blog. Statistics about the blog – number of views and visitors.
• WT. Growth at Sears Point. How the track has changed over the years since 1973.
• WK. Not in Real Life. A couple of remarkable events in my post-race life that can credited to racing.
• WH. Ask me Anything. A re-print of the more interesting questions and answers from my reddit.com’s “Ask Me Anything” session. It contains items about club racing, pro racing, street riding, and more stuff the defies classification (e.g. a question about my writing).
• WF. Blog Stats. The stats from the first two years of the blog, Jan. 2014 – Dec. 2015.
• WC. Scorecard: +1. a short explanation about an injury time-out.
• See the page VY. Moto-Literature for a discussion on the lack of motorcycle fiction in today’s periodicals, and some examples of short stories that appeared in monthly magazines in the old days.
• XV. My Least liked MotoGP Crashes. Five crashes involving two or more bikes that really disappointed.
• VT. WSB Becoming BSB? A short look at the current state of World Superbike, and why is is like that?
• VS. A Trip of Non-Tragic Disasters. The story of out trip to Italy and the World Ducati Week 2016.

Photo Credits:

1. VA
2. Bill Mullins
3. Octane Press
4. Larry Lawrence
5. victorylibrary.com
6. Author