1955 Motorcycle Racing Champions - 2-Page Vintage Article

Description

1955 Motorcycle Racing Champions - 2-Page Vintage Article
Original, Vintage Magazine Article
Page Size: Approx. 9" x 12" (22.5 cm x 30 cm) each page
Condition: Good
1955's
National Champions
ANOTHER YEAR has rolled by and what a year it
has been! The circuit of championships saw plenty
of red-hot action as the star-studded fields of riders
battled through corners and straightaways for one of
the crowns in dirt-track racing, road racing, hillclimb-
ing, endurance and cross-country run competition.
As the races ended, a total of 13 champions were
crowned for 1955, including one Grand National
Champion.
Andres! The very name struck terror in the ranks of
the veteran experts as the conquering invader from the
amateur ranks advanced up to the top of the ladder as
the 1955 season progressed. He proved his champion-
ship caliber as an amateur last year when he won
nearly every amateur final held at the championship
races and this year he was the man to beat in nearly
every race.
Besides winning five of the championships he ac-
cumulated the highest point total for "Grand National
Championship” honors.
Andres in sweeping top honors for himself, lead a
posse of westerners, Brashear, Tindall, Gunter, Leonard,
Burk, and Kretz, who virtually swept the championship
trail clean leaving the luckless easterners with only one
victory out of 18. (See CHAMPIONS, page 42)
CHAMPIONS from page 21
Everett Brashear, the flying Texan from
Beaumont, set a record with his five
championship wins to become the first on
record to win a series in racing in de-
nominations of five — winning the 5, 10,
15, 20, and 25 mile titles.
Following are the championships:
JANUARY 9, LUCERNE VALLEY,
CALIF.—
Roy Burke from Portland, Oregon, riding
a BSA was crowned motorcycling's first
national champion in 1955 at the Big
Bear Run when he nosed out 540 title
seekers on a 120-mile snow-covered course
to the top of Big Bear Mountain in Cali-
fornia giving him the Cross Country Run
National title.
MARCH 13, DAYTONA BEACH,
FLA.—
Brad Andres won this 200-mile Handlebar
Derby on the famous sand and macadam
racing course at Daytona Beach, setting a
new speed record of 94.57 mph. When
Andres rolled his maroon colored Harley-
Davidson K into Victory Lane, he was off
to a brilliant new chapter in championship
history.
MAY 29, RICHMOND. VA.—
Everet: Brashear chalked up his first of five
titles on the fast half-mile banked oval at
the Richmond fairgrounds, winning the
5-mile title in 4:43-95.
JUNE 12, COLUMBUS, OHIO.—
As the 10-mile national ended on the half-
mile oval in the Buckeye Capital, it was a
happy day for the flying bomb from Texas
for Everett Brashear was back in the
winner's circle, having turned the trick in
1953, with his second title win in two
weeks, turning the 20 laps in the time
of 9:57.20.
JUNE 19, LACONIA, N.H.—
Battling for his second big championship
win of the season in the 100-mile race at
Laconia, fans witnessed a tight up-hill bat-
tle between Brad Andres and Bill Meier.
With defending champion Joe Leonard
forced to make numerous pit stops, it was
a see-saw battle as first Meier and then
Andres led. The rest of the pack trailed by
some two laps and Andres blazed home
setting a new course record of 1:49:46.56
for an average speed of 54.65 mph.
JULY 4, DODGE CITY. KAN.—
Here in the bread-basket of the world.
Brad Andres once again charged back in
a tough, gruelling race to take the 75-mile
title and once again showed his exhaust to
a held of veteran riders on the one-half
mile Ford County airstrip course in the
time of 1:01:35.21. Brad averaged 73.07
for his third trip to the national cham-
pionship winner’s circle.
JULY 17. WINDBER, PA.—
Joe Leonard, last year’s eight-time national
champion from the city of San Jose, Cali-
fornia, finally broke the trouble jinx for
his first 1955 championship. He set a new
course record for the third running of the
50-miler and became the first two-time
winner at this popular course in rhe scenic
Allegheny Mountains of Pennsylvania.
Leonard's time was 57:17,08 for an aver-
age speed of 52.09 mph.
JULY 24, SAN MATEO. CALIF.—
On the fast, mile dirt track at Bay Meadows,
Everett Brashear played cat and mouse with
defending champion Joe Leonard but on
the backstretch in the final lap he pulled
by the two-time winner and beat him to
the wire by only inches for the 20-milc
crown and a new AMA record of 13:29.59.
averaging 88.99 mph. Leonard didn’t take
a back seat in the record department for
he established the first AMA record for
1955 in his 10-mile qualifying heat oi
6:49.58 and an average speed of S7.89
mph.
PAUL GOLDSMITH, St. Clair
Shores, Mich., (H-D) 8 Mile.
ED KRETZ, Jr.. Monterey
Park, Calif., (TRI) 80 cu. in.
TT.
AL GUNTER, Monterey Park,
Calif., (BSA) 7 Mile.
LOUIS CORRIERE, Easton,
Pa., (H-D) 45 cu. in. Ama-
teur Final Class A Hillclimb.
DON TINDALL, Portland,
Ore., (H-D) 6 Mile and Pikes
Peak Grand Prix.
SAL SCIRPO, Middletown,
Conn., (TRI) 500 Mile Endur-
ance Run.
ROY BURKE, Portland, Ore.,
(BSA) Cross Country Run.
R. J. NEALEN, Bedford, Ohio,
(IND) 74 cu. in. Professional
Final Class A Hillclimb.
EVERETT BRASHEAR,
Beaumont, Texas, (H-D) 5
Mile, 10 Mile, 15 Mile, 20 Mile,
and 25 Mile.
JOE LEONARD, San Jose,
Calif., (H-D) 9 Mile, 50 Mile
Road Race, and 45 cu. in. TT.
WALTER LYLE, Columbus,
Ohio, (IND) 45 cu. in. Ama-
teur Class A Hillclimb.
HOWARD MITZEL, York,
Pa., (IND) 74 cu. in. Profes-
sional Class A Hillclimb.
The world’s fastest 40 cu. in. Class A motorcycle is this streamlined Triumph Thunder-
bird. In September it streaked across the Salt Flats at Bonneville, Utah, setting a new
AMA straightaway speed record of 193.72 mph. The crew that made this record possible
from left to right: Burton Albrecht, spectator; John Baugh, Lucas Magneto represen-
tative; Jack Wilson, mechanic; Charles Mangham, owner’s son; Wilber Cedar, Johnson
Motors; “Stormy” Mangham, owner and designer; “Bus” Schaller, AMA referee: Gene
Fields, referee’s ass’t., and Johnny Allen who sat in the cockpit, twisted the throttle
and was credited with the record.
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