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When men were men = wheelie contest AMA Laguna 85'

Wheelies into the corkscrew. That's awesome as hell :thumbup

Thanks for posting this!
 
Thanks Beastie. Definitely good times :teeth Just a note, it was nice of the King and Randy to put on a show for the fans, while our National #1 at the time, Mike Baldwin, was racing. Although there might have been a slight difference in level of machinery. But I can't figure out how those guys are so fast riding crossed up as it is called today.
It was cool to see a young Doug Chandler and Mr. Boogie Bettencourt (#50) going into T4 as well.
 
Jesus, wheelies AROUND turn 1.

Sometimes I think that MotoGP engineers have forgotten why people watch racing -- to be entertained. There's a line between over-engineering something and keeping it exciting to watch.
 
EastBayDave said:
Happened upon this today. Brought back memories. It's dubbed in Japanese w/American music. But the Roberts/Mamola wheelie contests are very enjoyable at the "old" Laguna. I was there! :teeth :thumbup

[youtube]J7_WAeCe8oE[/youtube]
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Fixed. :nerd
 
Awesome stuff Dave :thumbup

Totally agree on the wheelie over one.. dayam!! :wow

Look at all that run off eh??? Amazing the amount of safety changes since those days.

The King and his court.. sweet!
 
I'd forgotten what a dangerous track Laguna used to be. Great vid!
 
Nice find Dave, I wasn't there that year but I did go the following year.
 
yeah if I recall correctly that was the last race King Kenny ran before retirement? Shortly thereafter he hung up the leathers so it was a cool race to be at. Also, seeing Randy & Baldwin was cool; Baldwin playing no games & trying to take off on the last lap. Kenny had none of that! Laterz...zoom! Gone.

I was happy to see Randy Renfrow there as well, one of the tireless guys from the "old" AMA (like M. Baldwin) who always seemed to "be there" no matter what sh*thole the race was at. Oh were they dangerous back then or what; T1/2/2a at Laguna...lucky they didn't claim a few more than they did (Jon Woo among a few.) Them were the days man.

I was always camped out in the infield. I was AMA qualified & could have run the 200's, but having a slightly modified uncompetitive streetbike to run against Roberts & crew? Naw...was more fun to watch anyway...:teeth :wow
 
I recall attending my first 500cc GP race @ Laguna Seca in 1989. No namby-pamby traction control or ABS bullshit here. :x Just straight up old school manhandling of twitchy two-strokes.

Is it odd that I find this just as exciting, or maybe even more so, than today's MotoGP racing? :confused
 
Hooli said:
I recall attending my first 500cc GP race @ Laguna Seca in 1989. No namby-pamby traction control or ABS bullshit here. :x Just straight up old school manhandling of twitchy two-strokes.

Is it odd that I find this just as exciting, or maybe even more so, than today's MotoGP racing? :confused
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No, it is more exciting than todays bikes. We all know that we can't ride a current MotoGP bike at speed, but because of the electronics it looks like we can.

There's absolutely no question in any viewers mind, that riding a 500cc two-stroke at speed is completely out of the question for us normal-folk.

Part of what makes a sport exciting is being able to appreciate the difficulty of it. You can see that difficulty on the 500's, far more than you can on the 800's... and this is what makes the 800's less exciting to watch than the 500's (along with the racing itself lately).
 
Great find, Dave. The good old days when Traction Control was directly linked to the Right Wrist.
 
EastBayDave said:
I was happy to see Randy Renfrow there as well, one of the tireless guys from the "old" AMA (like M. Baldwin) who always seemed to "be there" no matter what sh*thole the race was at. Oh were they dangerous back then or what; T1/2/2a at Laguna...lucky they didn't claim a few more than they did (Jon Woo among a few.) Them were the days man.
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Someday, I will get my keester going to find my video clip of me crashing my TZ250 in T2. The front end would tuck every lap and on the 13th lap I couldn't get the front wheel back by pushing on my knee....ALL I KNEW was I wasn't going to crash going in so I got lucky and made it past the apex! It was either 84 or 85 at the AMA race, thinking it was 85 cuz I did Daytona that year. :teeth

The old track was dangerous fun and I saw more than a couple of bad wrecks between T2 and the old T4 in my day.
 
Hooli said:
I recall attending my first 500cc GP race @ Laguna Seca in 1989. No namby-pamby traction control or ABS bullshit here. :x Just straight up old school manhandling of twitchy two-strokes.

Is it odd that I find this just as exciting, or maybe even more so, than today's MotoGP racing? :confused
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no... because 500cc two strokes are about 500 times cooler than what we have now. this stuff is way better.
 
shoelace said:
no... because 500cc two strokes are about 500 times cooler than what we have now. this stuff is way better.
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I think so; the old 2stroker GP bikes were much harder to ride than these newfangled bikes w/all the electronic rider aids. Anyone notice the new Honda transmission? Geeze. You hardly have to shift anymore...
 
500cc bikes, nothing like them Imo. Any mortal man would tremble at the thought of throwing a leg over the bike, but at the same time would never pass up the opportunity :) The guys who rode them week in and week out were a special breed for sure. Takes a special kind of madness and skill level to wrangle a bike like that. If you guys have never seen the movie Faster, it's a must see. Some of Vales comments on the 500 bikes are classic.
 
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