It wasn't until 1983 that we first took the Triumph twin (WCBR1) vintage racing. November would be the Zimmer & McGee Vintage weekend at Las Vegas Raceway. We had a great time screaming around the 1.6 mile, 6-turn desert course. The Triumph won the 750cc event handsdown! The picture at Top-Right is just prior to the Las Vegas race. In 1986 we hauled to Triumph to Mexico to compete in the LaCarrera race a 150+ miles dash east. We holed a piston out in the valley at speed.
Since the Triumph was still competitive in the BoTT series, both AMA & AFM, the Triumph wouldn't appear at a vintage race again until Daytona 1987 (the F1 Ducati made the Triumph uncompetitive in BoTT in 1986, our last season with AMA).
In 1987 we took the Triumph to Daytona once again, not for the BoTT race, but for the AHRMA/AMA Historic Cup races. I had come up with a new class for 1987 (Sportsman), and authored the rules for the same. It was here I'd race the Triumph. I had a race long battle with another Triumph 750 rider... we passed and re-passed each other nearly ever lap. In the end he got the better of me. In July we took the 750 to Laguna Seca, but struggled to get third place due to a high speed wobble (later we found the frame had cracked).
For 1988 we had another new class in AHRMA, the short lived 750GP class. It was in this race that the Triumph outpaced even the ex-works BSA Rocket-3 and Honda 750s to win! Later that same year we took the 750 to what must be my favorite track (for use of a better word), Steamboat Springs, CO. Here at Steamboat we'd race through the city streets up near the ski resorts. In the 750 Sportsman race I had a race long battle with a Norton 750, which I bush-wacked on the last lap with three corners to go... to take the win with a good margin.
We had planned on taking the 750 to Daytona in '89, but pre-Daytona testing at Sears Point in February didn't go well. I had my hands full with a team of Ducati singles and when the Triumph wouldn't start at Sears Point we parked it. The Triumph wouldn't come out again until the Donner Hill Climb (Sierra Nevada Mountains near Trckee, CA). We made one fast run in practice, but the charging problem again reared its ugly head and it quit half way up on it's timed run. |
