Long Forgotten Early Harley-Davidson Racing History

[dlm32]

I've got a new story up on my Deadly Dave's blog about a piece of early Harley-Davidson racing history. Check it out. Links below:

[c.o.]

That is a very interesting article. Thanks for taking the time to post it. I discovered your blog awhile back and it's good stuff!!! On a side note, I have an article from just prior to the 1914 Dodge City races and there is no mention of Harley-Davidson in the line-up.

[Harley Hummer]

Reguarding the early Dodge City races....
I believe Harley exited the race scene for a few years, due to too many race related accidents involving spectators.
Motorcycle races became a bad name for a moment in history. Bad for business. Too many deaths and bad publicity.
The board tracks quickly became history, in favor of safer dirt flat tracks.
Only then, did Harley re-appear and dominate once again!

[Harley Hummer]

And to David......
Very interesting link!
I believe we have Dexter Campbell's 165 engine here on display.
Its missing a head, but otherwise intact.
Any info on Dexter Campbell and his 165cc machine?
Serial number to confirm?

[dlm32]

Harley, Thanks for your comments. There was very little information on Dexter. I had hoped to make contact with someone from Dexter's family, but that hasn't happened. I think most of the info on Dexter's bikes was lost when Puckett's closed. If you run across an additional information, please let me know, and I'll update the story.

[freebird914]

Thanks interesting read, I am looking for information on the track that was in Montgomery Al. Really don't know where to start I have seen some old photos but no real information. Any Suggestions on how to research this?

[dlm32]

Thanks Freebird, I think I have a copy of the New York Times article from 1909 about Bob Stubbs win at Montgomery. These are text only articles. I've never seen a photo of the Montgomery track. Stubbs won several races there, but it seemed to drop out in the early teens. I didn't find any mention of the track when I was working on the Gene Walker story. Stubbs was Gene's sponsor, before he went to the Indian Factory, and they would have probably raced there if the track was still holding bike races.

Your best bet is the archieve of the Montgomery newspaper. You are lucky that Montgomery is the capital so the papers are probably on microfilm. I can tell you it's a long process. I searched one month of the 1924 Birmingham News for Gene Walker's local death notice , and it took me several hours to find it. Your library probably has it on microfilm. Since the race results were listed in the New York Times, they were probably also listed in the local papers. The local papers often had photos of the racers and their bikes.

Sylacauga, AL. had dirt track races at the fairgrounds before World War 1, but I can't find papers back that far. A local jeweler in his 90s told me his father and a couple of other locals raced Indians there. He had a photo from 1914 of three of them with their street motorcycles.

Send me a PM with your regular e mail address and I'll send you any thing I have on the Montgomery races.