The 70'sand 80's were a great time to young and alive in America- not perfect - but pretty damn good. If your sport was motorcycles it was even better. A lot of these pics were nationally known racers or champions. Some of the pics were of local races (but not nearly enough)-- they are perhaps even better images. If you notice- a lot of smiling in the pics- there were after the Finish Line! Tried to capture the excitement of the race finish or just after- on a victory lap or trophy presentation . No trophy girls (at least I didn’t see any) -there is another video for that! Hope you enjoy.-- Remember it's historical.
This is a still photo montage of Vintage Flat Track. I do not own the rights to theses photos-- most originally published by the old "Cycle News" or other print magazines of the 1970s or 80's and a lot have been 'scarfed' off the internet - others publicly posted by users of various forums. There may be a couple of pics from the late 60's, 90's or 00’s in this tribute - but if you were part of this - it does not change the vibe. This video is not monetized. The only folks that can make money on this video is You Tube (advertising) and music producers of background music used (royalties paid by You Tube). Kudo's to the old 'Cycle News' and individual Photographers who captured these moments. 40 or 50 years ago - who knew we would still be around to enjoy them- some us are not.
Special thanks to Greg Pearson for use of his father’s (Bob Pearson's) pic of Jay Ridgeway. It definitely is a highlight of the video. A few of the Individual photographers from the era are still around (2021) - some of these photos are undoubtedly theirs-- They are still (or were) selling a lot of pics they sold at the tracks back in the day-- If you were a racer- you knew them-- If you are descendant (unfortunate) you could contact them with your racers number and tracks they rode- they maybe able to hook you up with some pics of them. A few I know of are Bert Shepard, Mitch Friedman, Mike Stuhler, Len Breech, and Dave Hoenig handled most of the Mid-West of the US, I think. Dan Mahony, and Mitch Friedman handled most of the Western US, I think . They all probably shot the National events at one time, I’m guessing. They all were on Facebook the last I checked. Dan Mahony’s Facebook page is --"Mahony Racing Photos".