The 'machines from milwaukee' weren't closing the performance gap. The AMA was rewriting the rules again to slow the fast machinery down to the pigs pace. Remember Kenny's TZ750 and the new Hondas that were spanking the hell out of them. HD didn't have to do shit except wait until the Hondas and Yamahas were choked down enough and enough weight added that you could have just slapped a harley sticker on them

The reason Bubba Shobert left Flat Track racing!! They shouldn't have penalized Honda!!! Harley Davidson should of had to figure out a way to step it up!!!

The RS750s were a work of art no doubt about it.

I have Bubba Shobert's signature .. and the 17 preceding AMA Grand National Champions, all on the same sheet of paper. It's legendary!!!.. and probably worth some money!

As a former Flat Track, Ice and Road Racing girl I cannot get enough of these videos

Ain’t life a trip, Harley & AMA did Honda wrong and here we are 30+ years later and It’s Indian & AMA and where is Harley?

Motorcycle flat track racing is probably the best racing there is.

“Someone but Harley is winning? Better penalize them”

My dad loved Bubba Shobert!

Honda spent more money than Harley, because Harley has always had the ear of the AMA to keep it's costs down, choosing not to put any money in R&D, but lobbying the AM A to restrict the competition anytime they threatened their dominance. Harley made BSA and Triumph run 500 ohv motors against Harvey's 750 flatheads, so they wouldn't have to spend money on developing an ohv motor, and when they did, it was just and old Sportster motor modified for racing. You know what they, if it won't go, chrome it.

this whole debacle still makes me mad and is the main reason I don't trust the AMA and still don't like Harley Davidson.

Ha! Harley had to cripple the Honda to get anywhere close to it. Harley's are not racing bikes and they never will be, they are cruisers, that's it.

Lol..."Harley Davidson closing the gap on Honda." This was CRIMINAL!

H-D is the only brand in flat track that's represented within the AMA so H-D's best interest is top priority for the AMA. Despite the almost total lack of promotion in recent years for the most dominant machine in motorsports history. If you mentioned Scott Parker in a Harley dealership 90% of employees would respond with "Who the hell is that?". I know the Camel Pro money isn't coming back, but a few nice photos with results and cardboard cutouts would be nice to see in EVERY store.

Sure hop Honda returns to the flat track racing

Minute 2:20 Just so you know, when Honda was restricted and restricted and then restricted and then the so called competition (Harley) closed in, well, don't think its because the competition did anything concerning performance. Except to deprive Their competition, Honda, of performance

is that a Shadow engine?

AMA was a joke, how do you expect racing to move forward, harley could not move forward ,stuck in there own way as well. what a team AMA and harley together

sure would like to hear the motorcycles instead of talking!

too bad there s no money in this

That is why the AMA and flatrack is a joke. All these rule changes so Harley can continue to race. They are doing the same in the NHRA drag series all these rules so they can race compectively. They cannot and never will be competitive without these rules. The bikes are stale and slow. They have there own xr1200 series it is like watching competive school bus racing. Hell bar stool racing is better to watch then this crap.

What a joke One of the biggest fiascos of all time

There is no telling how far Bubba Shobert would have gone.

@RandysRanch That's just a pack of lies!!! Harley didn't want to spend the money to make their antique engine competitive so they conspired with the AMA to nobble the Hondas. Any unbiased observer would surely see it that way. Honda showed their contempt in a typically Japanese way by packing up and leaving. Harley couldn't win so they cheated. That stinks! Boo to you and boo to Harley!

Back when it was a fun series, except for the restricter plate nonsense.

@mahagga No argument here. I was just saying that HD goes to great lengths to work within the AMA and run off any competition, but they cut back their factory effort due to lack of funding. What sponsor would fund something that isn't visible to 99% of the known world? Honda would have gone MX with or without that rule, nearly every British marque was in financial ruins and xenophobia had killed any shot the other Japanese, German, & Italian brands to get a head start in the 50's-70's.

I agree it seems inappropriate to penalize the more successful brand but at the same time I had heard Honda had poured more money into research and development in one year than Harley had in their entire history. Pretty tough for others to compete with that. And also Hondas weren't available or affordable except for a few of the very best riders.

It's been the same story for years...restrict the carbs, add weight, anything to keep the Harley's competitive...they are old time junk.

guarantee here goes all the harley haters again. fyi, the honda motor should have never been excepted by ama due to the point it was a ""race only" designed motor, and not a production based hotrod. though honda did say it was a child to some motor sold in Europe on a dualsport. though they lied, there was nothing similar between them. the even had different V angle. just to many harley haters out there.

It still amazes me to this day that the boys at American Honda took basically a 650 HAWK engine and beat the PANTS off the Harleys on their very first try - The AMA was so "Pro Harley Davidson" back then - they couldn't STAND to see a Japanese v-twin motoring away from beloved HARLEYS-

So basically it means that if you are the best you will be handicapped. That's what i call poor sportsmanship.

The 15 lbs was because the AMA instituted a minimum weight (just like there is in superbike racing). The restrictor plates were to make racing less expensive and to give non factory backed riders a fighting chance. Yes the changes closed the gap between the Honda and the other brands, but not intentionally. The intention was to close the gap between factory backed teams and privateers. Quit with the conspiracy theories.

Another reason Harleys suck.

Pretty soon Indian will be getting penalized because you can't hardly find anybody on a Harley in flat track now... Just the ones that seem down-on-their-luck... or "haven't made it to the top of their journey yet".