*NSFW* Loudon Pics from the '80s

[FirstDuc-1098]

like the staff at registration

[Johnny B]

like the staff at registration

In 1987 Kevin Schwantz brought his girlfriend, Playboy Centerfold Luann Lee, to the Loudon Classic. I saw her strutting around the paddock all weekend. Kevin's teammate, Satoshi Tsujimoto, was seriously hurt in a crash at an earlier AMA round. During the opening ceremonies, Luann stepped up on the podium in front of the main grandstands and asked for a moment of silent prayer for Satoshi. She got a deafening barrage of "SHOW US YOUR TITS!!!" from the crowd instead.

[Pittenger5]

Did she show us her tits?

[-jro-]

great pics!! Alex had me scan in these gems back in the summer but he never posted them. Believe these are circa 1995 or around there....paging a13x!









young a13x



dude...look at this crowd....I was in utter shock when I saw this photo. I've only ever seen NHMS/NHIS as a ghost town, I can't imagine a crowd like that for motorcycle racing....

bring back the AMA god damn it

[Pittenger5]

Alex looks like hes ready for the AiC concert

[obsolete]

You got a problem with the butt cut Richie?

[Puppet]

young a13x

...and the Stone's too! We've gotta get Matt to bring back that hairdo!

[Johnny B]

Did she show us her tits?

No, she told us to buy the magazine!

But you can see them here! (Warning!: Nudity!)

[Johnny B]

Is that Animal Hill? Damn! I liked it better when it was a war zone!

[Ken C]

I can't find any photos of the old track, but here is one of the "paddock". My RD is in the foreground next to my tent and 1979 Subaru. This would have been 1986. Notice the early GSXR.
You can see the scoring tower in the background, which is roughly where the front straight is now.

[butcher bergs]

Wow! There is epic all up in this thread!

Loving the nostalgia.

[Johnny B]

Christmas in June.

[Johnny B]

Hog Wild!

[Johnny B]

Are we not men.......

[Johnny B]

Our 1953 Chevy school bus.

[Johnny B]

The Ladies Room on Sunday morning.

[Johnny B]

Honda Factory Race Team - 1981.

[a13x]

Ha!

Yea those pics JRO posted are from 1996 and that's the first AMA National I ever went too. Fell in love I was 16 at the time. My dad and I drove up with Matt Stone's young brother Ryan in the car (lil fella there) while Bob rode his 1974 CB400 Four up and Matt was on that Honda with the sweet chrome fender.

The crowds back then were just mind blowing. Look at the pics behind the grandstands. Bike upon bikes lined the ENTIRE rear grandstand area, those pics don't even show them all. We were sitting in the middle of the grandstands and that picture of the stands is looking to the right. All around us was even more full and to the left was the same.

Hard to believe really. It was like that 96-99'ish then started to taper down going into the final AMA round at 2002. I've been to every Loudon Classic 1996-2009 with the except of 3 years during college when I was at the mountainbike national at Mt. Snow.

[Doc]

They even had a Duc Island back in the day. (I'll need to find my pics from 96)

(Well my "day" not like Johhny B's day. That was like my fathers day. He warned me about Animal Hill and the first year we went he wouldn't go up there with me. I was 16 so that had to be 86.)

[a13x]

Is that Animal Hill? Damn! I liked it better when it was a war zone!

It was pretty gnar those first few years I went. I saw plenty of burning vehicles, home-made bombs going off, titties, and all that crazy shit. Prob a few levels down from your super oldschool pics, but it certainly was pretty rugged. It's super weak nowadays.

[Johnny B]

The crowds back then were just mind blowing. Look at the pics behind the grandstands. Bike upon bikes lined the ENTIRE rear grandstand area, those pics don't even show them all. We were sitting in the middle of the grandstands and that picture of the stands is looking to the right. All around us was even more full and to the left was the same.

Alex, I sent those pictures along to Fred Neergaard in the front office. He wants to show Jerry Gappens how big the crowds can be if they get the AMA back.

[a13x]

Alex, I sent those pictures along to Fred Neergaard in the front office. He wants to show Jerry Gappens how big the crowds can be if they get the AMA back.

Hell yes brother!

[Ken C]

Awesome pics, Johnny B.

I went to the Classic every year from 1980 to the end. The crowds were indeed fantastic.

But, it was watching AAMRR club racing at the end of 1985 that changed my life. It showed me that I could race, too. I saw all manner of motorcycle and rider rolling onto the grid. I hung from the chain link fence ready to buy me a race bike. That winter I found an RD400 for $300.00 and was attending the Penguin school April 1986. I will never forget that time.

[Johnny B]

Hard to believe really. It was like that 96-99'ish then started to taper down going into the final AMA round at 2002.

It started in 1998. That was the year that Miguel DuHamel and Thomas Wilson hit the wall in Turn 1. There was an uproar over this, and a group of riders led by Tom Kipp went over the track and made recommendations for improvements. The biggest change was to Turn 1.
At the riders meeting in 1999, Mat Mladin tore into Ron Barrick, saying "The walls are still there." He lambasted Kipp, claiming that he made the track worse. When he asked why he wasn't consulted, Jerry Wood got together with him, Doug Chandler and Aaron Yates for a walk around the track. Notes were taken for the desired improvements.
2000 was the year of the first boycott, just for the superbike race, I believe. The issue was about racing in the wet. They held that on Monday. It was a Mladin flag-to-flag snoozer. TNN didn't even hang around to record it, they packed and left on Sunday.
In 2001, only the 600 SS and sidecar races went off on Sunday. All of the factory boys sat on the pit wall while the rest took the warmup lap. I remember the look on Laura Perry's face when she kept glancing over to Merrill Vanderslice with this "WTF do I do now?" expression as she stood in front of a grid that had only one bike (Scotty Greenwood's) in the first three rows. Also of note was Frankie the Finger cheerleading the crowds in the grandstand to chant, "Race you factory pussies! Race you factory pussies!" They postponed three (I think) races until Monday. The superbike race was probably the best seen in a long time, an Eric Bostrom/Mat Mladin duel to the end.
The crowds got tired of being stiffed after two years in a row of this, so there was quite a drop in attendance for 2002, which was the first Formula USA Loudon Classic.

I was in the Timing Tower working for the AMA in 2001. They had the jet dryer out on the track and things were going smooth, except for the chicane area, where water kept coming up from the ground. Bob and Gary Bahre were out there with brooms, helping the crew to try to get rid of the standing water. When the jet dryer came by, I got this shot. Note that Bob didn't bother to protect his hearing!

[Tabby]

I've got an old video tape of assorted motorcycle stuff that I took with my VHS camera. I have on bike footage of the old Bryar course, taken during the track intro session of Reg Pridmore's "RATS" course in 87 {later renamed "CLASS"}. I'll have to get it converted to digital before it is too late.