*NSFW* Loudon Pics from the '80s

[gumby]

Perfect time to revive this thread.

[xxaarraa]

Perfect time to revive this thread.

I am glad you did. It is so awesome to see what the motorcycle scene was like before I was born!

[Imbeek]

Best. Thread. Ever!

[carsick]

Are you still drunk??

[Johnny B]

Here's some AAMRR people who showed up last weekend. Left to right: Lionel Baron, Steve Ross, Jr., Sharon Baron, Laura Cole Snyder, Scotty Cole, Nancy Cole, Peggy Cole Neylon and Donnie Mei, Jr.

[Johnny B]

More old guys at Loudon last weekend. Left to right: Steve Aspland, Steve Nogueira, Vic Fasola, Dale Quarterley and Jerry Wood.

[Kurlon]

I saw Jerry's TZ in the Penguin garage, did he get it on track this weekend?

[cdovego]

Gogo is an ex LRRS racer who now lives and races in Cali. Check out his stories and videos. All good stuff! Especially the Vanson leathers one.

He's crushing it in the AFM - fast guy.

[cdovego]

Where did all the racing fans go??
I was in England in the 80's and remember very similar occurences at the Transatlantic match races, GP's and club racing.
Ahhh the good old days!

Biggest crowd I've ever seen (at Loudon) at the 92nd Classic last weekend.

[Johnny B]

Biggest crowd I've ever seen (at Loudon) at the 92nd Classic last weekend.

They're building the event back up. USCRA had a Gypsy Tour ride with a lot of bikers riding down from Laconia the Sunday before the Classic. They got to ride around the track a few times with 1953 Laconia Classic winner Ed Fisher and Doc Batsleer with his tank shift Indians. Then they hung around and watched the vintage races.

We had a lot of manufacturers and vendors outside the tunnel. They came to NHMS because the traffic coming into Weirs is ridiculous and the City of Laconia doesn't do enough. When the USCRA ran the Belknap course (Where the Laconia Classic was run from 1938 to 1964) we did all the work and ran the races but the City of Laconia collected and pocketed the gate. When the track got too rough and we told them they needed to repave the roads, they said they had no money. When the demo rides were at Laconia the toilets and trash cans were overflowing. At NHMS the toilets and trash are serviced twice a day, the street sweeper keeps the lot clean and they are able to run demo rides a good distance with no traffic and nothing but right turns. More manufacturers want to come next year and there is other stuff in the works which will be great.

I think Daytona showed that you don't need the AMA and their big stars to have a good event. Everything in Florida looked a lot better this year than the past two years under DMG. It occurred to me that all the riders wanted to be there instead of the usual AMA series mentality that they were going to get through Daytona as best as possible and then race for the rest of the season.

The racing at Loudon was good and AMA Supermoto was a big plus. Matt Stewart, who was in charge of that part of the event, is already looking forward to returning next year.

[scottieducati]

Excellent news, an a great job by all involved. The place was hoppin!

[knarlydog]

Some great (albeit short) video and pics of old loudon are shown on the discovery Channel show "Biketacular". Its a count down of the top 20 bikes of all time. When they get to the Ducati 916, its almost all Loudon shots and video footage for some reason. There is also a great piece on John Britten in the show and the V1000 as well.

[knarlydog]

A couple of shots I recently found from '88 thought some folks might get a kick out of... going through the bowl in the original direction....




You can see they started construction on what is now the current track....

[Johnny B]

Just to pick nits, the construction was in 1989.