Sidewinders Stories
Told by Dave Hansen
I first attended a Sidewinders race in the mid 1960s. This was a new world to me. Though a cousin gave me a Harley Hummer several years earlier, I was not a biker, nor did I have much experience with bikes. To me this (Sidewinders) was a big time event......real bikes, riders and motorcycle fun. As exciting as it was, I had many other things to keep my time occupied.
By 1976 I was deeply involved with motorcycling and (in partnership with a couple other friends) bought Oregon Motorcycle Parts in the Sellwood neighborhood of Portland. Owning an old BSA Victor, I enjoyed dealing with English bikes and the people who rode them. Much to my delight, there were a couple British bike shops nearby, J&S Action Motors and F&W Motorcycles.
Mike and Dick of F&W were real motorcycle enthusiasts who befriended me and helped me learn more about the world of English motorcycles. It was their friendship that made me an enthusiast of Sidewinders. Most Friday nights during the summer, about 5pm I could hear the roar of the bikes wafting down from Sidewinders to my shop. The boys at F&W would close their shop and then rider their bikes to my nearby shop; I would then close and we would roar off on our bikes to see the races that night. Mike and Dick of course rode sleek British hardware that was pumped up to demonstrate their skills. Mike rode a racy looking Norton, and Dick rode a hot Triumph....which were typical of what they worked on and sold. I on the other hand, had trouble keeping up with them on my old V7 Moto Guzzi Ambassador. But we did enjoy the short ride of about 6 miles.
The Sidewinders crowd seemed to thrive on beer, which was not enticing to this Mormon boy, but it was fun to sit at the bottom of the track where the racers were unleashed from the chute. Each lap of the track brought lots of noise, excitement and the possibility/likelihood of dirt being tossed into the crowd as the riders circled the relatively short track. Though a jump was part of the rules, Sidewinders was on a hill and the jump was rather shallow as they rounded the top and started down. So the speeds were exciting and the crowd was wild with enthusiasm. I don't recall many empty seats. Nor did I witness any violence or bad behavior from the crowd.
I distinctly remember one night after the last race, we went to get our bikes and Dick had trouble getting onto his Triumph.....it fell over while he was lifting his leg! Then on the way home Mike was in the lead, and Dick was trying to catch him as we came to the end of the (divided) highway. Because my bike was slower, I could only watch the scene unfold in front of me as Mike put on his brakes to slow to a stop. Dick was still hard on the gas and hit Mike's rear wheel at close to a hundred! Down he went, with sparks shooting high into the air as we crossed the bridge over McGloughlin Blvd. WOW!!!
I had not witnessed such a crash before. It was composed of high speed, lots of sparks and happened to a couple friends. Though Mike did not fall off, he turned his bike around to come back and help Dick. I got there about the time Dick was picking himself up off the pavement. His bike was dinged up and his jeans were in even worse condition. Wearing a leather jacket preserved his upper body hide, but he should have worn leather pants too....he needed the protection. Amazingly he was able to ride his bike back to their shop where he assessed the damage. I had found his oil cap laying on the highway, and there was a lot of aesthetic damage to the bike. Though he and Mike argued about why it happened.....I have my theories. After more than 3 decades, I may just keep them to myself! Nonetheless, I suspect there were a lot of sore muscles the next day that may have lasted weeks!
It was a sad summer when Sidewinders ended. My understanding is that the City was marching their direction. Though they had lots of property, and were grandfathered in, and the club membership was aging. Running the club and races must have been taxing. The property surely became too valuable to the land developers, and the cost of keeping the club viable exceeded its value to society. Ultimately, it was the advancement of the sewer system that made the difference. It was a decision of whether the older generation dig into their pockets and pay the city for the new sewer line that reached across their property to the new homes and apartments that were going in........or, selling the valuable property to the developers and let them pay for the enhancements. Hence, we now have apartments where we once had excitement most Friday nights during the summer. "Sidewinders" is now missed by many!
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