Reel 1

Item — video: 1

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Opens with a long shot of a man riding a motorcycle quickly along a trail in what appears to be mountains. He eventually talks to the camera, introducing himself as Monty Markham and the film as being about motorcycles in various contexts, including speed records, racing, and motorcycles in movies.

A television special is shown, called 'The World of Two Wheels', all about motorcycles. 400% increase in motorcycle registration between 1960 and 1970. Salinas Ramblers Motorcycle Club puts on a scramble each year, this time drawing 648 riders in a variety of events. Gary Dillard won the rear wheelstand competition. Paul Johnson wins the 250 cc race. Each race is broken down into heats leading into a main event for each class of bike. There are many shots of racing, including some of an event called the sidehacks, involving two people on each bike, one the rider, the other the 'monkey' who helps to turn the bike through tight turns.

The next scene is set at Bonneville Salt Flats, where Art Barta is shooting to break a record of 106.812 miles per hour on a 250cc bike. Rick Vesco is a rider of a streamlined motorcycle, essentially an 8 foot long motorcycle with protective and aerodynamic casing around the outside. Vesco crashes while going 170 miles per hour trying to break the record of 245 miles per hour. Vesco eventually broke the record at 251 miles per hour, although only a month later Cal Rayborne claimed the record at 265 miles per hour.

Next scene is all about motocross in Carlsbad, California. Motocross is described as racing not only against competitors but also against natural features. Morris Malone is one of the youngest racers at only fourteen years old. The riders are separated into classes based on their skill level, with it taking an average of four years to achieve the highest class.

The 'Hare and Hounds' race is essentially a race straight across the desert in a much more undefined race stretching 190 miles from Yucca Valley to the Colorado River. There are gas checks periodically that prove that they have not taken unauthorized shortcuts. This segment includes many shots of motorcycles in relative wilderness on small trails or sometimes not on trails at all, set to music. It takes approximately four hours to complete, happening every week.

At this point, the world of two wheels is concluded and the next scene focuses on indoor concrete racing, showing how the riders pad their shoes with rags and duct tape to allow them to drag as the slide almost continuously in an oval. They interview a few of the riders who talk about the intricacies of the sport, primarily with the wheels. First there is an event in Long Beach, with two heats of 7 laps each with the top 5 finishers from the two heats competing. The racers competing are Joe Henry, Allen (?) Kenyon, Jim Odom, Dave Hansen, Gene Romero, Bob Bailey, Ralph Waldman, Dallas Baker, Butch Quarter. This race is 15 laps, with Odom winning and Joe Henry in second.

Less than a month later, the riders are in Madison Square Garden for another Silver Cup event. This time there are eight heat races, each eight laps long. The final is 20 laps, and the finalists are Kenyon, Aldena, Odom, Railsford, and Mashburn, and Hurst as well as some others who are not listed by name in the film.

Dates

1963

Conditions Governing Access

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