Harley Davidson Dirt Bike History

He rode the board and dirt tracks of the country for the Harley-Davidson factory racing team.

Harley davidson dirt bike history. It proves to be one of the best racing motorcycles ever built. Harley-Davidson Inc H-D or Harley is an American motorcycle manufacturer founded in 1903 in Milwaukee Wisconsin. What many may not know is that this isnt Harleys first dirt rodeo.

In the late 1960s Harley-Davidson was perfectly positioned to compete. Harley-Davidson dirt-track racer Jimmy Chann wins the first of three consecutive AMA Grand National Championships. The Harley-Davidson MX-250 was a lethal weapon in its class and Harley-Davidson even had a motocross team consisting of Rex Staten Don Kudalski and Marty Tripes.

Walker got his hands on a blanked off two cam Harley-Davidson and began racing it. Along with Indian it was one of two major American motorcycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depression. Walker would become a dominant force on half mile dirt.

Photo courtesy Hodaka. The Harley-Davidson motorcycle company was 100 years old in 2003 and its been producing American motorcycles with a distinction that sets them apart from all others. In 1998 after 20000 motorcycles had been manufactured since the start of Buell Erik Buell sold Harley-Davidson 49 of Buell motorcycles.

But H-Ds dirt diggers didnt hail from Milwaukee or anywhere else in the US. Ray Weishaar was coined the Kansas Cyclone. All three riders were successful on the MX-250 before the motocross effort was shelved.

By 1941 Harley-Davidson produced its first showroom racing model the WR. H-D brought this little stinker out to capture the small-bore trail bike market that was dominated by Hodaka at the time-the early 70s. Class C racing kicked off with dirt-track racing in 1939.