Mini Series on Harley Davidson Racing on Discovery Channel

M. R. Byrd

M. R. Byrd

Well-known member
This three part mini series airs Monday, September 5, 2016 at 8PMCDT and then Tuesday, September 6th and Wednesday, September 7th.

Dodge City will be featured in the series. There were national races held here beginning on July 4th, 1914, then in 1916, 1920, 1921. These were 300 mile races. The race track is currently a field of milo, which a day before dove season was loaded with hundreds of dove. It is a mile from my house.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fX-jmGSGNU

Just another tidbit of Dodge City history and how it played a part of the development of better motorcycles through racing here.
 
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I plan to watch it. It's been 3 years since I sold my last Harley. Still get the bug once in awhile to ride but probably getting too old. The local Ford dealer has a really nice 2009 Screamin Eagle Road Glide I've been eyeing.:rolleyes:
 
I was out in the field working late so missed the first of the three episodes of the mini series.

My historian friend that has vast knowledge of the Dodge City 300 said that based on the first episode he would suspect that the racing in Dodge City would be center stage tonight(Tuesday, September 6, 2016) 8PM Central, Discovery Channel.

My friend provided the history on this sign at the race site.

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Here it is in a field of milo on the east side of Dodge City. Looking west from Avenue P and Comanche.

IMG_8804-001_zpsa6fzgj5o.jpg
 
Is that why the truck stop on the north side of Dodge has the old bikes in it? Not always, but often we stop there for fuel as we're headed west for elk hunting in Colorado.
 
cheesy said:
Is that why the truck stop on the north side of Dodge has the old bikes in it? Not always, but often we stop there for fuel as we're headed west for elk hunting in Colorado.
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Is that at Flying J? I have not been in there for years, so if they have cycles in there I have not seen them. The site of the races would have been a mile north and a mile west of the Flying J.
 
M. R. Byrd said:
Is that at Flying J? I have not been in there for years, so if they have cycles in there I have not seen them. The site of the races would have been a mile north and a mile west of the Flying J.
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Mixing up my cities.

Truck stop on north side of Garden City has a bunch of old bikes, Bonnevilles and such.
 
This is from a friend of mine that has researched the Dodge City 300 in great detail---
"After Jim Davis won the 300 Mile Dodge City World Championship Motorcycle Race in 1920 (see photo below), he went downtown to the local Dodge City telegraph office to wire the results back to the Harley-Davidson factory in Milwaukee. While standing at the counter, he looked up and saw Jack Dempsey, the world champion heavyweight boxer. When Jim approached him, Dempsey brushed him off thinking he was a fan and not realizing that indeed they were both luminaries in the world of sports. But Jim persisted and once Dempsey, who had attended the races, realized that Jim had won that day, Dempsey extended his hand and said, "Here kid, shake my hand." Yes folks, it happened in my hometown: Dodge City, Kansas! Source: Jim Davis interview, January 18-19, 1999. Note: Jim was 102 years old when he recounted this story regarding his encounter with Jack Dempsey. He had a mind like a steel trap during the inverview. Ride safe, Jim Davis"

JimDavis_zpssx0y53gw.jpg
 
Was 1000 feet below ground in a gold mine in cripple creek Colorado a few weeks ago. They had a picture of Jack Dempsey. Tour guide went on to say Dempsey grew up there, worked in 3 different mines and was fired from all 3 for not loading ore fast enough.
 
cheesy said:
Mixing up my cities.

Truck stop on north side of Garden City has a bunch of old bikes, Bonnevilles and such.
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Ok, that makes sense. I try to keep a pulse on what is happening in Dodge and I was afraid that something had slipped by me and I would be so embarrassed. :)
 
I missed this. Have to watch for a rerun. I had the honor of meeting Jim Davis at Daytona the year he died at 104. he was a member of the notorious Harley-Davidson wrecking Crew. It's really quite amazing the kind of technology H-D had in those early days. I am reading a book titled "In the Beginning" by Herb Wagner. It chronicles the days of H-D 1901-1909, it's very controversial as he exposes the marketing myth about H-D claimed 1903 first-production date. H-D let him into the archives, which was a class move, however it is H-D marketing that perpetuates the fallacy that they began production in 1903, which is a pure hoax. His buddy Bruce Lindsay has the oldest known running Harley-Davidson, a documented 1905 (they never had serial numbers until 1906). His bike is older than any bike in the archives, which I have seen the same bike badged as a 1903, 1903-1904, circa 1903. Bruce rode his bike from his home in Ohio, right to the steps at Juneau Avenue and asked Martin Jack Rosenbloom, the curator of the archives, to come outside and have a look and discuss the technical aspects of Bruce's bike, he refused.
 
ranchodeluxe,

Here is an interesting article on the motocycles used in the filming.

blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2016/09/01/alex-wheeler-bike-builder-from-harley-and-the-davidsons-answers-some-of-our-questions-about-the-miniseries/
 
Thanks for the info!
 
Had a funeral today of a local guy while on his Harley hit a deer. He was a really good guy. Sorry to be a downer but this bums me out.
 
Sorry to hear about your friend. I hope you have some good memories of him. This happens all the time on the highway my cabin is on. As a local motorcycle tech, I usually know the person. On any decent weekend, summer or winter everybody tours the hills and my local bar, the Johnson Siding Happy Tavern is the last stop. So they are already lit from a day of bar-hopping, they all stop for one last one before dark. It's seven miles to town so they think it's easy beans. Well, the deer crawl like maggots at the end of a hot summer day, and this time of year, forget about it, you are dodging deer left right and center. The last guy I knew since 7th grade, fawn was stuck between two guardrails, running back and forth. Instead of getting the bike upright and dead-centering the deer with his Road King, he tried to dodge it, couldn't and the impact sent him and his woman into the Armco guardrail. he died, she is mangled for life. If you are on a Harley touring bike, Gold Wing, etc, sometimes the best thing to do is brace yourself and hit the deer dead-center. I don't ride with the bar-hopping scene. In fact, I do most of my riding on my xr400 in the woods, no cops, no drunks (well, less drunks) and no badass bikers to deal with.
 
I saw a guy on a Harley hit a deer exactly the way you describe. Just straight braking, no swerving, and hit it dead center. It was a highway, so he was probably doing 65 mph when he hit the brakes, something less when he actually hit the deer... Anyway, he "rode" the bike to a stop with the deer wrapped around the front, dropped it on the shoulder, walked away and sat down on the shoulder of the road. He was definitely in shock and also was in pain, but he walked away from it.

I don't know what happened after EMS got there, but he seemed pretty lucid for a guy who was just in a major traffic accident at highway speed.
 
Toad said:
I saw a guy on a Harley hit a deer exactly the way you describe. Just straight braking, no swerving, and hit it dead center. It was a highway, so he was probably doing 65 mph when he hit the brakes, something less when he actually hit the deer... Anyway, he "rode" the bike to a stop with the deer wrapped around the front, dropped it on the shoulder, walked away and sat down on the shoulder of the road. He was definitely in shock and also was in pain, but he walked away from it.

I don't know what happened after EMS got there, but he seemed pretty lucid for a guy who was just in a major traffic accident at highway speed.
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Sometimes you have to pick your poison but panic only leads to the worst outcome. One of my buddies was slowed to let deer cross when an impatient driver came flying through, the deer panicked and jumped right in his lap, kicked the sheit out of him.
 
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