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background on these photos..... I am Joe Jordan. in 1971, I moved to Dayton, Ohio from Atlanta, Georgia, and was employed as an illustrator/writer for a well-known research and development company with many contracts at Wright-Patterson AFB. I had always been fascinated with racing, especially auto racing, and had attended many auto race events at the Atlanta's Peach Bowl Speedway and stock car events in Atlanta, Daytona, and Talladega. In late 1971, my wife, son, and I attended a motorcycle race, specifically a flattrack race, in Troy, Ohio. Never in my life had I ever witnessed such an event... twenty maniacs on 750cc hot rod motorcycles racing around a 1/2 mile dirt track with handle bars nearly touching, left feet sticking out, bikes sideways, dirt slinging everywhere, and each rider on the brink of total disaster... and, as the mob of riders and machines came out of each turn it would be repeated in the next. I knew nothing about flattrack racing, but I liked what I saw and wanted to see more. Little did I know that this form of racing would consume my family's life for the next seven years. The Clark County Fairgrounds in Springfield, Ohio always held what was unofficially known as "The Springfield Opener." It was the first flattrack race of the season in the mid-west and usually attracted around 250 Novice entries, 100 Junior entries, and 50-60 Expert entries. In 1972, I was there with my cameras and had "acquired" a press pass on the pretense that I was starting a local newspaper in the Dayton area. While there, I was approached by the Editor of Cycle News East and asked if I would consider covering flattrack races for Cycle News. To make a long story short, I said yes, and eventually covered up to 25 races a year for CN. Remember, I had a full time job but this was a way of getting involved in the sport and a chance of knowing the riders on a first name basis. I found that, most of the riders involved in this sport didn't race for the money (there wasn't much), they raced for the thrill of the sport. In the '70's, the monetary payout for a local four star race totaled $1200.00. That's it, $1200.00 for everything!... heat races, and the final in each class (Novice, Junior, and Expert). And get this, most local races were not four star races, which meant the payout was even less. Even these races would sometimes attract 10-15 national numbers. The photographs on the following pages were taken at 1/2 mile flattracks, 1 mile flattracks, short tracks, indoor short tracks, indoor ice racing, and road race events at Terre Haute, Louisville Downs, Northville Downs, Toledo, Troy, Dayton, Columbus, Atlanta's Lakewood Park, Indianapolis Fairgrounds, Indianapolis Raceway Park, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Daytona Speedway, and at tracks I just can't remember. None of these photos had seen the light of day since the mid '70's. I even forgot about them. One day in 1997 while searching the web I came across Wayne Hosaka's "The Flattrack Page" and noticed several old flattrack photos posted on his site. I contacted Wayne and told him of my photos. He was very enthusiastic and told me if I would scan a few of the photos, he would create a page for my pictures on his Web site. I have to give Wayne the credit for these pictures being on the Web because seeing the black and white images of my photos on his site gave me the inspiration to dig out the old photos and build my own Web site. During my time as a photo/journalist, I'll have to say, flattrack riders in the 1970's had the highest threshold of pain of any group of people I have ever been around. I've watched riders race with broken bones or soak-off a cast prior to a race. I even witnessed a rider unload during a heat race, transfer during the last chance qualifier, finish in the top ten during the main event, and get off the bike and ask how long until the main event. These photos reflect the dreams and egos of the Expert holding a National Number all the way down to the first race Novice. I hope you have enjoyed the photos. I had to jog my memory while scanning the photos to remember the names of some riders and the locations of some of the tracks. Luckily, I had scribbled notes on most of the slides and contact sheets. But, memories fade with time, and mistakes do happen. So, please report any inaccuracies in the brief descriptions of the photos using e-mail. If you, the reader, have any old flattrack/road race photos you would like to see on the internet, contact me using e-mail. Please take time to use the "Thunderplex Flattrack
Racing Forum". Thanks for taking the time,
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