A 50's Racing Story by Kenny Eggers,
told at the Antique Motorcycle Show in Dixon, on June 18, 2005.
Captured by Diana Hunt.

It was a dirt-track National race at Bay Meadows. Twenty miles with a staggered start. Each rider given the go-head in turn. It was 1951 and I was young and green, only having placed once before in a race. I had a 1949 black Harley Davidson with number 59. Just like the one here.

As I waited at the starting line for my turn to start, I noticed a big pool of gasoline at my feet. Two crew members rushed up and pulled the air filter off to see what was wrong. One crew member had his back to the starting racers, dangerous, but he was young and green, too. They got the bike going just in time for my start.

With that pool of gas, I knew I had little chance to finish this race. I decided just to have a good time. I turned up the throttle to clean the bike out. It sputtered and coughed black smoke for a few minutes before it cleaned itself out. I kept the throttle on full bore, just to enjoy the few minutes I figured I had left before the bike died. As I picked up speed, I began to pass the other racers. Since I was just having fun, I kept it full open all around the laps.

After awhile, the bike was running good and I was still passing the earlier drivers. Lap after lap, I kept running, waiting for the ax to fall. Pretty soon, I didn’t see any more racers. Now what?

I must have missed a black flag stopping the race. Felt like a fool. As I lapped past my crew in the pits, I sat up straight in the seat and shrugged my shoulders at them, saying what gives? Where is the race? They didn’t respond, at least that I could understand. So I kept riding full out.

Next lap, I again tried to get my crew to tell me what was happening. No response. I began to have the sinking feeling that I might just be winning this race. I saw two of my crew at the edge of the track with a stop watch. I kept running full out. On the next lap, one guy waved a green flag at me, grinning, so I kept going. Unbeknownst to me, he had been told wave me in as I was going too fast and the parts would be falling off the bike anytime now. They were afraid I’d get hurt.

In a few more laps, I began to pass riders again. As I came around to my pit area, I decided I’d better stop for gas. After the pitstop, I caught up and continued to lap the other drivers. As I pulled into the final, the guy ahead of me who was second in the race was being given the white flag - one more lap to go. Too late for him, I’d won it.

I still can’t believe I won that race. I had too much fun. I’ve won other races since then, but that one was the best time I had.