FLORIDA FAMILY TO RACE OLD INDIAN MOTORCYCLES MOND

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FLORIDA FAMILY TO RACE OLD INDIAN MOTORCYCLES MONDAY JUNE 11

The FIM / NAMU North American Vintage Road Race Championships will be held Monday June 11 at the New Hampshire International Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire. The FIM is the international motorcycling governing body and NAMU is the North American combined affiliates of Canada’s CMA, the United States’ AMA, and Bermuda’s federation. Top vintage race competitors from all parts of the United States and Canada will be coming to the speedway to compete for the internationally recognized titles that are on the line Monday.
Of great interest Monday will be the Tank Shifter Class C event for the pre 1950 Harley Davidson and Indian motorcycles. These machines were the backbone of American Class C racing into the early 1950’s. The tank shifter name is derived from the fact that the gear shifter is located on the side of the gas tank and not as foot shift like motorcycles of today. In order to shift gears while racing, the rider has to take his hand off the handlebars. This makes for some interesting and very exciting racing through the turns as the rider wrestles to steer a large motorcycle with one hand while shifting gears with the other hand.
For Monday’s race, Doc Batsaleer from Daytona, Florida will assemble a full and very competitive grid of these old machines for the North American Vintage Championships. Doc is one of the prime movers in the revival of this class nationally in vintage racing. Doc travels the country racing his old bikes and puts on a thrilling race exhibitions of broad sliding these old machines in a shower of sparks as they were ridden when they were new. For the past three years Doc has competed in the Streets of Laconia event and the FIM / NAMU Championships at NHIS.
Though there will unfortunately be no Streets of Laconia event this year, Doc will be coming from Florida for the Monday event with a very unique team of three Indian racers. For the first time ever in the history of Indian race machines and tank shifters for that matter, there will be team comprised completely of his family. Doc’s wife Marie and their 15 year old daughter Andrea will be competing on his all Indian tank shifter team. Challenging his team for the winner’s circle will be riders from Florida, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Massachusetts.
Vintage racing action starts at 9am. The Class C Tank Shifter race is scheduled to start at 12:30 followed by the sidecars and then a full afternoon of close racing action on the 1.6-mile road course.

Contact:
John Strempfer
United States Classic Racing Association Richmond NH
603-496-9964


JS