Historic Moto Gran Prix debuts with SVRA at Amelia Island GP

ABOVE: Mike Hodgson (39) Honda CB-750

A big part of the revival theme at this weekend's SportsCar Vintage Racing Association Amelia Island Gran Prix included historic motorcycle racers in the mix – a first for an SVRA race meet. The natural partner for such an endeavor is former American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) Pro racer Bill Brown's Historic Moto Gran Prix association known simply as HMGP Racing. Brown founded the organization in 2007 and has a vision of expansion.

"I have wanted to see an American festival of speed like what you find in Goodwood," Brown explains. "Our group is more about riding than racing. Yes, our guys like to go fast but we don't really race as much as provide a place for camaraderie, for riding fast and displaying the bikes you have a passion for."

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Brown (LEFT), who became hooked on motorcycles, riding and racing as a teenager when his father took him to the Daytona 200 at age 15 in 1963, has committed his life to two wheels. Soon after that fateful Daytona 200 Brown was club racing Suzukis, a 250-X6 and later an AS-100 two-stoke. By the mid-1970s he was on an ex-factory team Yamaha TZ-350 and began two years of entry-level professional competition with the WERA motorcycle sanctioning body, where many professional riders still get their career rolling. It is also an organization that HMGP Racing builds much of its annual schedule around today.

Brown raced AMA Pro for several years from the mid 1970's into the 1980's. Sometime after a serious accident in a Daytona 200 Brown shifted his focus from moto racing as a rider to the business and promotion side of the sport. He was event coordinator at Road Atlanta and worked on that track's first Big Kahuna event, a landmark gathering of riders. After a career of 40 years in the business and an expanding collection of motorcycles Brown conceived of Historic Moto Gran Prix, or HMGP Racing - the legal name it trades on today.

"I still wanted a place to ride my bikes and it occurred to me that there had to be a lot of people like me that felt the same way," Brown explains. "The result is HMGP Racing.

The reality, though, is that we are more a collectors club than a racing organization."

You can take Brown's word for it, but standing trackside you would not guess the riders are just about collecting. They go fast. They lean in the corners, set other bikes up on exit and twist the throttle to make a pass. Like the vintage racers in their cars it's called "nine-tenths," but they are plenty quick enough to scare themselves occasionally – and generate some chatter, gasps and cheers among onlookers.

As for collecting, there is plenty of that and Brown is right in the thick of it, reporting that he has never sold any of his racing bikes. He has 15 bikes at home with "tons" of spare parts. Brown also owns a very special machine any auto racing aficionado has to take an interest in. The bike is a 1971 All American Racers Eagle (RIGHT) – complete with a graphic featuring the distinctive bird's racy-looking beak – designed by none other than Dan Gurney.

The Gurney bike is the only road racer the auto racing icon ever created and its rider – Chuck Palmgren – helped him design and construct it. The chrome moly tube chassis is hand-built. It is powered by a Yamaha XS-650 engine and uses an exhaust system from the team's 1967 Formula One car. Palmgren, an AMA Hall of Fame rider, still works with Gurney and is developing the AAR Alligator motorcycles that have generated some media buzz.

The HMGP Racing paddock at the Fenandina course was robust with 30 bikes, 19 of them taking to the track. The others, such as the AAR bike, were on display. Most of the bikes were of 1980s and 1990s vintage with a few from the '70s in the mix. Although none were on hand this weekend some HMGP Racing members have bikes dating back to the 1940s. Maintenance and the availability of parts limits their running time, according to Brown.

There was a healthy array of sponsor tents in the HMGP paddock as well, with Yamaha leading the way (LEFT: Jimmy Clark on a Yamaha TZ-250). Others included Dunlop and Arai helmets. Steve Liberatore, Yamaha's southeast regional business manager, is a believer in HMGP Racing and sees the potential of the SVRA Amelia Island Gran Prix.

"Obviously we activate around major professional series like AMA Supercross but we run with HMGP as well," Liberatore explains. "Yamaha likes to show its history and with the Historics we reach a different customer. It's not just our bikes. The SVRA is using our generators for example. We also have golf carts and scooters. We have a lot of people touching our products this weekend."

Liberatore understands what it takes to build an event. Like any sponsor he assess value constantly.

"We're watching the gate," he says. "This is a first year so I think we have reasonable expectations. I like what I see so far, especially since the weather forecast has called for rain. A big part of the reason we came here is that racing and its history is a big part of Yamaha culture. The company's first motorcycle was the YA-1 in 1955. The first thing they did was enter it in a race – and it won."

The SVRA already has plans to bring the Amelia Island Gran Prix back to Fernandina next year and HMGP Racing boss Brown says he will be return. He also hopes to expand the relationship with SVRA and the vintage auto racing sanctioning body's impressive schedule of tracks makes it attractive. Brown believes tracks like VIR and Mid-Ohio are in particularly appealing markets. For Brown, though, Fernandina is a special place.

"I won a Florida GP Riders Association 100cc race here back in 1967," he says with a smile no doubt born of a fond memory. "It was on my Suzuki AS-100."

True to his love of motorcycles and their history, Brown still owns the bike.