Me and some of the guys that hung out at The Georgetown Cycle Shop, in Albuquerque, went to see one of the only AMA Grand National Dirt Track race ever held in Albuquerque. I'm not sure of the year, but I'm guessing it had to be about 1989. Billed as the First Annual Camel Pro Albuquerque Mile, the race was to take place at the New Mexico State Fair Grounds. I wasn't a big fan of dirt track racing. As a matter of fact, I thought it all looked kind of boring on TV. It turns out that I was wrong. The problem with dirt track racing is that it has to be experienced in person.
By the time we got to the track, practice had already started. We got some beers and made our way trackside. I stood not more than four feet from the track, about midway down the front straight. Not knowing what to expect, I was paying more attention to my plastic cup of over-priced draft beer. All of a sudden, a pink Harley Davidson XR750 thundered past me. It was so close I could smell the heat from the engine. The ground shook and I felt a rush of wind pull me toward the track. It was as if that pink Harley had punched out a hole in space and the air around me had rushed to fill the void. I was so overwhelmed by the slap of those combined sensations that I wasn't even sure what had just happened. But I did know that dirt track racing had my full attention now.
I stood with my eyes riveted to the far side of the track. I could make out the silhouette of that pink Harley. I wondered to myself, why is that guy riding a pink bike? And who in the heck is he? As the pink Harley entered the front straight, I pushed closer to the track. Every nerve in my body tensed with excitement I stared, eyes unblinking, at the tiny figure in the distance. In an instant the pink Harley was once again upon me. This time I saw that it was piloted by a rider with long braided hair blowing straight out from under a pink helmet. Bike and rider blasted past me in another overwhelming rush of mechanical commotion. In the instant that the pink blur sped past, it was as if the rider had reached out and whacked me on the chin, my head snapped sideways and I spun on my heels to follow pink trajectory as it blurred across my brain. That moment in time will remain etched in my fond memories forever.
What I had just experienced was Tammy Jo Kirk. The only women who ever achieved the rank of Expert in AMA dirt track. (This was written before Jen Snyder not only qualified, but rode a factory Harley and won a National.)
This story doesn't have a Disney ending. Tammy Jo didn't win the Albuquerque Mile, I think Scott Parker did. Tammy Jo did make the main event, and I for one was rooting for with all my might. After the race all my buddies were in the pits getting autographs from the likes of Scott Parker, Jay Springsteen, and Chris Carr. Not me, I missed all to those autographs. But I still have my Albuquerque Mile T-shirt... The one with Tammy Jo Kirk's autograph on it.
Just another rambling from an old dirt biker with more good memories than good sense.
wes baca; wesbaca.com; vintage dirt; vintagedirt; VintageDirt; maico; bultaco; cz; albuquerque; new mexico; dirt bikes; georgetown cycle shop;bob's motocross and kart shop;rick sieman; roland hinz; tammy jo kirk; jen snyder; albuquerque mile; and stuff like that.