Don Emde
Memories of Daytona 1972 Part I - Midweek:
As riders in this year's Daytona 200 prepare for the historic event, I still recall the drama and tension in the air back 52 years ago.
Many of you have heard my stories through the years, but for those who haven't I'll share how Bike Week 1972 had been going for me so far. In those years, it truly was a Bike WEEK at the track. Monday and Tuesday were practice days for the the four pro classes: Novice, Amateur (later called Junior class), Expert plus a combined Amateur/Expert 250cc Lightweight event that ran the day before the 200. Wednesday was a day off for the non-pro Sportsman races, then Thursday (54 years ago today), it was qualifying day.
The 1972 race would be my second Daytona 200. The previous year I finished 3rd riding for the BSA factory, but a cutback of company budgets put me and five other BSA/Triumph riders out of a job with only about 90 days to go before Daytona. All other factory rides were taken by then, so I went back to ride for Mel Dinesen, a Yamaha dealer from Bakersfield.
I had much success riding for Mel in 1969 and '70, including the AFM National Roadracing title in 1969 and a 250cc National victory over Gary Nixon and Cal Rayborn at Talladega in 1970. So I was confident that my return to Mel Dinesen Yamahas would give me a chance to do better at Daytona than I had done on the BSA.
My confidence grew even more when I had a chance to ride the new six-speed Yamaha 350cc at an AFM race at Willow Springs about a month before Daytona. It was like old times and I won the Open class race there for 350-750cc machines, just like I would be racing against at Daytona.
There wasn't a lot of information being published about what Suzuki and Kawasaki were up to for Daytona, other than reports that both teams would be on three-cylinder 750cc two-strokes which were rumored to be hitting 175 mph in tests in Japan.
I wasn't really sure how fast the Yamahas would run, but there was something about having a six-speed gearbox that made me think we could gear the Yamaha to run in their slipstream around the banking and then I could pass them in the infield.
By the time I got to Daytona, my confidence in a victory had built from thinking I COULD win the race to I WILL win the race. I told that story many times how I had that feeling sink in twice before-- when I won the 250cc race at Talladega and at the Amateur Final at the AMA dirt track National at Oklahoma City in 1970.
When I got to Daytona, I put my confidence to use on Monday morning when I went to the Dunlop tire guys to get the tires we'd need that week. As a BSA factory rider the year before, it was understood that Dunlop would provide our tires. But Dunlop Race Manager Paul Butler told me that unfortunately his budget limited him to only supplying factory teams with tires and we'd need to buy our tires.
That was no good, and I told Paul, "Listen, I am going to win this race. And I'll make you a deal. If I win, Dunlop supplies Mel Dinesen with tires for the whole season." Paul had a "cat that ate the canary" look on his face, I guess thinking that me and the other 40 or so 350cc Yamaha riders had no chance against the big 750s, and Paul said, "okay, its a deal." So my confidence helped me pass my first obstacle getting set to win on Sunday.
Practice started Monday afternoon and I soon found out that the 350cc Yamahas would run about 165 mph around the banking (no chicane in those years) and the 750cc Suzuki and Kawasaki two-stokes and two Yoshimura Honda four-strokes were all topping out at 175. That meant that from the point where I left the infield to go on to the banking all the way around 2.5 miles to the entrance to Turn 1, those 750s all gained two seconds every lap.
I never lost the feeling that I wasn't going to win on Sunday, but my confusion with that was not understanding exactly how this was going to play out. Late in the day I been on the track a few times and Mel and I decided we had enough track time to skip the final practice, as did many of the riders, but I went out to Pit Lane to see what was on and spotted the Suzuki team still running. And the Dunlop guys were there on the pit wall, and there was a problem.
I learned from Paul Butler that both Suzuki and Kawasaki had been so secretive about their new 750s that not even Dunlop had been allowed to a part of their testing in Japan. And while short runs around a twisty test track in Japan might not have signaled any tire problems, the g-forces of a 2.5 mile run around the steep banking at Daytona was a big problem. The 750s were shredding rubber much too quickly for Dunlop to be sure if the bikes would run 200 miles--and strangely, in those years there were no tire changes made in the race. The tires we started with needed to go the distance.
Paul Butler, the same guy who on Monday thought I had no chance to win--was the one telling me he didn't see how those 750s could go the distance. In my head, I am now thinking "Okay, I get it. The 750s won't finish, and I just have to beat those other Yamahas. I can do that."
After two days of practice and trying some different things, Dunlop finally had to give Suzuki and Kawasaki the bad news. At the risk of a major blowout in the banking (which happened to Barry Sheen a few years later), Dunlop could not allow them run their tire and Dunlop was essentially pulling out.
Rather than withdraw from the race, Suzuki and Kawasaki talked to Goodyear, who offered to supply them and they felt they could solve the problem. So by Thursday, the 750s were all on treaded Goodyear Blue Streak race tires with Art Baumann winning the pole position for the race for Suzuki with the 8 other 750s sprinkled in the first three rows amongst a few 350cc Yamahas and 500cc Suzuki twins.
A strong wind off the ocean had come up that day and Mel and I missed getting the right gearing and jetting setup for that one lap run and I qualified a few more rows back.
I was now set with the 350 for Sunday's 200-mile race, but Friday was day that other racing started. They ran the Novice and Amateur Finals that day and the two Heat races for the Saturday's 100-mile race for the 250s.
Everything went fine for me that day. The 250cc class was split into two groups and I won my heat race ahead of rookie Kenny Roberts and the rest. Kenny hadn't ridden that many road races yet, so even though he wasn't quite "King Kenny" yet, he was riding really well and I knew he'd be one of the riders to beat both Saturday and Sunday. I went into the weekend full of confidence for both races.