Before 1970 Mert Lawwill was certainly well known in motorcycle racing circles as he had already established himself as one of the best guys in the country. Riding for the Harley-Davidson factory team for basically the length of his entire career, the dude was a bonafide monster on flat tracks of any distance you could imagine. His life changed dramatically in 1970 as he was one of the riders featured in the classic film “On Any Sunday” that had him in the same company as the likes of Steve McQueen, Malcolm Smith and other well known riders. While he had a bit of a dry spell when the film crews were with him, that was the exception and not the rule during his career. He is in the AMA Motorcycle hall of fame (and has been since 1998) due to his career accomplishments.
As you will see in this video, flat track motorcycle racing is not a sport for the faint of hard or scrotum deficient. There are some glorious slides and drifts featured here but there are also some huge and horribly painful looking crashes as well. With the only protection being the leathers on his back and the skill to stay on the bike, the flat track motorcycle racer is a rare and tough breed indeed. Speeds are high, especially on the mile long tracks that allow racers to approach turns at essentially WOT. This video will really have you smiling when you watch just how good these riders are and just how quickly it all goes bad when a mistake is made.
It should be noted that Lawwill retired in the late 1970s after ear problems cost him his balance and ability to be competitive. He became world famous for his bicycle suspension systems and designs and he has actually worked with another guy to design a patent for a prosthetic hand that would allow motorcycle riders that lost their hand to ride again. Amazing, right?
We’re guessing that lots of this footage was either used in clips and snips in the movie or it may have been in a promotional reel. The bottom line is that you’ll watch this with its soundtrack by the Stooges and dig it hard. Every second of this one is worth your attention. Awesome stuff.
Now that is racing and he was awesome