Larry Coleman (motorcyclist)

Last updated

Larry Coleman is the most successful sidecar roadracer in the United States, winning three American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) national championships ('76, '77, '79), and a land-speed record holder in sidecar divisions. He was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2010. [1]

Stationed in Germany with the military in the late 1960s, Coleman in fall of 1968 founded a motorcycle club with fellow US soldiers, named "Bones MC", [2] after a MAD magazine cartoon with a cigarette in a skeleton hand. The club, originally based at Frankfurt, predates the first German charter of the Hells Angels, founded 1973 in Hamburg, by several years. The Bones also accepted German members, expanded to Mannheim and other cities, and became the largest MC in Germany. With US members returning after their service, Germans took over, and the Bones MC turned into an "outlaw motorcycle club", until in 1999 16 of the 21 chapters merged ("patch-over") with the smaller Hells Angels MC of Germany.

Watching the 1969 German motorcycle Grand Prix at Hockenheimring, Coleman got hooked to sidecars and sidecar racing, riding a BMW R69S with sidecar. Upon returning to the States, Coleman raced a Kawasaki H1 Mach III 500cc sidecar with passenger Wendell Andrews with immediate success in American Federation of Motorcyclists (AFM) and AMA racing, missing the AMA Championship in 1973 at Laguna Seca by finishing runner up. In 1974, Coleman/Andrews imported a state-of-the-art sidecar racing chassis from England, installed a Suzuki GT750 engine, and dominated both AFM and AMA racing for the next several years, winning two AMA national Championships in 1976–77.

After Andrews retired from racing in late 1977, Coleman teamed up with Mark Bevans to contest and win the AMA Championship in 1979. The team built a new chassis for 1980, powered by a Yamaha TZ750, and won the sidecar support race at the 1981 Formula1 Long Beach Grand Prix, which put the team on the cover of Cycle News, as well as earning them articles in Cycle World Magazine, American Motorcyclist and other publications. At the end of the 1981 season, Coleman retired from full-time sidecar racing to pursue a career in the motorcycle industry, where he held sales manager positions with Kal Gard Lubricants, Supertrapp Industries, and K&N Filters.

In 1988, Coleman started to compete at the Bonneville Salt Flats with a racing sidecar. He holds since 2011 an Bonneville Motorcycle Speed Trials AMA national record with a 1350cc Suzuki sidecar at 158.2 mph. At one time he had as many as four records, one of which stood for 17 years. The top was 174 mph.

Related Research Articles

Randy Mamola American motorcycle racer

Randy Mamola is an American former professional Grand Prix motorcycle road racer who is a 13-time Premier Class race winner. He was one of the most charismatic Grand Prix motorcycle riders of his generation, becoming a favourite because of his interaction with race fans both on and off the track as well as his aggressive and spirited riding style.

Erv Kanemoto American motorcycle mechanic

Erv Kanemoto is an American former Grand Prix motorcycle mechanic and motorcycle race team owner. He was one of the most successful motorcycle racing tuners and race team crew chiefs of the 1970s through the early 2000s, working with motorcycle racers who won two national championships and six world championships. He is best known for his association with motorcycle racers Gary Nixon and Freddie Spencer.

Roger De Coster Belgian motorcycle racer

Roger De Coster is a Belgian former professional motocross racer and current Motorsport Director of KTM and Husqvarna North America. De Coster's name is almost synonymous with the sport of motocross, winning five Motocross World Championships during the 1970s and tallying a record 36 500cc Grand Prix victories. His stature is such in the sport of motocross that he is often simply referred to as "The Man." As a team manager, he captained the first American team to win the Motocross des Nations in 1981. De Coster was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1999. The motorcycling publication Cycle News named him Motocrosser of the Century in 2000. In 2010, he was named an FIM Legend for his motorcycling achievements.

1978 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season Sports season

The 1978 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season was the 30th F.I.M. Road Racing World Championship season.

Pat Hennen American motorcycle racer

Pat Hennen is an American former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. He is notable for being the first American to win a 500 cc World Championship race, the 1976 500cc Finnish Grand Prix. Competing as a non-factory rider, he finished third overall in the GP World Championship standings that season, only 2 points behind runner-up Tepi Länsivuori and fellow Suzuki factory rider Barry Sheene.

Rickman Motorcycles

Rickman Motorcycles was a British, independent motorcycle chassis constructor established by brothers Derek and Don Rickman. The firm manufactured motorcycles from 1960 through to 1975.

Salzburgring Racing track in Austria

The Salzburgring is a 4.241 km (2.635 mi) motorsport race track located in Plainfeld, east of Salzburg.

Ossa (motorcycle) Spanish motorcycle manufacturer

Ossa was a Spanish motorcycle manufacturer which was active from 1924 to 1982 and from 2010 to 2015. Founded by Manuel Giró, an industrialist from Barcelona, Ossa was best known for lightweight, two-stroke-engined bikes used in observed trials, motocross and enduro. The company was known originally as Orpheo Sincronic Sociedad Anónima (O.S.S.A.) and was later renamed Maquinaria Cinematográfica, S.A..

Chris Carr (motorcyclist) American motorcycle racer

Chris Carr is an American motorcycle dirt-track racer and seven-time winner of the A.M.A. Grand National Championship. He has also competed as a motorcycle road racer at the national level and was a motorcycle land speed world record holder.

Gary Nixon American motorcycle racer

Gary Nixon was an American professional motorcycle racer who most notably won the A.M.A. Grand National Championship in 1967 and 1968 as a member of the Triumph factory racing team. He was also the winner of the 1967 Daytona 200 motorcycle race on a 500cc Triumph Daytona.

Marty Smith was an American professional motocross racer. He competed in the AMA Motocross Championships from 1974 to 1981, most prominently as a member of the Honda factory racing team with whom he won three AMA National Motocross championships. With his long hair and Southern California surfer looks, he was a popular figure among race fans.

Doug Polen American motorcycle racer

Doug Polen is an American former professional motorcycle road racer. Polen was a dominant national and world champion road racer in the late 1980s and early 1990s, culminating with his Superbike world championships in 1991 and 1992. He raced successfully in AMA Superbike, Japanese Superbike Championship, Superbike World Championship and endurance racing. Polen was inducted to the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2011.

Steve Baker (motorcyclist) American motorcycle racer

Steve Baker is an American former professional Grand Prix motorcycle roadracer. He is notable for being the first American to win a road racing world championship when he won the 1977 Formula 750 title.

Yvon Duhamel was a French Canadian professional motorcycle and snowmobile racer. A six-time winner of the White Trophy, the highest award in Canadian motorcycle racing, he was one of the most accomplished motorcycle racers in Canadian motorsports history. Duhamel was a versatile rider competing in numerous motorcycle racing disciplines including; trials, motocross, ice racing, drag racing, flat track racing and most prominently in road racing as a member of the Kawasaki factory racing team. His motorcycle racing career spanned the transition from the 60 horsepower four-stroke motorcycles of the 1960s, to the 100 horsepower two-stroke motorcycles of the 1970s. Even when Duhamel's motorcycle had a top speed advantage, he never slowed to conserve his machine, which led to spectacular crashes or mechanical failures as often as it led to race victories. Duhamel's reputation as a tenacious competitor with an aggressive riding style earned him the respect of other racers and made him popular with racing fans.

Mike Baldwin is an American former professional motorcycle road racer. He was a top contender in AMA Superbike racing during the 1980s who also competed in Grand Prix motorcycle racing. Baldwin was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2001.

Outline of motorcycles and motorcycling Overview of and topical guide to motorcycles and motorcycling

The following outline is provided as an overview of motorcycles and motorcycling:

American Flat Track

American Flat Track is an American motorcycle racing series. The racing series, founded and sanctioned by the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) in 1954, originally encompassed five distinct forms of competitions including mile dirt track races, half-mile, short-track, TT steeplechase and road races. The championship was the premier motorcycle racing series in the United States from the 1950s up until the late 1970s.

Rolf Steinhausen German motorcycle racer

Rolf Steinhausen is a German former motorcycle racer, winner of two Sidecar World Championships.

Joe Petrali American motorcycle racer

"Smokey'" Joe Petrali was an American motorcycle racer, active in the 1920s and 1930s. Petrali was a Class A racing champion who competed in board-track and dirt-track racing circuits, speed records, and hillclimbs. Petrali won a record 49 American Motorcyclist Association national championship races, with his last coming on August 29, 1937. The record stood for 55 years until broken by Scott Parker in 1992.

Bonneville Motorcycle Speed Trials

Bonneville Motorcycle Speed Trials (BMST) is a motorcycle land speed racing event, held annually at Bonneville Speedway, US. The event is sanctioned by American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) and Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). AMA-certified US National land speed records, and FIM-certified Land speed world records are created in this event. The event features motorcycles ranging from 50-cc to 3000-cc, as well as electric classes.

References

  1. "AMA Motorcycle Museum Hall of Fame | Larry Coleman". hof.motorcyclemuseum.org. Retrieved 2022-02-26.
  2. "MC Bones ein Bericht von Winni Scheibe". winni-scheibe.com. Retrieved 2022-02-26.