A superb and rare photo of the great Scott Parker in full action on his 1991 Harley-Davidson XR 750 factory racing bike. He would WIN the Grand National Championship with the photographed bike! The 1991 season was a great season for Scott Parker, as he matched Carroll Resweber’s long-standing record of four consecutive championships, exactly 30 years after Resweber completed his four-year sweep!
Dirt track racing is a tough and demanding game. These days, but in the past as well. Its practitioners are a hearty breed. They have a few heroes, Scott Parker is definitely one of them. Before he went professional he was one of the most dominant forces ever in amateur racing. In 1979, aged 17, he became the youngest rider ever to gain eligibility for the A.M.A. Camel Pro Series Dirt Track racing. He won two Nationals during his rookie season. He gained a reputation as a fearless competitor who was almost impossible to beat when everything clicked. He won the AMA Grand National Championship in 1989, 1990 and 1991 (SEE PHOTO!). The 1991 season was especially noteworthy in that he matched Carroll Resweber’s long-standing record of four consecutive championships, exactly 30 years after Resweber completed his four-year sweep. At the Indy Mile that year, Parker surpassed fellow Flint native Jay Springsteen as the all-time win leader in AMA Grand National history with his 41st career victory. In 1999 he ended his active racing career. In total he won no less then 93 races and 9 Grand National Championship titles!
The Harley-Davidson XR 750 racing motorcycle was made since
1970, primarily for dirt track racing, but also for road racing in the XRTT
variant. The XR750 was designed in response to a 1969 change in AMA Grand
National Championship rules that leveled the playing field for makes other than
Harley-Davidson, allowing Japanese and British motorcycles to outperform the
previously dominant Harley-Davidson KR race bike. The XR-750 went on to become
the winningest race bike in the history of American Motorcyclist Association
(AMA) racing. The XR-750 is associated with the careers of racers Mark
Brelsford, Cal Rayborn, and Jay Springsteen, and was the favorite motorcycle of
stunt performer Evel Knievel. An XR-750 was included in the 1998 The Art of the
Motorcycle exhibition, and one of Knievel's bikes is in the Smithsonian's
National Museum of American History America on the Move exhibit. The AMA Grand
National Championship Class C rules, introduced in 1933 and revised in 1954,
had an equivalency formula limiting flathead, or sidevalve, engines to 750 cc
(46 cu in) displacement, while more modern overhead valve (OHV)
engines could be a maximum of only 500 cc (31 cu in). Over time,
this displacement advantage kept the older flathead technology on the track and
discouraged a broader field of competitors. At least 200 homologated examples
of a model had to be built and made available to the public. The flathead
Harley-Davidson KR series had dominated Class C racing, but by the late 1960s
BSA, Norton and Triumph had little market for 500 cc OHV motorcycles, and there
was increasing pressure for a single displacement, without reference to valve
configuration. The public was buying 650 cc (40 cu in) and
larger displacement British bikes, and they would prove to be competitive,
given the chance. With the British marques gaining influence in the AMA, in
1969 new rules were established that there would be one maximum displacement
for dirt track racing, 750 cc, with no regard for valve type, though the
500/750 OHV/sidevalve split was kept for the time being in road racing. OHV
engines began to dominate racing, in spite of Mert Lawwill's efforts to delay
the inevitable on his flathead Harleys, and the KR bikes were a decade out of
date and could no longer compete. With limited time and money in 1969,
Harley-Davidson's racing manager Dick O'Brien and his team used elements of
existing designs to put together a new OHV racer. The iron cylinder, aluminum
head 748 cc (45.6 cu in) V-twin four-speed engine of 1970 was
based on the mass production Sportster XL dating to 1952, but with modified
heads and cylinders, a magneto instead of generator, and improved oiling. The
frame and the running gear were held over from the KRTT racer, with a Ceriani
front fork and two Girling rear shocks. The fuel tank, fenders, and rear
seat/fender combination were fiberglass, with a snap down seat cover over a
foam cushion. To comply with AMA homologation rules, two hundred examples were
made yearly, and could be had upon request at Harley-Davidson dealers, at a
price of US$ 3,200, which today with inflation would be about US$ 18,099. Not
unlike other Harley-Davidson engines, the unit construction left and right
engine cases split vertically, and formed four cavities: a center front
crankcase, a center rear gearbox, a right side cavity gearcase for the timing
train, where the four camshafts are housed, and a left cavity for the three row
primary drive chain. A row of four camshafts had also been used on the KR
racers, inherited from the sidevalve Model WL, and even earlier Model DL of
1929. While the single camshaft of other Harley-Davidson designs was cheaper to
manufacture, and quieter, four cams allowed better performance, such as greater
flexibility in adjusting the cam timing, and the short single camshafts are
durable, and give the pushrods a straigher path to the rocker arms. The road
racing version of the XR-750 used an aluminum oil tank, had a 6 US
gal (
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This is your rare chance to own this non period photo that reflects a very
interesting and historic piece of motorcycle history. Therefore it is printed
in a nice large format of ca. 8" x
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