Condition: This magazine is Better then excellent condition to Like new, with centerfold, with front and back Original cover mailer, still attached.
iron horse
For The Adult Motorcycle Enthusiast
Southern-Style Bikin' Bash
Tennessee "Hillbilly" Bike Drags
Whatsa Half-a-Sportster?
Iron Horse Goes Racing
Outrageous Women &
Righteous Fiction
Nov
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iron
horse
Features
IT'S ABOUT TIME..
RICKY GRAHAM
HILLBILLY DRAGS.
ACTS LIKE A HOG
LESTER...
OCTOBERFEST
FIRST RIDE...
HALF-A-SPORTSTER
IF ALL ELSE FAILS...
VOLUME 4 ISSUE 26 NOVEMBER 82
REUNION..
54
HE DID IT HIMSELF..
64
SHEILA.
82
MONUMENT.
88
Departments
BACK TALK
HIGH GEAR
TOOL BOX
SCOOTER ART
SCRAWLS OFF THE WALL...
PALADIN'S NOTEBOOK
WHAT A WAY TO GO
RUNNIN' FREE.....
HOT POINTS...
CLIPBOARD
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OWNER: Phil Ross
BUILDER: Rock & Roll
AREA: Gardena, Cali
ORIGINAL MANUFACTURER: Trump
YEAR: 1952
MODEL: 67-650
CHASSIS: Rock & Roll
FRAME: Triumph mounting brackets
YEAR: 1952/1978
BUILDER: Rock & Roll
STYLE: South Bay
ALTERATIONS: hand-fabricated
FRONT END
BUILDER: Phil Ross
STYLE: Dick Allen
SPECIAL FEATURES: rear legs, solid precision
shafting
MAJOR COMPONENTS
FENDERS
FRONT: none
REAR: 6-in. flat
GAS TANK: Hap Jones
OIL TANK: Steve Davis/one-off aluminum tank
SEAT: Space Dogs' Dog, leather
PEGS: swap meet
BRAKES
FRONT: none
REAR: Performance Machine
WHEELS
FRONT: Buchanan - 39 stainless spokes, 1 steel
REAR: Super Max/early
TIRES
FRONT: 3.00 x 17
REAR: 4:55 x 15
DRIVE LINE
TRANSMISSION: stock Triumph
SHIFTING: forward controls
PRIMARY DRIVE: chain
REAR WHEEL DRIVE: chain
ENGINE
YEAR: 1952
MODEL: 6T-650
REBUILDER: Jimmy Nelson
DISPLACEMENT: 650cc
LOWER END MODIFICATIONS: polished cases
TOP END MODIFICATIONS: none
OIL SYSTEM: hand built
CAM(S): Harmon & Collins
CARB(S): Mikuni/JRC/Orange County
AIR CLEANER: none
EXHAUST SYSTEM: Alphabet headers/Rock & Roll
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
WIRING: last night
HEADLIGHT: flood lamp
TAILLIGHT: 1952 Matchless/Lucas
IGNITION: BTH magneto
CHARGING: generator
FINISH
MOLDING: Custom House
MATERIAL: bondo
PAINTER: Custom House
SPECIAL PAINT: clear Imron over lacquer
SPECIAL MODIFICATIONS: Velda - Pre-
Polishing Inc. Final assembly by Perry of Flow Dynamics,
Oceano, Calif.
R
icky Graham, fast man on the
tron Horse team, didn't mind
one bit when the Winston Pro
Circuit one-mile record he set
two years ago was shattered at Spring-
field this spring.
Why should he? He broke it himself.
By the time they posted that record-
setting Springfield win (101.860 mph
avg.), Graham and his Tex Peel-prepared
Harley XR750 were smashing a lot more
than speed marks; with six straight in-
the-money finishes and a 30-point lead in
the championship standings, they were
breaking the hearts of a starting grid full
of erstwhile competitors.
You didn't expect us to sponsor a back
marker, did you?
When Iron Horse decided to go racing,
the commandment the boss laid down
was that we find a fast team to represent
the magazine and you, its readers. Rac-
ing is like poker: some days you can't
win for losing. Engines blow, tires shred,
guys lose it right in front of you. Nobody
can guarantee a win, or even a finish.
Still, the top teams are always competi-
tive, and it was a top team we were
determined to put our bucks on. Another
requirement: We wanted to back a rider
I who had little or no factory support. We.
and you, are a bunch of independent
cusses, and we wanted our racing effort
to reflect that fierce individualism.
Surveying the field at the beginning of
this season, the Ricky Graham-Tex Peel
a gumball machine
white sedan. Two
combo stood.out
on top of a black
years ago the you
uthern California
16
Iron Horse
----------- 2 -----------
rider and the legendary Michigan tuner
were one of the hottest teams on the cir-
cuit; they took firsts in the Indy Mile and
the Tulsa Half-Mile and finished third in
the overall championship standings.
The next year, Ricky, finding Tex's
Flint, Michigan, shop a bit too far
removed from California's beached
blondes, signed with Ron Wood. Though
Wood always fields a first-class ride,
Ricky could never find as much speed in
his frames as he could in the Mert Law-
will frames that Peel uses. The season
was, to put it mildly, a disappointment.
Rickey's highest finish was a third and, to
add injury to insult, he broke two ribs
and a shoulder in an August fall.
At the beginning of '82, Ricky and Tex
were back together and ready to take on
the world. So were we.
So, as we sit back to enjoy a beer and
wait for the rest of the Winson Pro
Championship Series to end at the final
race at Ascot in Gardena, Calif., here's a
tip of the ol' beer mug to Ricky Graham,
winner of the Winston halfway point
The Editors
trophy, leader of the pack.
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Hillbilly
Drags
"Y
the
ou boys follow me!" yeral
furious county sheriff.
times before, Sheriff Hicky had
caught a bunch of "the good ol' boys"
drag racing motorcycles out on one of
the few straight stretches of county
roads. Red-faced and gritting his teeth,
he had run them off and even slapped
tickets on a few unfortunates who just
happened to be caught in the act of
smokin' tires at the wrong time.
Hell, in this small rural community just
on the outskirts of Chattanooga, Tennes-
see, Sheriff Hicky knew most of the bros
on a first-name basis; they weren't trou-
ble makers, just fun-lovin' bikers with a
thirst for competition.
Larry Branan, one of the twenty-five or
so draggers caught in the act, remem-
bers the day well. "The sheriff was real
mad. He was really pissed off by all
the drag-racin' and rubber-peelin', and
especially by the bros blockin' off the
as a safety move.
road. He didn't see blockin' the highway
"That day, instead of writin' a bunch of
tickets, or runnin' us off as he'd done
before, he just yelled, "You boys follow
me! It looked like a funeral procession as
he led away the mixed bunch of cycles.
We all thought we were goin' to jail and
the sheriff wasn't doin' much talkin'."
Miles farther out in the sticks, the sheriff
made a surprise turn onto an old section
of a closed road and parked.
With his index finger flailing in the air
he exclaimed, "This is your damn motor-
cycle drag strip. Keep it clean and take
care of it. It's yours as long as I don't find
black tire marks on any county roads
around here if I do, I'll take it back."
The captured group of bikers he'd led
over to this closed stretch of road
became an association who not only take
care of the 8-mile track, but are also
quick to tell an outsider the rules of rid-
----------- 5 -----------
OCTOBERFEST
"11
ey, bro-it's time to
party."
"What the hell do you
mean, party?" I asked, a tankful of
surly in my voice. "How can we
party out here in the middle of
nowhere, in a rainstorm that's puttin'
wrinkles in my cases?"
We'd been ridin' for what seemed
like weeks, and ever since we hit the
flatlands back in Kansas or
Nebraska or someplace like that, the
sky had been dumpin' on us like it
was tryin' to tell us to trade in the
scoots on an ark.
"I mean, that line of humps up
there ahead is the Ozarks, and that's
where the party is. If you can get
your butt back on your scoot, we
can be there in an hour."
While we were talkin' the rain
slacked off for the first time in days,
and I began to think that maybe the
dummy knew what he was talkin'
about. So I climbed out from under
the tree that had been makin' like a
leaky umbrella, and like the song
says, got my motor runnin'.
Sure as a skunk stinks, half and
hour later we were passin' through
the gate into a farmer's back sixty-
nine, or somethin' like that, and in
front of us were more scoots than I
wanted to try countin', there for the
annual Missouri Octoberfest a
party the Freedom of Road Riders.
(FORR) put on to hustle bucks for
the fight against the state lid law.
"What the hell's goin' on?" I
yelled.
"Whadda ya mean?" someone
yelled back. "Ain't nothin' goin' on
'cept the same ol' crap. If ya can't
dig it, split!"
I looked over at the dude who'd
answered my question, and won-
dered what mountain he'd climbed
down from and where Dan'l
Boone was, now that we needed.
him. I guess the dude must have
been a biker, 'cause he was sittin' on
a sharp scooter; but if he was, then
his mamma was a bear and his ol'
man was king of the grizzlies. All I
could see was bone, muscle, and
fifty miles of hair and a bucketful
of temptin' beer.
"We're runnin' outta beer," I said,
not yellin' this time 'cause I didn't
want to take a chance that he had
one of them hairs crossways. Even
his teeth looked like they had hair.
"We can't be runnin' outta beer,"
someone else said. "We've got a
whole tanker truck full." What he
said was true. The FORR people had
lined up a righteous tanker, filled it
with brew, and even made sure there
were taps right in the side of the
tank to keep the mugs full. But what
I'd said was true, too. Only two days
into the party, and that righteous
OWNER: Micah McCloskey's Custom Cycle
BUILDER: Micah McCloskey's Custom Cycle
AREA: Canoga Park, Calit.
ORIGINAL MANUFACTURER:
Harley-Davidson
YEAR: 1979
MODEL: XLS
CHASSIS
FRAME: Paughco Sportster
YEAR: 1979
BUILDER: Paughco
STYLE: rigid
ALTERATIONS: none
FRONT END
BUILDER: Harley-Davidson/McCloskey's Cycle
STYLE: Sportster Glide
SPECIAL FEATURES: Expert Cycle tubes
MAJOR COMPONENTS
FENDERS
FRONT: modified Sportster
REAR: reworked flat.
GAS TANK: Sportster
OIL TANK: Paughco
SEAT: Gary Bang
PEGS: stock
BRAKES
FRONT: H-D disc
REAR: H-D disc
WHEELS
FRONT: Harley-Davidson mag
REAR: Harley-Davidson mag
TIRES
FRONT: Goodyear
REAR: Goodyear
DRIVE LINE
TRANSMISSION: stock
SHIFTING: foot
PRIMARY DRIVE: chain
REAR WHEEL DRIVE: chain
ENGINE
YEAR: 1979
MODEL: Sportster
REBUILDER: Micah McCloskey
DISPLACEMENT: 68 cu-in
LOWER END MODIFICATIONS Balanced
S&S 4% in. wheels. S&S pistars
TOP END MODIFICATIONS onli
OIL SYSTEM: dry, sume
CAM(S): Andrew, R
CARB(S); modified
AIR CLEANERS &
EXHAUST SYSTEMS
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
WIRING: Micah McCloske
HEADLIGHT: R-D
TAILLIGHT: Gary Bang
IGNITION: battery cou
CHARGING: generalat
FINISH
MOLDING: Bob Brouett
MATERIAL: bondo
PAINTER: Bob Brouett
SPECIAL PAINT: acrylic enamel
SPECIAL MODIFICATIONS: stainless lines