Celebrating the Sportster

Few motorcycles have enjoyed as much cross-disciplinary success as the Harley-Davidson Sportster. Don’t believe it? Step into the Marque of the Year tent in the infield of the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course during AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days this weekend.

Among the more than 50 machines on display you’ll find everything from a 1953 KRM built for desert racing, to the 1968 KR campaigned by Bart Markel, to the XR750 that VMD co-Grand Marshal Jay “Springer” Springsteen currently campaigns in AHRMA road racing.

Customs, of course, are also well represented. Machines like the coffin-tanked chopper from Texas whose gold-flake livery looks as fresh as the day it was painted, even though that day was nearly 30 years ago. Or the 1993 “Classified” owned by Lichael Pandzik of Lenexa, Kansas, a Vincent look-alike built around a 1993 Sporty engine and chassis.

You’ll also spot pristine examples of some of the more unusual stock Sportsters, like other VMD co-Grand Marshal Willie G’s 1970 Boattail XLCH and 1977 XLCR, or the pristine 1957 Pepper Red and Black model—the first year to wear the now-famous Sportster moniker--brought up from North Carolina by Bryan and Allison Reece.

“Sportster people are not riding these bikes for any other reason than the love of the marque and the model,” said Exhibit Coordinator Vicki Smith. “It’s that passionate group of people that made this exhibit happen.”