Rolling history at vintage flat-track

With the Harley-Davidson Sportster as Vintage Motorcycle Days' Featured Marque this year, who better to race at Friday night's vintage flat-track than the guy who wrote the book on the venerable V-twin icon?

That's right, out there in the thick of it in American Historic Racing Motorcycle Association flat-track racing is none other that motojournalist Allan Girdler, former Cycle World magazine editor and author of several books, including, fittingly enough,
"The Harley-Davidson Sportster."

A die-hard race fan, Girdler is aboard the racebike that the Sportster inspired, the XR750—his is a 1970 engine in a 1972 frame.

Girdler says he's glad to come out and wave the Sportster flag, but make no mistake, he’s just racing for fun. It was a point he drove home when he saw three-time Grand National Champion Jay Springsteen at the Ashland County Fairgrounds track.

"I said, 'You turkey, get out here and ride this thing,'" Girdler says, laughing.