Fast Eddie: a short film about a lifelong passion

I get this way every year around Australia Day when the International Challenge is held at Phillip Island because I have a fair idea about what could have been, if we'd done things slightly differently.
When I see such things as the Barry Sheene at Goodwood and the Lansdowne Series and compare them with what happens here, we look totally inadequate. Our guys seem incapable of standing back a bit and improving. One of the things which was said a few years ago was that MotoGP would kill road racing for the ordinary guy in Australia. I don't know if that is true. But a few years ago racing was almost affordable and there were many more meetings. It costs a bomb to go to the Phillip Island meeting as a spectator,and absolutely too much to race there. At least with MotoGP, there is TV coverage.

Al its cheaper to ride on the road than go racing, you just need rego and insurance and you can ride when ever you want, if you are to afraid to ride on the road then you should give up riding altogether, most of my riding friends are all over 60 now and we all been riding together for over 45 years with out not having a bike to ride on the road and I can tell you we all ride very hard and push ourself's and our bikes to the limits, but only in places we know and away from the fun police, we are law abiding seniors

Ashley

Time Warp said:

http://www.motorcyclemuseum.org/halloffame/detail.aspx?RacerID=171

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Ed Fisher was one of the leading national road racers of the 1950s. Fisher won the Laconia Classic in 1953
....
His biggest win came at Laconia in 1953. In the closest race in the history of the event, the top four riders finished within three seconds of each other. It took hours of checking and rechecking scoring tabulations after the race before Fisher was determined winner. Even then the race was protested and he was not officially credited with the victory until December during the AMA competition committee meetings.

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"History Of Laconia Motorcycle Week"

http://www.weirsbeach.com/Largejpgs/bikeweekguidecovers.html

https://www.race-uscra.com/news/195...-of-vintage-laconia-2015-nhms-june-13-14-2015

from here
https://www.rideapart.com/articles/354451/ama-champion-ed-fisher-interview-video/

stumbled on
https://www.rideapart.com/articles/244775/91-year-old-still-touring-on-gold-wing-trike/

ashman said:

Al its cheaper to ride on the road than go racing, you just need rego and insurance and you can ride when ever you want, if you are to afraid to ride on the road then you should give up riding altogether, most of my riding friends are all over 60 now and we all been riding together for over 45 years with out not having a bike to ride on the road and I can tell you we all ride very hard and push ourself's and our bikes to the limits, but only in places we know and away from the fun police, we are law abiding seniors

Ashley

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Ash,
When I ride on public roads, I always feel very inhibited. However if you sit in moving traffic with a motorcycle, it is extremely dangerous. I like riding on public roads, but where I live, most of the roads are straight.. You need to ride a long way before you come to any road which is actually interesting. When I first came to Benalla, I had a registered RD250 Yamaha which I simply found to be boring. Road racing is expensive, so I rarely do it these days. But when I find a few dollars and get onto Winton Raceway, I live more in those few minutes, than I live for years doing other things. I don't even like driving my car on public roads. When I get on the highway, I always start thinking about things other than my driving - I just become a robot.
From what I have read, you live where the roads are winding and interesting. With a motorcycle, you need that. To me riding down the Hume Highway from Benalla to Melbourne and sitting below the speed limit, would be a nightmare experience. And I would be lucky to survive in city traffic. I'd rather take a whip and beat the shit out of myself.

With me, road racing is more about improving the bike than it is about winning races. With riding on public roads, it is rare that that you ever stress your bike to the limit of it's design. When you race, your motorcycle is doing what it is capable of. If you do that with a modern motorcycle, the speeds become horrendous at the ends of the straights. I would not dare to get on an R1 Yamaha and ride it around Winton Raceway. I don't need that sort of anxiety. The Seeley 850 already gets around the slow parts of Winton faster than most modern bikes. For what it is, it is a real whiz. A lot of guys love Phillip Island because the speeds are so high there. But any crash on that circuit, is a really big one and I have done that. As you get older, you usually get smarter.

................ and then Eddie was just a memory.

Almost! Always be a Hero in Gap! Locals say he's "Tougher then a Pine Knot"

mean gene said:

View attachment 82220
Almost! Always be a Hero in Gap! Locals say he's "Tougher then a Pine Knot"

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Is that on Daytona beach ?

Yep! There was a memorial for a Flat tracker for Gap killed in a racing accident. Ed Fisher was there along with Gloria Struck

mean gene said:

Yep! There was a memorial for a Flat tracker for Gap killed in a racing accident. Ed Fisher was there along with Gloria Struck

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I thought I recognized it. We were there on holiday in about 2006 and after getting the obligatory salt water taffy wandered along the beach and stumbled across the monument. It's pretty impressive.

Ed actually raced on the sand at Daytona I think in the late 50's