Excelsior 1919 Boardtrack Racer.
The captain of the Excelsior racing team, Bob Perry had a special relationship with the Schwinn family.
Ignaz Schwinn, the owner of the Excelsior Motorcycle Company envisioned Perry as a future executive in the company
and did not want him to race, but Perry wanted to race and was on hand to ride one of the new 1919 61 cu.in. OHC machines in
its debut at Ascot Park, Ca. on January 4, 1920. The Excelsior team arrived early for testing and discovered that the extremely
powerful new engine performed like it could fulfill Schwinn's hopes for a racer that would beat the Indian and Harley-Davidson
works machines. On January 3 it was announced that Bob Perry would ride the Excelsior on full throttle around the Ascot oval.
He crashed and was killed when he lost control entering a turn at a speed estimated between 95 and 100 miles per hour.
"Schwinn was devastated. The Excelsior team withdrew from the Ascot event, and Ignaz Schwinn went into the racing shop and
personally destroyed all of the overhead cam engines with a sledge hammer.
Not one of the machines survived.
This 1919 Excelsior Boardtrack racer was carefully recreated by Paul Brodie, using 6 known photographs of several of the
original machines.
Caracteristics:
Excelsior 1000cc, 61 cu.in. OHC V-twin.
Approx. 49HP @ 6000 rpm
Speed 120 mph+
Yesterdays Antique Motorcycles
Nederweert Netherlands
www.yesterdays.nl
