Racer: Don Emde

By

Racer-Don-Emde

Don Emde beat Mike Hailwood, Paul Smart, Gary Nixon, Gene Romero, Cal Rayborn and just about the entire cast of On Any Sunday. He won the Daytona 200 in 1972, 24 years after his father won it on Daytona’s beach using an Indian. I set out to talk to him about racing Daytona’s step-sister, Talladega, but he ended up giving me a first-hand account of American racing and living out of a van in the early ‘70s. Click below for the feature.

Racer: Don Emde

  • Andrew

    Towards the end I was barley looking at the pictures…great read!

  • nymoto

    Grant – Kick ass man. Perfect read.

  • Ryan

    This is exactly why i subscribed to HFL – fantastic piece Grant, keep it up.

  • zato1414

    Yeah dittos! Takes me back to the 60′s, I remember watching vans and pick-ups in line at the San Jose mile… the razors had fold-up chairs next to their bikes in the pits, maybe one or two guys had a small awning… thanks.

  • RpM

    Nice work, Grant. Thanks!

  • Richard

    Great feature Grant, what a life that must have been. Reading that reminds me why I race.

  • Peter

    Can i just say, this is the coolest article. love the pictures. Glued to the story.

  • CG

    Fabulous. Us old geezers remember when you could wander the pits and just look around and talk. Now, even Superbikes close everything off from the public. Great pictures. Thanks.

  • AJ

    features like these make me feel like I’m getting my money’s worth

  • Pat

    Great read. Only improvement could have been more of the same.

  • Andreas

    Great read! Now I dont mind paying for “internet”

    Super photos.

  • Robert

    Excellent story and photos. Thanks Grant and Don!

  • Bronson

    More of this please. Fantastic feature Grant. Keep up the good work!

  • http://www.brammofan.com Brammofan

    The education I get from these features is so enjoyable, that I don’t even realize until it’s over that, hey, there was a sh!tload of information there, superimposed over those pictures. Great work, Grant. Don must’ve bent your ear for a while to get all that down on ‘paper.’ Truly shows that “livin’ in a van, down by the river” can be a great thing.

  • Ian

    Awesome.

  • george

    wish miguel and his dad would get together and do one of these stories for yvon. he scared the crap outta me at mosport once on a deeley yamaha 125! passed me like I was tied to a post. shoulda quit right there ! haha, I was so dumb.

  • Karl

    A fantastic insight into that world on top of mesmerising photos.

  • Stu Bogue

    Greatly enjoyed this…and the Gary Roper feature,and so much of what I find here on the site…thanks…and I hope all of you responsible are having a good time doing it…

  • Steve Natt

    Great piece about a great guy. Nicely done.

  • Steve Natt

    and my fave shot? The one where you can see Don’s EYES on page 8.

    “Intense” doesn’t even come close to describing it.