Long Beach Grand Prix
In 1980 my brother Matt raced in the unlimited motorcycle sidecar division on the national tour, and
ranked in the top ten. In 1981, he was invited to participate in the first ever sidecar race at the
Long Beach Grand Prix.
I borrowed my girlfriend's Nikon and accompanied my brother as a member of his pit
crew, pushing the machine from the garage to the pits and generally acting only as a gofer,
because I don't know anything about motorcycles.
Matt was the Monkey of the racing team: he clings to the sidecar and hangs his butt out
on the turns to keep the three-wheeled machine from overturning, and huddles close to
the frame on the straightaways for speed. The.hairpins and chicanes and esses at
Long Beach had Matt working like a wingwalker from the days of barnstorming
biplanes, leaping and crawling and gripping framework and handholds. It's not exactly
like a half an hour on the uneven parallel bars, but then parallel bars don't go 150
on the straightaway, not even in the Olympics.
The racers don't like to be called monkeys. "I'm a moving equilibrium, not a monkey
on a stick," Matt said.
It takes two to race a sidecar machine. Matt's driver was also the sponsor,
oncologist Dr. James Hays, known as Doc or Racer Jim. The first time I met him
I asked him what he did, and he said "I give preautopsy physicals."
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