The first motorpace bike I remember was featured in a Schwinn-sponsored comic book I picked up in the shop where I bought my last three speed bike in 1960 as a lil boy.
It featured Alfred LeTourner on the cover and the 108.92mph Paramount and his ride behind auto ace Ron Householder. The bike featyred a reversed front fork and 24" front wheel. I never realized that the very bike would make a stop at the Schwinn/ Lawnmower/lock-and-key shop when I was working there in the late 1960's. It was on tour with the Olympic kool blue Paramount close-coupled tandem. Though we aere told to stay off the bikes, I couldn't resist, but the gear was so high it made no sense after climbing aboard.And turning the pedals over.
I believe the next race I saw was at the worlds in Canada in 1974 (maybe at the olympics in '76, but I'm not sure) At the 1980 worlds maybe again in Besancon, France. Again, I don't remember. Might have even seen an early Keirin exhibition event at one of those events too. Or maybe that was at a Lehigh county event.
I do remember vividly a derney race in the schportehalle at the Cologne bike show in 1984. Indoor, wood, steep banking, professionals. Not a big crowd so we had great seats. Smoky from the bikes and the smoking, of course. The race was more grueling for the riders. The bikes had reversed forks, seat/toptube braces, and handlebar-to-fork crown bracing. I never understood why, but figured out that because the seats were so far forward and they had quite a bit of weight on the front. The speeds were high and constant- no slacking in these events. I remember catching a glimpse of one rider's shorts and the wool was worn to the chamois.
The geometry might have been what was referred to as 'six-day' meaning a bit longer in the wb and more shallow in the angle, but with a reversed fork and 24" front wheel, maybe not. The name for these races was also 'stayers' races.
Early records also show that pacing tandems and triplets with very high gears were used to pace the stayers.
i once bought a campy 35t chainwheel (inch pitch) that I was goping to use with my 6t rear to make a high gear track bike. When the $55 bill came in for the chainwheel, I sent it back to Stuyvesant distributors in NY, but I kept the 30t as a consolation. That would have given me a 135 gear, but I never made the bike. The ring is still around somewhere brand new. The 35t would have given a 145 gear.
long before Dave Stoler paced the semi trailer in Indiana (in his small ring) a couple of us Georgetown Cycle guys caught a pair of 12-wheel dumps filled with cargo exiting the Rockville Crushed Stone facility on our way back from the morning ride in the early 70's.
As they double-clutched through the trannies, we were aglow. We had our superhigh 52/13's and were ready to have a good time. These were high bodied and we had a bit of a view around the rear wheels, somewhat tucked under the rear dump body for a good envelope.
We hitched on for several miles probably going upwards of 50 most of the way.
We let 'em go before they hit Inerstate 70-s (now 270)
A few days later, we headed out that way again. I think we had hairnets on this time and found a pair of trucks again. This time we rode 'em all the way onto the interstate. It was two lanes each way back then and the speed limit was 60. It was two dumps in a row and each of us had our own. We were in the slow lane and were hauling in the 52/13 when a car pulled up in the passing lane, and pointed towards his dash and shouted 'You're going 60 miles per hour' with a broad smile.
We went another 30 seconds or so and the next car that pulled up was a state police, whose barracks we actually passed where Rte 28 turned into 70-s. He honked and pointed towards the side of the road and we pulled over.
He shook his head side to side, gave us a mini lecture, asked where we were going. We explained Georgetown Cycle Sport. Said we ought to know better . I also remember something to the effect that if he wrote us up, he might not be believed.
Our only punishment was to have to portage our bikes up a steep grassy hill (through some poison ivy,) and climb the right of way fence to get off the road.
The other rider was Danny Wagner, the owner of the shop recently bought from Mike Schwering after the DC location went bust. Dan was a former DC detective, a job he resumed after running the Maryland and Virginia Georgetown shops for 9 years.
Larry 'please don't try this at home' Black Woodbine, Md.