FROM THE MEMBER ARCHIVES

Bill Stoneman - AHRMA #40 Tim Gundlach - AHRMA #993

1st bike, 1973 Arctic Cat, 3.5 Briggs, Captain America Helmet, total bad ass.

My Mom was a Nurse and the first words out of her mouth when I brought it home was “ Jesus H, Mary and Joseph, you’re going to kill yourself on that thing!“ I proved her wrong.

The bike ran 28.5 second, 27 MPH in the ¼ mile. I won several bracket races with it; Dad had to sign the waiver because I was not 16 yet.

This turned into many more over the last 52 years. Raced my Buell XB9R from 2003 to 2015 along with a Honda Ascot and now a KTM RC390. I’ve never been fast, but I have the most fun battling for close to last place !!

My daughter Kate cut her teeth working on my Guzzi’s at AHRMA events back in the 90’s. She loved the track scene and decided to make a career out of racing.

Fast forward 20 years and she is an established INDYCAR engineer with Arrow McLaren. Specifically the #5 driven by Pato O’Ward. She also has the distinction of being the first woman engineer to be part of an INDYCAR championship winning team - Ganassi/Dixon 2018. She may have gone another direction if it wasn’t for AHRMA. Forever thankful.

Brian Filo - AHRMA #6411

My Dad (John) came from Alaska to help me out. If you’ll notice the new clip-ons on the bike in this picture, I had my right-side clip-on break in practice going into the International Horseshoe under heavy breaking. I felt it let go and immediately sat up and kept braking, there was just enough room to stop it before hitting any hard objects.

My Dad found a vendor with a new set of 35mm clip-ons and it was an early Christmas present! I was able to race the rest of the weekend with a best finish of fourth in Formula 750.

We want to hear from you!! Send your racing adventures to media@ahrma.org. We’re looking for images and stores about a close victory, a heartbreaking defeat, last-minute repair, or the glory and romance of life in the paddock. Photos must be at least 15 years old.