Volunteer Spotlight John Pohland

WORDS: KEVIN MCINTOSH

PHOTOS: KEVIN MCINTOSH, AND COURTESY OF CHRIS POHLAND

One of the great things about the Barber Vintage Festival is that you just never know who you might bump into throughout the weekend’s events. John Pohland, for example, is a long-time AHRMA volunteer who can be found with his son, Chris, working pit out during the road racing, or possibly in the pits tending to one of their race bikes, making sure it’s ready to hit the race grid.

You see Pohland, like many who attend the festival, is passionate about motorcycles, but he also has a unique relationship with some of the very machines showcased in the museum and those turning laps on the track. John’s career would put him in the right place at the right time to be part of developing some of the most iconic and record-breaking machines of their day.

In 1965, John started work at HarleyDavidson. While a trained engineer, his start wasn’t so glamorous - it was more pushing papers than making an impact on the motorcycle world. It wasn’t until 1968 when the door opened in the racing department that John would have his chance to play his part in the history of HarleyDavidson motorcycles, and more specifically its racing programs.

In 1969 Harley-Davidson was basically forced to step up their game, due to a rule change allowing maximum displacement for dirt track racing up to 750cc, with no regard to valve type. With this change, British motorcycle brands and their overhead valve machines would now give Harley-Davidson a run for the money and Pohland would be there to help keep Harley-Davidson out front.

NOTE: Even with the rule change, Harley-Davidson was still able to take home the 1969 AMA National Championship with Mert Lawwill piloting his KR750.

After the 1969 season ended, HarleyDavidson’s Director of Racing, Dick O’Brian, got the green light to put together a team, including Pohland, that would build the next generation OHV dirt track racing machine, the XR750.

Now, it would be easy enough to build a few factory race bikes and move on with the 1970 season, but as rules would have it, to run in the Championship series, the bike would have to be based on a production model. So, Harley-Davidson would be required to build 200 XR750s for the masses (non-street legal racing masses, that is) before they could put it on track.

As Pohland recalls it, on January 3rd, 1970, the task of building 200 XR750s began, and in just two short months on February 27th, they had the bikes ready to go. A representative from the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) visited the makeshift build space. O’Brian had a few of the bikes started up to confirm they were ready to go, and that was that; time to put it on the track.

Of course with such a short turnaround time and limited development, the iron XR750 would have little success on the oval in 1970-71. In 1972, the replacement of iron for aluminum, along with a bigger bore and shorter stroke, the XR750’s luck would change and become a dominant force for many years to come.

From his involvement in the XR750 program, Pohland would have the opportunity to chase speed at the ultimate playground, the Bonneville Salt Flats. In what would be a pretty cool “fly on the wall” moment, as Pohland recalls, it was John Davidson, after seeing news of Don Vesco successfully breaching the 250mph mark, that he said to O’Brian... “Can’t we do that?” And so began the challenge to be the fastest single-engine motorcycle on earth.

With some of the best at what they do like Denis Manning (Streamliner designer/fabricator), Cal Rayborn (rider), Warner Riley (engine builder), George Smith, Sr. (fuel) along with H-D racing department staff, Clyde Denzer and Pohland, they set off to Bonneville to find some speed and keep Harley-Davidson #1.

The 15-foot-long streamliner would require not only some physical modifications to fit Rayborn, but it would also take quite a few failed runs to figure out how to handle the machine lying completely prone and with limited forward vision. It was no easy task.

Once settled in, Rayborn was able to pilot the 89-cubic-inch Sportsterbased engine burning 70 percent nitromethane to a record run of 266mph. His return run and speed of 264mph sealed the new record and title of fastest motorcycle in the world.

For some, this land speed record attempt might be familiar beyond the simple knowledge of it happening, as Rayborn and the land speed record bike were featured in the classic motorcycle documentary, “On Any Sunday.”

Not just an engineer for some famous bikes, Pohland got his own racing fix and even a championship in Canada “beating those Yamaha” in 1969 at tracks like Harewood Acres near Jarvis, Ontario.

Fast forward to 1995, Pohland attended Daytona’s Speed Week where he was introduced to AHRMA’s club racing. Liking what he saw, Pohland would get more involved through bike builds for the likes of AHRMA trustee, Rusty Lowry. In 2005 Pohland would get bit by the volunteering bug with AHRMA. From pit out to working registration, Pohland has simply found volunteering an enjoyable way to be involved and experience racing from a VIP-like vantage point. In more recent years, Pohland’s son, Chris, has joined in the fun. Together, they have added bikes to the race grid, including a 1965 Harley-Davidson Aermacchi 250 CRT (piloted by Jason Roberts), which adds another sometimes challenging, but enjoyable dimension to the race weekend.

So many amazing experiences... and just think, I learned about them and the man that lived them simply by walking the Barber grounds and saying hi to a perfect stranger who turned out to be an AHRMA volunteer, a Harley-Davidson engineer, and a person with a storied life, and I am luckier for it. I hope you feel the same reading my simple words and are inspired to strike up a conversation with a fellow event attendee, worker, volunteer, or race competitor in the future. I’m sure they would be happy to share their story with you and hear yours as well.