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The Carolinas’ Full Throttle Magazine
Missing The AMCA Southeast National Denton Swap Meet
Sweet Triumph Drag Bike From Last Year
Story and photos by Alan Dockery his is a tough Spring for us old bikers. Canceled events mean we are missing our friends and their machines. One event that so many folks from all over the country are missing is the Antique Motorcycle Club of America’s Southeast National Meet at Denton Farm Park. To help y’all with those old bike withdrawals, check out this really sweet machine I photographed last year as Saturday wound down at Denton. Tim Overcash, lives close to Denton in Salisbury, NC. He brought one of the coolest old machines last year that certainly got my attention. Yes, I’m a drag racing junkie too. His 1953 Triumph 650 Bonneville is absolutely beautiful and has logged most of its miles on the strip. Like most of us old guys, Tim has all kinds of bikes. During his life he has owned mostlyTriumphs and Nortons, some Harleys and Japanese bikes too. His only real job in
the motorcycle business was as a service writer at Peidmont Honda in Salisbury way back when his son was racing for them. I know lots of y’all started out like Tim with a minibike. His was not just any small flathead motored minibike. His first ride was a Hodaka Bonanza Minbike from Doc’s Cycle in Kannapolis a long time ago. That was a scary minibike since it had a Hodaka motorcycle engine. That means 90cc two stroke and five speed transmission. Real fast. “I was the only kid on the block who could do burnouts,” Tim said. Soon he moved up to 1966 CB 160 Honda. “It was a Street bike but all we had was dirt roads around here,” he said. “The farmer’s daughter down the road had a Yamaha enduro. I rode a street bike in the dirt.” “They had a race over on the other side of Kannapolis. My buddies who had drivers licenses told me I need to go over there and race in that thing. It was an enduro race. So I took that durn 160 over there and raced it. Well the first lap at the finish line I forgot to check in at the barrels. (Logging Tim for making that lap.) The next time I came through they flagged me on in there. “At the end of the race these guys who had been watching me do the hillclimb and everything on that street bike, saw me finish the race on it, came over to talk. They asked me how I finished. Well I thought I finished last cause I didn’t check in at the barrels the first lap. “Well they said I finished ahead of all those other guys who
