Who invented atv racing

A new sealed rear drum brake survived the muddy fields and water crossings, and telescopic-fork front suspension made a day in the saddle that much more comfortable. Big Red added a reverse gear in , and its drive chain was replaced with shaft drive for extra durability and less maintenance. The other major ATV theme of the '80s-racing-was being played out everywhere from frozen lakes in the East to Western deserts to the dirt ovals of Middle America. Racing was an essential part of Honda from its founding in Thus it became part of ATC vocabulary as well, and the introduction of the ATCR in put the rest of the world on official notice that Honda was as serious about winning on three wheels as it was on two.

The world's first high-performance two-stroke ATC adapted Honda's CR R motocross technology to the three-wheel world with predictable results, taking hordes of unsuspecting competitors by storm. Running unofficially in the Baja on pre-production ATCRs, a group of Honda associates surprised racing legend Mickey Thompson when they caught and passed him pre-running for the race. Thanks to Thompson's considerable influence, an official three-wheel class was sanctioned in the Baja In , Honda's ATCRs started just behind the motorcycles rather than from the very back of the starting order, and then finished first and second in class, putting them fourth and fifth overall.

Nothing on four wheels finished ahead of the ATCs. The three entries that did well were all large-displacement motorcycles, including Honda's race-winning XR TM ;. Honda raised the bar in with an all-new, liquid-cooled version of the R that cranked out 38 horsepower and offered nearly 10 inches of suspension travel at both ends, giving it the power to do disappearing acts ahead of other brands at race tracks across the country. Though it was never as successful in the desert as the more potent R, the ATCX that debuted in '83 proved that Honda four-strokes could run with the best of them.

The X combined a high-performance cc engine, five-speed gearbox and manual, motorcycle-style clutch with long-travel suspension and sporty chassis geometry that was more at home ripping up race tracks than handling farm chores. Approaching the mid-'80s, ATVs were inspected, dissected and exhaustively scrutinized with more data acquisition equipment than any other Honda product. Machines were run hour after hour, day after day for weeks, with riders wearing pound instrument packs that recorded information on every aspect of the machine's operation.

As the market's swing toward utility continued, Honda's research made it clear that the next step in the ATV's evolution would be another wheel. The market responded almost immediately, making Honda's biggest sales year for ATVs. The upswing in utility use and the introduction of the four-wheel TRX were also the beginning of the end for Takeuchi's three-wheel matrix. Four-wheelers were considered more versatile tools by customers, and tools were what people wanted most.

By the smart money was all on four wheels in the ATV world. On the utilitarian end of the spectrum, Honda unveiled the first four-wheel-drive ATV that same year.

The FourTrax TM ; 4x4 arrived at its coming out party in grand style-lowered from a helicopter to show all four wheels moving under their own power.

Market forces were already at work to replace three wheels with four. In , CPSC statistics suggested that most ATV accidents were due to improper rider behavior that ignored the distributor's warnings.

No inherent flaw was found in the three-wheel or four-wheel ATV design. Honda's owner's manuals and product warning labels stressed the importance of proper ATV operation to its customers. Through a national industry safety campaign, there was a 33 percent decline in recorded CPSC injury statistics between and Nevertheless, on April 28, , the U.

Among the many components of this agreement, free training and training incentives were offered to owners and purchasers of new ATVs. Additionally, distributors would no longer market three-wheel ATVs, repurchasing any unsold three-wheel models from dealer inventory.

On the eve of the '90s, Honda introduced the FourTrax and FourTrax 4x4, the revolutionary pair of hard-working Hondas that would ultimately become the most versatile, most popular ATVs in history. Combining an ideal balance of size, weight, power and capacity, the s sold more than , units over the ensuing 12 years.

Powered by a cc air-cooled four-stroke single-cylinder engine, the FourTrax sent its 20 horsepower through a five-speed transmission, automatic clutch and maintenance-free shaft drive. An ultra-low first gear helped it tow up to pounds. Tough steel racks let it carry up to 66 pounds in front and pounds in the rear. And if the hardest-working ATV in America ended up packing tackle to your favorite bass fishing spot on Saturday morning, nobody else had to know.

Throughout the s, more and more people saw the ATV as a vehicle capable of getting thousands of different jobs done faster and easier. By the time the '90s rolled in, the Honda FourTrax had become an essential part of the great American toolbox. You'd be hard pressed to find a Louisiana rice farm, Washington apple orchard or Montana cattle ranch that didn't have at least one. From copper mines to banana plantations, golf courses to pig farms, forest reclamation projects to shopping center maintenance, nothing on wheels had ever been as versatile, reliable, efficient and affordable, on the job or on the weekend, as the Honda ATV.

Though sport models such as Honda's FourTrax EX and the new-for-'99 EX are immensely popular with sport and recreational riders, industry observers estimate that 85 percent of ATV use in the '90s revolved around some sort of enterprise. Takeuchi's idea had grown up, gone to work and done a good job. That's high praise from one of the most brutally sensible groups of people on the planet.

In America, having a FourTrax on the job makes a host of jobs more efficient. In countries without our infrastructure, manpower and financial resources, the Honda ATV's reliability and efficiency handle jobs that simply couldn't be done before. Folks on other parts of the planet were discovering what America had discovered a decade before, and began putting Honda ATVs to work, performing all manner of work that was either impossible, impractical or both.

Whereas Honda ATVs were largely a domestic phenomenon before , they're currently working in more than 35 different countries worldwide.

The Foreman 4x4 introduced the working world to the strongest, most efficient Honda ATV yet. Powered by an innovative longitudinal engine design that positions the crankshaft perpendicular to its axles, the '95 Foreman's front and rear drive shafts transfer power to all four wheels with fewer power-robbing directional changes, fewer parts, less weight and a lower center of mass.

In Honda introduced the advantages of its longitudinal power train to a broader circle of ATV users with the FourTrax Recon, a mid-size 2WD ATV that works hard and can scurry down a trail better than anything in its class. Combining the convenience of an automatic with the control of a manual gearbox, ESP allowed Foreman ES riders to shift up or down with push-button ease.

Honda's meticulous approach means the only thing harder than building the toughest ATVs on earth is improving them. Improving the single most popular ATV model, the FourTrax series, was a truly difficult undertaking. Moving into the new millennium, the Rancher lineup achieved just that.

Putting the compact, powerful efficiency of the cc longitudinal-powered drive train in an all-new chassis creates a better version of what was arguably the most versatile multipurpose ATV ever created. Responding to a skyrocketing market's demands for even more hard-working horsepower and a true automatic transmission in an ATV with Honda innovation and durability, the Rubicon is introduced in the spring of The performance of a race ATV is quite remarkable.

Powered by 4-cycle engines ranging from 50cc for youth classes to cc for professional classes, the top pro ATVs can accelerate briskly and reach top speeds in excess of mph.

Just as impressive is modern ATV suspension design, which gives them the ability to bound effortlessly across the landscape, undeterred by bumps and jumps.

On a demanding motocross course, ATVs gobble up bumps and soar over ramps with an aplomb equal to their more nimble two-wheeled counterparts. All major motorcycle brands compete in ATV racing, backed by factory sponsorship and technical support. The Yamaha Rhino is the dominant side x side. Gary Medley has been a friend, ally and contributor to the performance community for decades. His interest in cars and journalism was pretty much a genetic imperative, as he is the son of Tom Medley, creator of Stroker McGurk.

Get Tickets Gear. Kawasaki introduces its first four-wheeler ATV, the Bayou Polaris enters into the ATV business. Suzuki discontinues its 3-wheeled ATV products, but now has 11 four-wheeled models. The high performance LTRH has a liquid-cooled two-stroke engine with automatic exhaust control, highly adjustable long-travel suspension, and triple hydraulic disc brakes.

Yamaha's high performance four-wheel Banshee is the first twin cylinder ATV engine. I guess you can say I was, and I was the only racer Sperry Rand ever had as well. It was similar to the Tricart but it was a little smaller and they used a smaller McCullah engine, but it was still pretty quick and competitive. We had a big advantage against individual owners and dealers so they set up a Factory Class for factory sponsored teams.

I guess you could say this was the first professional ATV class. The nerf bar in the back was for heavy traffic areas. How did that go over? It went over fine by me. We smoked the Hondas. What are some of your early memories at Pine Lake? We would bring two semi truck and trailers. We had about 20 machines with us each year. Sperry Rand was pretty serious about racing. Pine Lake was always a great time.

I remember the big parade they used to have through downtown Ashtabula, we must have had a hundred Tricarts in the parade. The Good Year Blimp was there, it was a big deal for sure. How did it end? I take it Honda out marketed you guys?

We were cranking units out then all the sudden within one or two months it was all done. There was a political problem, someone wanted to get to cooperate and soon after the whole thing was gone.

Essentially I never sold them the patents, I leased them the patents. So when they wanted to get rid of it they had to buy me out again. So with that money I started my own company. What was that? It was called Design Evolution 4. They came and designed and manufactured it with us it at my plant. I used to get a kick out of those guys.

We had of the top weapon engineers from around the country here, but all they wanted to talk about was the Tricart I had sitting in the corner. Are you still working in business? No my wife and I ran it for about 30 years, we retired four years ago. It was awesome to get to meet you and thanks for the very interesting interview.