Ron Ewerth was one of the leading WERA racers of the 1980s. In 1986 he won three WERA National Championships at the GNF in three of the most competitive classes. This photo could be from 1987 since he’s wearing the No. 1 plate. Rocket Ron was one of the smoothest riders you’d ever hope to see. His riding was so precise that he never looked liked he was going all that fast, but you’d look at your stopwatch and see that he was the fastest guy on the track. While he won national titles in WERA, Ewerth didn’t do a lot of sprint racing in the AMA. In 1987 he scored a couple of top-10 AMA 600 Supersport finishes, including a solid fifth on his home track at Road Atlanta. Ewerth made one comeback attempt in the mid-‘90s, but couldn’t quite find the speed he’d had a decade earlier. He went on to race cars became a top drifting driver. Here’s a video clip of him doing his stuff.

Multi-time WERA National Champion Ron Ewerth racing a GSXR at Road Atlanta. (Larry Lawrence photo)