Dave Knapp wheeying his Yamaha FZ750 Superbike over the hill at Grattan circa 1986. Knapp was one of the fast guys at Grattan who won a lot of WERA and CCS Superbike races at the twisty Michigan circuit. He came out of flat track racing and made a seamless transition to road racing. In those days Dave had an endurance team called Free Bird Racing. The hand-written WERA forms were often hard to read and my wife typed up the results inadvertently renaming the team Free Bud Racing. Dave said the team members decided they all liked Free Bud better so that’s what they called the team from then on.
Dave Knapp at Grattan Raceway circa 1986. (Larry Lawrence photo)
Rider Files 
No ways that’s Grattan, pavement looks way too smooth.
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Yeah they repaved it back around that time. They had a race on it before the pavement was totally cured and the riders say it was like racing on ice.
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Dave’s son, Taylor, is stepping into his shoes; he’ll be riding Mladin’s bike in this year’s AMA American Superbike. (PR at RoadracingWorld: http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=39282) Congratulations Dave and Taylor!
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thats my grandpa
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