Mike Treadaway, on his No. 88 Yamaha FZ750, comes up over the rise coming out of the last turn at Grattan Raceway in a circa 1986 WERA race. Treadaway is leading Chuck Magnusson, who is riding his No. 151 Suzuki GSXR1100. The last turn at Grattan was a fast sweeping left hander that came up over a slight rise. It was an important turn where you tried to get the best drive you could coming onto the front straightaway. You couldn’t lay it all on the line there however, since there was a guardrail not far off the track in the impact zone. So it was a delicate balance of getting on the throttle, while still respecting the dangers of the corner. From the angle of this photo I might have been shooting from under the guardrail that lined the outside of the turn.
Mike Treadaway, on his No. 88 Yamaha FZ750, comes up over the rise coming out of the last turn at Grattan Raceway. Treadaway is leading Chuck Magnusson, who is riding his No. 151 Suzuki GSXR1100. (Larry Lawrence photo)
Rider Files 
Actually, the last turn was a left coming onto the straight. The turn before, coming up the hill, was a fast right (with a berm and fence not far off the track surface). That right hander was rarely a problem, but there was a dip in the left coming onto the straight, that would often cause a tank slapper. Usually, you didn’t lose it till after the apex, so your trajectory carried you down the straight, or into the hill below the pit lane. If you lost it early, you ended up in Larry’s lap behind the gaurdrail.
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Yep it was a left hander. Thanks Kevin. Not sure what I was thinking.
Didn’t a rider or two end up flipping over said guardrail ending up on pit road?
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The few that I saw go over the guardrail where you’re shooting from, actually lost the back in the right hander coming up the hill, saved the highside, and then ended up running straight into the guardrail. I also remember at least one bike, that lost the back in the left onto the straight, saved it, but ended up going UP the hill along pit road, and hitting THAT guardrail at speed. I think after they paved it in ’86, the dip in the left wasn’t as bad, so we didn’t see as many problems for awhile, though it came back as the winters chewed up the track. Heck, I’ve got a great video on my KZ1000, doing a nice tank slapper through that lefty, to the point that I dented the tank on both sides. I also remember Brian Berney doing the same, on an FZ750, and I think he blew out his steering dampner.
Grattan was the coolest track around, despite some of the safety issues.
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Awesome pic of Tread
I got to know him through Charlie Buse and Ed Key, and the rest of the Mad City guys
Then he moved to Sheboygan and went to a couple races and wrenched for him
He’s a good guy
Keep the older pictures coming
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So you know my dad then
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Does anyone remember when they repaved Gratten on WERA Endurance weekend
And the oil came up through the track and almost everyone crashed
You knew it was bad when Ed Key crashed
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That was the July race of ’86 I believe. Of the 65 teams entered, I was told 54 of them crashed at least once. Team Hammer crashed coming into the bowl, and the bike burned (I’ve got a picture of that somewhere). I was running on an FZ600 in middleweight, and we actually got third, despite crashing twice.
I don’t think oil was the issue. As I recall, a fine black grit was wearing off the pavement, and collecting just outside the line. If you missed the line by a few inches, you were down. Grattan had unbelievable grip before they paved it. So what if there were potholes, cracks, and frost heaves all over?
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Marshall, I remember that weekend for sure. I think just about every single endurance team crashed on Saturday, many multiple times. It was ugly.
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My dad is so cool
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I love my dad
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