Babes & Bikes – Willow Springs 1985

• Larry Lawrence

In April of 1985 Greg Sickmeier and Terry Hampton set off on a cross-country trip from Indianapolis to Rosamond, California and Willow Springs Raceway. Both Sickmeier and Hampton were racers, but on this trip Sickmeier was helping support Hampton in his efforts in the ’85 AMA Superbike Championship. Fortunately for us, Greg brought his camera along and captured the “talent” in and around the Hampton pits, which it appears he shared with Dale Quarterley. Greg caught both babes and bikes (mostly babes) with his CanonA1 during the race weekend. It was notable for Kevin Schwantz winning his first AMA Superbike race, setting him on his path to eventually becoming World Champion. This series is another in the Sickmeier Collection, of which we’ll be featuring for months to come. Thanks to Greg for documenting a great race weekend.

Click on photo for full version.

11 thoughts on “Babes & Bikes – Willow Springs 1985”

  3. In the first photo I’d guess that is Kevin in the lead with Merkel chasing him and I’d say #31 is Scot Gray as that is the listing in my program

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  4. Good eye again Gary. you’re good at this!

    Kevin Schwantz leading Fred Merkel. Then it’s Todd Brubaker, Terry Hampton, Jimmy Filice and Scott Gray

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  5. I don’t know, Greg….did we have a different rating system for what constituted a ‘babe’ back in the 80’s? Putting aside the 80’s hair, a few of them were cute, but even with my head injuries, I wouldn’t give most of those more than a 4 or 5.

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    1. Kevin, Kevin

      So hard to please. Maybe I’m getting old, but I’m digging a lot of the babes in these photos. You can’t argue with the little blonde in the bikini. C’mon. I guess they’re making them very nice up in your neck of the woods these days.

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  6. Hey, considering how hot Jackie STILL looks, I’d think you’d have higher standards!

    I’m not saying that a couple of them weren’t worth looking at, but there’s a few in there….maybe there was something on the lens….

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    1. Thanks from Jackie, but the older I get my scale seems to be changing. Take TV for example – back in the day nothing short of Barbara Eden from “I Dream of Jeannie” would do, now I look at Mrs. Cleaver on “Leave it to Beaver” and think, wow, not bad!

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  7. Actually, I think the function of your eyesight failing you as you get older, is to make it ALL look good. Guess I should have taken off my glasses! Perhaps some of those pics struck a chord of bad memories for me…reminding me of some of the questionable ‘guests’ I brought to the track.

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  8. Hey Kevin, you spend 32 hours in a Chevy van with Terry Hampton and you’d be amazed what looked good through the viewfinder of my trusty ‘ol Canon A1… 😉 LOL

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