I came across this photo that I think shows pretty graphically the wall that riders faced when racing at Rockingham. This photo was taken before the start of a WERA National Endurance race in 1986. Riders would go into NASCAR turn one at full song after coming down the front straight. The suspension of the bikes would be compressed to the stops going through the banking and some riders reported dragging the underbelly when they hit bumps. Racing on tracks like Rockingham means that the riders of that era where some of the bravest (or craziest) ever. Today’s riders would never even consider racing on a track like this and rightly so.
Looking down pit road shot with a long telephoto lens at Rockingham before the start of a WERA National Endurance race. It graphically shows the wall that riders faced at top speed when racing through the first bowl turn. (Larry Lawrence photo)
Rider Files 
Wow,what a great shot.In 1986 I broke my GSX-R in-half after hitting the wall comming off turn two,didnt no you were suppose to slow down when it rained.Still a brutle track,but back then it didnt seem so bad.Years later yes craziest track to ride.Superbike Champion Thomas Stevens.
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Doug Toland started the Endurance Race for Team Hammer on the GXR1100 and fought a hard charging Dan Chivington or Mike Harth…I can’t remember who for sure. They were running first and second and then Toland lost the front end in the left hander coming off of the banking into the infield and crashed. I did the same thing in the same spot an hour later. LOL. There was a transition leaving the banking that caused the bike to bottom out and drag the engine cover.
When the bike made it back to the pits it didn’t have a fairing or windscreen and the tail section was on sideways. We bent the handlebars back straight and Dave Sadowski used a cheater bar to tweak the rear back.
I remember thinking this thing is kind of sketchy and I was next to ride, then Ulrich yells, “get on that thing and ride it”
The seat was pointing to the right and the handlebars were pointing to the left and there wasn’t any windscreen or fairing.
I remember being a little afraid for my well being riding that thing around that ultra steep banking on that crashed bike.
The G forces on the banking were incredible. Daytona’s banking was nothing compared to Rockingham.
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Did the bike look a little something like this:
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Seems like we ran 58 second lap times back in the day! It was normal for me to bend a set of handlebars on the Battle Axe counter steering on the banking.
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Larry, Sometimes you amaze me!
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Awesome info on the 80’s
Keep them coming
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Another great picture Larry! NO ONE will forget that place!
Compact Superspeedway, and I’ll NEVER forget those times there, (30+ and after, years ago!) with the Pickering Valley Roadracers family, same that I hold dear to this day.
Great times, scary place.
Fantastic site man, keep the old stuff coming.
DH
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I absolutely hated that track. It was incredibly dangerous and no fun to ride. I ran 2 endurance races there on a CBR600. Even though we did well, I promised myself I would never go back. That is the only track I refused to race on. I never even took my sprint bike off the trailer on the endurance weekends.
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# 3 is the Solmax bike. I can remember the G force on the banking in turn 1 making it almost impossible to pick your head up enough to see anything but the pavement right in front of you. Larry, you should do a feature on some of the mid 80’s tracks with dangerous spots, like East St. Louis .
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We raced the 30 hours of Rockinghan twice. In 1980 it rained
for the first 24 hours , then we had a nice 6 hour sprint to the flag!
Great memories, crazy track! I’ll never forget those times.
Thanks Larry.
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I think the banking had sealer on it to reduce tire wear on the cars – it was horrible for bikes in the wet. WERA held a mini endurance race at the end of a sprint weekend a month or so in advance of the first (1979) 30 hour race so teams could work on things like lighting. Unfortunately, within the first few laps after the Lemans style start someone leaked oil onto the banking and Rob Bristow, who rode first on my bike along with 3 or 4 other team riders, as I recall, crashed and their bikes went straight up the banking into the retaining wall and were pretty well destroyed. After a lot of late nights in the shop we were ready to head back to Rockingham for the 30 hour event which was fairly well promoted for a club race, (they even had a couple big name bands) but as the weather sucked for most of it and the spectators stayed home, so the promotor took a bath on the deal. I guess the promoter decided to cut his losses by paying part of the prize money in cash and writing checks for the balance – rubber checks! Oh well, it certainly provided a lot of memories and there must have been something good about it… went back and did it again the next year.
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Hey Larry, great photo. This was the best thing about the 80’s!Thanks to WERA for all the good times. Look all the way down pit road. Who is that man with the white cap? Look to his right and there is your clue.
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The one and only Al Wilcox !
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I remember hearing riders talk about this place in the early ’90s, when there were still sprint races there. It looks as frightening as they said it was. Seeing the picture I first wonder why anyone would be dumb enough to race there, and then I think of how much I enjoyed the banking at Pocono, the Gravity Cavity at Road Atlanta, the “tunnel” at Memphis, the original last turn at Putnam Park. Safety is good, but we did love the danger.
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Hey Thomas Stevens, I was the one RIGHT behind you just cruising saving my tires when you fell. Then all HELL broke out when I got on the brakes ON THE BANKING!!! To try and avoid you. Parts every were! I mean every were coming back across the track, going down the track and you in the middle of it all. Lost the front then the back and repeat… trying to avoid you most, then the parts. Talk about snapping your ass shut. I was constipated for two days. I set fast lap that weekend, got 3ed in a close 1,2,3, from brake fade. I said I was glad I raced there, ONCE and done.
You Thomas, were sliding the rear tire on the banking that day. You and Harth, 3-6″ offset? Thats how you fell the rear got off of the dry line.
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Nothing like going through the bowl flat out…. At night! The 30 Hour Endurance race was unbelievable fun.
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