Sidecars were featured during a WERA sprint weekend at Grattan Raceway in July of 1986. WERA didn’t have sidecars as a part of its series, but I believe a Canadian Sidecar series came down to share the race weekend. My memory is a little fuzzy on this, but I seem to remember at least a few of the WERA motorcycle racers served as monkeys on the side hacks that weekend. If anyone recalls any details or can ID any of these sidecar teams please leave a comment.
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Rider Files 
I miss the old days when EVERYTHING was so hand made.
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I don’t know about this weekend, but I saw them at grattan in the early 90’s and some of the wera officials and some riders got a chance to try it.They came to Nelson’s one weekend after that. What a very cool group of people, mostly Canadians. They were very fun to watch.
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Mike,
You’re probably right. They got exhibition rides, but probably didn’t actually participate in the race.
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The sidecars were always a blast. They were fun to watch even if many of them broke. To be fair adding the extra weight to a motorcycle drivetrain did change the reliability.
Many of the teams gave rides at lunchtime. I remember being the passenger (monkey was the old term! 🙂 ) of a TZ750 powered rig. I did my duties well since when the 1st lap was completed, the driver didnt go in pit lane and we took another lap around the track. DAMN that thing was fast!!
The sidecars also came to Nelson Ledges, Mid-Ohio, and sadly for the last time Putnam Park in the early 90’s. I got to do practice with a GSXR powered rig. I think my arms were 2″ longer after that ride.
I saw one of the regular rigs in the giant flea market at Mid-Ohio back in the late 90’s.
Lots of fun. Sorry they are gone.
-SP
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I believe the first time they came was in ’86, as my wife was working as a tech inspector at the time. As Mike mentioned, they offered rides to some of the officials, and she was the first one to go out. Well, race direction hadn’t really given any instructions as to the do’s and don’ts for the rides (I think Jim Sublet was running the race), and when they saw my wife come out of the last corner, with her head skimming the track at a high rate of speed, they couldn’t get the black flag out fast enough. Because she knew what to do, the driver(not rider) figured he’d go as fast as he normally did, which pretty much freaked everyone out. All the rides after that, were much more subdued. She loved every minute of it, and still talks about it till this day.
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