Scotsman at Blackhawk

I’m scanning in photos from 1985 and earlier in the day came across a photo of Callum Gray’s No. 640 Yamaha RZ350LC from a race at Grattan. I looked up Callum and gave him a call and he was excited I’d found a photo of him. He said he wore an AGV helmet. When I zoomed in on the photo I realized the rider wasn’t wearing an AGV and in fact I recognized the rider as Brian Berney. So I had to report to Callum that I actually found a photo of his bike, but not of him. Then I went back through my scans of other races in 1985 and when I opened a folder of Blackhawk Farms Raceway photos the first photo that popped up was of Callum. A native of Scotland, Callum said he grew up a major two-stroke fan. When he moved to Chicago he met racer Brian Berney. The two went riding one day and Berney told Gray he was fast enough that he needed to get to the track. Gray club raced from 1984 to 1986 before the cost of the sport became too great. Along the way he had some solid results in WERA D Superbike, especially at his home track of Blackhawk.

Callum Gray races his Yamaha RZ350LC through a turn at Blackhawk Farms Raceway at a WERA sprint race in June of 1985. Gray was a solid novice rider in WERA’s North Central region and had some excellent finishes in the mid-1980s, especially at Blackhawk. (Larry Lawrence photo)

Callum Gray races his Yamaha RZ350LC through a turn at Blackhawk Farms Raceway at a WERA sprint race in June of 1985. Gray was a solid novice rider in WERA’s North Central region and had some excellent finishes in the mid-1980s, especially at Blackhawk. (Larry Lawrence photo)

5 thoughts on “Scotsman at Blackhawk

  1. Cripes I can’t believe I never met Callum. Part of my family ( not the Gray part, the Watt part) is from the Orkney Islands off the top of Scotland. I raced at Blackhawk in ’84, ’85 and half of ’86. I think i only got in two races in ’86. I never could get my bikes back together in time.

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  2. Well, that, but it was also the way they both hang their butts way off the seat, but keep the inside leg tucked against the bike. I think I recall Ed explaining that he was trying to keep more weight on the front wheel. If you look at both of them, they’ve really got their upper body and hips further forward than most riders. When I had that GSXR of Ed’s, my butt was planted against the seat cowl. That being said, I’m a little taller than Ed, but I tended to have more of my weight further back. I don’t think I had figured out the weight distribution thing….

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