Alex Bub sent me a photo of a race that is legend around Indiana. It is from WERA Terre Haute street race in 1979. The race went through a city park and riders had to avoid all the typical things you’d see on streets, like curbs, street signs, manhole covers and even train tracks. There’s a legend, not sure if it’s true, that one race had to be red flagged because a train rolled through in the middle of the race cutting off the course. Bub writes: Me on my KTM leading the Formula One race start was at Terre Haute, Indiana, race through the City Streets in 1979. I won the 410cc class and came in third in Formula One. I think it’s Arland Crump on 146 on the TZ250 behind me, and somewhere in there is Ed Key on a Honda CB750F.
A photo from WERA’s Terre Haute street race in 1979. Legend has it that one race was red flagged when a train rolled through the middle of the course. (Glenn Iles photo courtesy Alex Bub)
Rider Files 
I could just imagine you’re racing a guy for position and out of the corner of your eye you see a train coming. Now you both have a decision to make! Ha, ha.
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Photo by Glenn Iles.
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The event was organized by my cousin, Dirk James, who owned a motorcycle dealership in Terre Haute at the time. He enticed Freddie Spencer to compete in the event but not sure of Freddie’s results..probably multiple wins. Dirk was a former motorcrosser turned road racer and was well known for his upright style and uncanny ability to square off the corner and beat you out of the turn. His primary weapon was a bone cold stock Yamaha RD400 that he used to consistently beat larger displacement bikes. He was a WERA National Champion in the 410 Production class. And he finally convinced me to stop trying to race on the streets (and falling off) and go to the racetrack, where there were corner workers if needed. He and I were able to do a couple of endurance races together on my Honda Interceptor. Thanks to my cousin, Dirk, I met a lot of great racing people and developed my passion for my motorcycle roadracing.
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Larry ,raced there also, had ablast..bounced off a few curbs.
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Anderstorp in USA….This was a unique event with a lot of entries. It was so special that WERA even had T-shirts made up. Unforgettable, who hasn’t dreamed of racing through an immaculately groomed park? I was helping out a bunch of guys from Illinois Kawasaki where I worked and got to see something that the safety-crats would never allow in this day and age. Thanks to WERA for pulling it off.
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30+ years dims the memories some but I do remember the pavement through the park section was all broken and cracked, not too rough but was kind of spider webbed. Running down the “straight” on the right was a 10″ drop to train tracks and I don’t remember much of a curb. Had to sit out my race as the 1st gear dogs on my 900SS took a dump and it was popping out of gear at the most inopportune times. It went largely unnoticed but the Wabash river ran right next to the park area. A few people had their bikes stolen on Saturday night too.
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I was also at this race on my TZ 250. It was a good chance for locals to see there first motorcycle race. It was
a fun weekend, but I was glad we never went back there.
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I can confirm the train did in fact cause a red flag because I was in that race. First time in my life I was staring at a moving train while looking for my braking marker. Today that race would be absolute lunacy but at the time I thought it was way cool. I didn’t turn out the best for me however as I managed to find some rough pavement and gravel on the inside of the right hander at the end of the back straight while trying to make a pass for the win and broke my collarbone.
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