Racing History...
CHECKERS MC who are they?
Just the Winningest Club in the sport!

Their markings are distinctive: a black and white checkerboard pattern, like that on the winning flag at the finish of a race. The checkered pattern is painted on their helmets, emblazoned on their jerseys and often even on the legs of their riding pants.

The club? The Checkers M.C., by far the winningest competition club to ever race motorcycles. They've been around a long time, and have a fantastic and often bizarre history. Many of the most famous names in off-road racing were members of the Checkers.

The stories! Ah yes, the stories. Some have escalated to the status of legend. Tales of racers who would do almost anything to win! Bend the rules, cut the course, anything to get that extra edge on the others.

Our mission here is to delve into that mystique, wallow in the mysterious, leap feet first into the tall tales that may or may not be true and maybe, when we emerge from this little exercise, we might find out that we've learned a bit about what drives this group of hard-core racers.

TWO KINDS OF CHECKERS

First off, you have to understand that there are, indeed, two completely separate Checker clubs. One is the Motorcycle Club, and the other is the Off-Road Racing Club (for buggies). There is a certain amount of overlapping, as many of the off-road racers started out on bikes and then graduated to fast buggies or trucks as they got older, or as their knees simply wore out.

There is a camaraderie that exists, but they hold their meetings at different places. You'll find that the membership of the MC Checkers is younger, in general, than the off-road group, but there are some truly crusty individuals in the Checkers, who can tell you some stories …

SOME STORIES!

There's the tale of Dingus Watkins, who suddenly started finishing quite strongly in multi-loop desert races. Even though Dingus was a good rider, he wasn't that good!

In desert races, you get a card taped to your tank or front fender, and when you stop at a checkpoint, the workers will put some sort of identifying mark on the card. Check 1 might be a yellow felt-tip pen initial, Check 2 a blue mark made with a ballpoint pen and yet another check might use a red crayon.

This is all planned ahead of time, and when the race is completed, you should have all the right number of checks, and they have to be the right color and type of mark. Pretty foolproof, right?

Well, Dingus had a system (allegedly) that sort of smoked the safeguards. He was seen after a race taking off his riding jersey, and under the jersey was a set of cartridge holders, much like bandits used to wear, and in those bullet holders were felt-tip pens, crayons and markers of every conceivable description.

Rumor had it that Dingus would race the first loop as hard as he could, then pull off the course and spend some time matching all the marks on his tank card. Then, on the last loop, when the leaders started heading in to the finish line, he would fire up his bike and race them home. Being nice and rested, he could and would give the leaders a run for their money.

TIMING THE START JUST RIGHT

There were three Checkers . . . we'll call them Max, Bud and Gene (not their real names), who figured out a way to get dynamite starts at desert races.

First off, you have to understand how desert races start. The engines are shut off and the banner goes up. It stays up for at least 30 seconds, then sometime in the next 30 seconds, the banner will drop and the mass of racers will kickstart their bikes into life and haul for the smoke bomb. Max.

Bud and Gene had a special technique, you see. Max would get on the left side of the line, Bud on the right and Gene in the middle. As soon as the 30-second mark passed, Max would nod his head, Gene would see him nod, then do the same and Max would then fire up his bike. When all three of these riders lit off at the same time, the mass of riders would hear engines firing and stab for the kickstarter.

By that time, Bud, Max and Gene were already in gear, throwing rooster rails. Often, the folks holding the banner would try to wave the false pre-start off, but more often than not, it was too late and they would simply throw their arms up in disgust and let the start stand.

FAMOUS CHECKERS

The Checkers have a long and glorious history and some of the men who have worn the black-and-white colors read like a list of off-road greats. Al Baker, Dick Miller, Gene Hirst, Tim Smith, Al Rogers, Red Ludford, Bobby Ferro, Gene Ferro, Bob Ewing, Kenny Knudson, Eddie Mulder, Dusty Coppage, Max Switzer, Jack Johnson, Doyle Fields, Steve Holladay, Wayne Cook, J.N. Roberts, Whitey Martino, Ron Sloan, Don Bohannon, Bill Saltzman, Mike Burke, Bill Postel, Steve Kirk, Dan Smith, Cliff Thomas, Jeff Wright, George Walker, Chuck Stearns, Eddie Pierce, Howard MacCasland, Darrin Cartwright, Chuck Pettigrew, Terry Davis, Smokebomb Gaetz, Mike Mulconery, Rich Thorwaldson, Ted Lapadaikis, Bob Heron, The list goes on and on, and we have no doubt left out numerous names.

THE CHECKER ATTITUDE

Win, win, win. Nobody goes to a Checker meeting bragging about a solid second-place finish. They live, breathe, eat, sleep and dream about winning. Being the high-point Checker at the end of the year is a highly prized status. Their pits are compact, very efficient and they'll scramble like mad dogs to get a rider in and out in minimum time. They'll think nothing of stripping a part off a personal machine to get a top-running rider underway again.



When the Checkers show up at a race, they pit together, away from other clubs. They hang around with each other, line up on the starting line in a group, and party together.

THE CHECK CHASE

"The novices will hate it; the amateurs will have their eyes yanked wide open and the experts will love it." Those were the words said about the famed Check Chase. The Check Chase is/was about 220 miles of pure grief for the new rider, and a genuine test of skills for the savvy desert racer. It was not designed to be easy; in fact, just finishing this tough race is a point of honor. The Checkers pick the gnarliest terrain they can find, throw in ugly rock sections, ribbon a handful of nasty hills and very little smooth stuff. The top ten finisher’s in the Check Chase were usually the top ten racers in the West.

MORE STORIES!

To un nerve the competition, the Checkers have gone to some extreme lengths. Once, at a hare scrambles in the late '60s, Doyle Fields and Marvin Steele were no where to be seen. Their bikes were in the front row on the starting line, propped up and ready for action.

Then, mere minutes before the banner was raised, two figures literally dropped out of the skies, with parachutes billowing out above them. Fields and Steele had just parachuted out of an air plane and landed right next to their bikes. They dumped the chutes and hopped on their bikes, leaving stunned riders gasping.

The story is told of more "air support" in the early '60s. For a period of about two years, a Checker who was a pilot would fly over the course and find the "good lines." Then he'd fly down over the racers, spot the ones with a large fluorescent "X" on their helmets and buzz down low, then dart off in the "good" direction. The "X" riders would follow the plane and allegedly save quite a bit of distance in the process.
The only problem was that often the plane would fly so slow that it would scare the riders halfway into the next county.

At a national TT race at Ascot in the late '60s, Eddie Mulder and Skip Van Leeuwen were having a great race, when Skip's motor blew up. Eddie, in keeping with the purest tradition of the Checkers, stopped on the last lap, told Skip to hop on the back of his bike, wheelied across the finish line... and won the race in the process.

Eddie Mulder was always a wild one. Once, he ran a desert race with a huge question mark on his jersey, and burned donuts around each and every check worker during the race, and still won.

The race was the legendary Big Bear run in 1960, and Eddie was only 16 years old at the time. It was a weird race. In his own words, "I was sitting in the outdoor [outhouse] and the race started. My old man went nuts. I jumped on my Royal Enfield and rode sort of nuts. I was completely over my head, but won the race overall."

THE STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE FOR DECADES

Since 1951, the Checkers have been the dominant force in District 37 (AMA) desert racing. They've won numerous club championships and many #1 plate holders have been members.

A few of their accomplishments:

•Nine Barstow-to-Vegas overall victories.
•Eleven NORRA/SCORE overall victories.
•Three Mint 400 wins.
•Three Parker 400 overall wins.
•Twenty-six #1 plates in District 37.
•Ninety-three single-digit District 37 numbers.

The list goes on...

SO YOU WANT TO BE A CHECKER...

First off, you better be fast. You make your intentions known, and if everything works out, you get placed on a probation period. If this works out, you can then be-come a prospective member. To become a full-fledged member, you'll have to wait around until one of the regular members be-comes inactive, or quits, or dies; then they vote on you.

One dissenting vote means you are not a member. The Checkers say they do it this way to keep a tight-knit attitude. During your prospective period, you'll be expected to ride a certain number of events and earn a minimum of points

Once you do become a member, you are expected to race all scheduled events, or help with the pits. If you're injured and can still walk, you better show up to help with the pitting activities.

EVEN MORE STORIES!

Ted Lapadaikis, the old DKW distributor for the West Coast, was a Checker, and he used to field the fastest Deeks in the world. Once, he challenged Jimmy Camaret (another Checker) to a drag race. Jimmy laughed. He was riding a brutal 400 Husky and Ted was on a 200 DKW.
The Deek simply blew the Husky away, and Ted just laughed. Rumors had it that Ted had figured out a way to make the Deeks close to 350cc, or maybe even more. He also had access to all the trick Six Days parts. Small wonder, then, that the "small-bore" bikes started to get overall wins.

Remember the scene from On Any Sunday where the camera is on J.N. Roberts as he's streaking across the desert at a high rate of speed? Well, right on his tail was Jimmy Camaret, riding a big 650 Triumph. Jimmy was getting ready to put the pass on J.N., because J.N. had his Husky all wound out, and Jimmy had just slipped into top gear and was closing fast.

Out of the clear blue sky (literally), a helicopter dropped down to film J.N. and threw up a giant cloud of dust that made Jimmy drop back. The chopper was only 15 feet off the ground, and every time Jimmy went left, the chopper went left, and when he went right, the chooper went right. Jimmy finally had enough of the airborne dust and was forced to fall back.

NEVER SAY QUIT!

During the '69 or '70 (dates are fuzzy) Barstow-to-Vegas race, Rich Thorwaldson was leading the race on his BSA/Rickman/ Westlake, and pulled into the pits for gas. The bike was running ragged and blue flames were coming out of the exhaust pipe. Bob Heron was working the pits at the time, and he suggested that Rich shut down the bike while re fueling. Rich said no, and the crew started pouring gas.
The gas vapors curled over the edge of the tank, and the bike suddenly went up in flames! Rich jumped off the bike and it fell to the ground. The crew put the fire out with their bare hands, literally burying the Beezer under the sand.

When the fire was out, the bike was a crispy critter, and Thor figured it was all over. No way. "Kick it over and get going!" yelled Heron. Thor booted the BSA and it lit off. He took off, promptly got two flats, and still somehow managed to finish and salvage a third overall.

Early '70s. Stoddard Wells Road in the Mojave Desert. There was a five-mile run to the smoke bomb, but the crafty Checkers had thoroughly scoped out the terrain, and found a smooth, fast fire road two miles off the course. They all lined up and blitzed it off to the bomb via the fire road. At the bomb, an estimated 15 to 20 Checkers were there before anyone else, adding immeasurably to the legend.

MORE FAMOUS NAMES

Howard Hawks, the movie director, was also a Checker, and was good pals with John Wayne. Once, the Checkers wanted to have a race go across some land that was on a Marine base in the desert. Hawks called Wayne, who rode a few times with the Checkers, and The Duke placed a call to some friends in the Pentagon. Sure enough, a few hours later, they received official permission to use the military land for their race.

Legend has it that Clark Gable was a Checker. Famed flattracker Gene Romero also wore the black and white colors