antique motorcycles on the AHRMA circuit.
PUBLISHED: Sept. 6, 2006 at 10 p.m. | UPDATED: Sept. 24, 2021 at 2:57 a.m.
https://www.thereporteronline.com/2006/08/29/newtown-racer-making-cycling-history/
By STEVE SHERMAN; For BUCKS LOCAL NEWS
He’s restored the interiors of some of the finest automobiles in the world-Best of Shows including last year’s top car in the Good Wood Revival. The Custom Martin Zegato that took the top prize in that event featured an interior restored by Newtown’s own Gary Maucher.
This 1974 graduate of Delhaas High School owns a 1963 Porsche Cabriolet and a ’64 Porsche Carrera II and is currently restoring the interiors of a 2002 MV Augusta and a 1969 Dodge Charger. Not just any ’69 Mopar but one of only 13 General Lees-the bright orange road hog used in the television series “The Dukes of Hazzard.” The ’02 Augusta features the only model in the world that was manufactured with a carbon fiber body.
So what does the man drive who toils so tirelessly over the fanciest of horseless carriages? Maucher’s main source of transport these days is a black pickup truck.
There’s a reason for that and it’s not work-related. Gary needs the truck to pursue his passion for motorcycle racing, a sport he’s competed in nationally for the past five years.
Maucher’s motorcycles and the class of racing that he competes in are as unique as the cars that he restores. One is a 1936 Indian Sport Scout-a 750 cc V-Twin equipped with a hand-shifter. Indian Motorcycles closed their manufacturing facilities for good in 1953 so Maucher must keep the bike in top racing form in order to compete on the Pre-1940 and the Class C Handshift racing circuit.
“Mechanically, the bikes are a nightmare because of their age,” he says. “The biggest effort comes in keeping them on the road long enough to finish a race.”
Approximately 10 times a year, Gary loads the Indian and his 1972 Norton Commando into the back of his truck before hitting the road to compete in his next race.
For Maucher and others just like him, the racing season begins in February at Daytona Beach. This year at Daytona, Gary was in second place on the Norton when he broke an axle.
“It wasn’t a good way to start the season,” he admitted.
Last year, bad fortune seemed to follow Maucher throughout the racing season. Aboard the Norton, he broke a crankshaft in every single race except for one. Toward the end of the season, he finally figured out that it wasn’t bad luck but rather a change in engine mounts that was causing all those motors to break.
“It was a tough year,” explained Maucher, “and, an expensive one.”
The good news is that Maucher is winning or “finally winning” as he puts it. Aboard the Indian, he crossed the finish line first in two races he entered in June including the Works Performance Historic Cup Series road race held June 17-18 at Grattan Raceway Park in Grattan, Michigan and another in that series held right here in the Keystone State June 24-25 at the Beaver Run Motorsports Complex in Wampum, Pennsylvania.
After coming up short his first four years on the circuit, Gary says, he’s winning now because he’s now learned how to handle the ’36.
“I’ve finally learned how to handle the bike,” stated Maucher. “I’m not scared to race it.”
“And, mechanically, it’s holding up.”
In a road race last year aboard his Commando, Gary was in first place, poised to win his first race in another series of events in which he also competes. In the dangerous game of motorcycle racing, however, just about anything can stand in one’s way of crossing the finish line. That time, for Maucher, it was the wind and the sand. The windy weather had blown sand on the track and the gritty stuff on the roadway became Gary’s undoing. Going into a turn, he lost traction. The bike went flying and so did Maucher, but he survived.
It’s dangerous, yes. Maucher knows he could get killed out there on the track [he’s seen others meet that fate] but he doesn’t think of the sport in those terms.
“You can’t go through life wishing you could do something,” said Maucher. “I enjoy it enough that I don’t worry about the danger.”
Maucher got involved in the sport of motorcycle racing in a manner similar to the way in which he started restoring automobiles. He taught himself.
While there are schools where one can learn how to race motorcycles, Maucher says, what they teach you is related to modern racing. “It’s hard to relate that to something this old,” says Gary.
And racing modern bikes is not for Maucher. “Pro motorcycle racing is a young person’s game; I’m past that,” he says. “I’m 50 years old. I have no plans to go anywhere. This is where I want to be with the organization.”
The group Maucher refers to is the Antique Historic Racing Motorcycle Association (AHRMA). Currently, AHRMA has Maucher ranked second in points with 4,406 in Class C Handshift. And while he’s led races aboard the Norton, he’s never won in that series of races that competes under the British European American Racing Series (BEARS) banner. Gary is currently ranked fourth in that series with 2,967.
In six of Maucher’s last eight races aboard the Indian, officials needed a photo finish to determine a winner. Gary led in every lap of every race, emerging victorious in just two of them.
“This sport is extremely competitive,” he says.
And while everybody out there on the track is out to win, they’re not above having some fun while they’re doing it. While leading the June 2006 race at Beaver Run aboard the Indian, the second place racer came up behind Gary and pinched his butt, of all things.
“At 80 miles-per-hour, you just don’t expect that,” quipped Maucher. “I guess he just wanted to let me know he was there.”
And while the man on the Harley passed Gary on that lap, Maucher went on to win this year’s race at Beaver Run.
The way Maucher’s historic racing career is developing, this racer with a history of his own, will see the winner’s circle quite a few more times before he decides to hang up his riding boots for good.