Archives: Hurley Wilvert 1944-2018

Larry Lawrence | August 21, 2018

Hurley Wilvert’s third-place finish in the 1974 Daytona 200 goes down in history as one of the most improbable in the history of the race. In five years of national racing Wilvert had only finished on the podium once before and that was at another superspeedway with a road course – Charlotte Motor Speedway. Still, the 1974 field was one of the deepest in the history of the Daytona 200. By then the foreign rider entry phenomenon was in full effect.

Archives: Hurley Wilvert 1944-2018

In spite of the fuel crisis going on in the country at that point, fans still managed to pack Daytona International Speedway. They came to see the legend Giacomo Agostini make his Daytona debut. That was big news, as big as it gets in motorcycle racing and an estimated crowd of 60,000 were on hand, very likely the largest crowd ever to that point to see a motorcycle road race in America.

Wilvert barely even got to Daytona that year. Kawasaki had to endure drastic cutbacks to its racing programs in 1974, due in large part to the gas crisis. From a team of five and sometimes even six factories riders in 1973, it was down to just Yvon DuHamel and Art Baumann. Kawasaki’s Road Racing Coordinator Randy Hall managed to keep Wilvert on the team, although Hurley was not factory contracted and if he was to have a mechanic he would have to pay him out of his own pocket. Wilvert brought his friend George Vukmonovich on board to turn the wrenches.

Wilvert made due with parts from the ’73 H2-R machines, while DuHamel and Baumann got updated ’74 models. But Wilvert was a mechanic extraordinaire. He and George V took his cobbled together Kawasaki and made it sing. Being the B-rider meant that at times he was used as a testbed for new parts. Such was the case in the ’74 Daytona 200. Wilvert was given a Randy Hall-designed prototype frame, which actually gave him a handling advantage over his teammates.

In the race Agostini showed why he was seven-times 500cc World Champion. After a bit of a battle with Gary Nixon, Ago set sail and easily won the race. In a race full of attrition, Kenny Roberts, with a cracked exhaust on his Yamaha, nursed it home to second and Wilvert came home third after a steady race.

While that was inarguably his best-known result, lesser known was the fact that Wilvert did a good bit of international racing as well.

In 1975 he was invited to race in the FIM Formula 750 class at Assen, Holland. At the time Formula 750 was an unofficial world championship series derived from the American 750cc racing formula. The class was granted full world-championship status in 1977. At Assen, Wilvert, little known outside the U.S., stunned the Dutch crowd by leading nearly the entire second leg until being passed on the final corner by Jack Findlay.

Wilvert leads the Formula 750 International race at Assen. He stunned the crowd, who’d never heard of Wilvert, by leading the entire way until the final turn.

Wilvert passed away last Monday after colliding with a car while riding his motorcycle on the street. He was 74. Wilvert was an avid touring rider these days, have retired from club and vintage racing a few years back, he would sometimes even ride cross-country from his home in New Mexico to visit relatives back East.

Besides his considerable racing exploits, Wilvert also was part of a team of eight riders in 1973 to set a new 24-hour motorcycle speed record on a Kawasaki Z1 at Daytona. The leading Z1 went 2,630.402 miles at 109.602 mph, beating the previous 24-hour record by nearly 20 mph. In all, the three-day effort claimed 46 AMA and FIM performance records.

Wilvert was also key in helping move the AMA along in recognizing Superbike as a national class. Steve McLaughlin and John Ulrich had written up a proposal for the potential new class, but they needed a rider who was well liked to represent the proposal and according to McLaughlin, Wilvert was the perfect candidate. Not long after Wilvert presented the proposal AMA Superbike became a national series. McLaughlin adds that Wilvert was also instrumental in helping formulate rules to include four-strokes in the old AMA Formula One National class.

After his pro career was over Wilvert took it upon himself to help other riders get into the sport of road racing.

Former pro racer Malcolm Hill talks about his first meeting with Wilvert.

“I was 17 years old with a Yamaha R5 used for transportation…a step up from my 90cc enduro. Through moto mags I began following roadracing. I became a fan. I had a poster of Paul Smart hanging off a Kawasaki 750 in my bedroom. I had recently read a story on Daytona where Hurley finished third and included color pic of the green 39. So, I’m riding home in my Westminster neighborhood when by chance I look down a long driveway to a backyard garage and there is the green 39 faced to the street. I could not believe it! I built the courage to trespass to the garage and introduced myself to Hurley and his then mechanic George V. who were both welcoming. Following small talk Hurley mentioned that my ride made for a good production race bike and suggested I race it at an upcoming race at OCIR. He offered to guide me to prepare the bike for the race track and to port the cylinders (had no clue what that meant at the time). He also found me a set of tattered ABC leathers to borrow through a friend of his. It all came together with Hurley’s encouragement and help. That OCIR club event was my first race. Weeks later I was back at the garage and Paul Smart was visiting Hurley. I didn’t share with Mr. Smart that I had a poster of him hanging in my room.”

Even with all of his accomplishments, Wilvert was humble and was even surprised if anyone remembered him according to former Cycle magazine associate editor Mark Homchick.

“At dinner one night on his trip through California visiting friends in June, Hurley was relating to us a few stories of his semi-recent trips to the Isle of Man and other classic events in the UK. He was absolutely amazed that people he did not know, from another country across the Atlantic, would come up to him to talk, and ask for an autograph. He couldn’t believe that anyone knew who he was, or would know his name. He was truly gratified, and in his typically understated way, he said “I guess I had an impact on some people. I couldn’t believe it.”