Gary Nixon
1996, Competition
Born in Anadarko, Oklahoma on January 25th, 1941, he wanted to be a sports star when he grew up. He was pretty good at Football, but everybody got bigger. He was a good Basketball player, but everybody got taller. He was good at Baseball, because he could hit, pitch and field real good. one game he made an unassisted triple play, in another game he made a grand slam home run on a bunt. When he was pitching, he would try to hit the first batter, which made most of the other players back away. Well, he got hit in the head with a baseball bat that one of his teammates was swinging when he was heading to the bench to set down. Then he decided that maybe that was a little too dangerous, so he decided that he wanted to be a Motorcycle Racer........ and be number 1.
He set out to attain that goal as follows:
1958-Started racing professionally as an unlisted B Rider. That meant that he had to race with the listed B Riders and the Experts. He did not make much money that year, but he had started learning how to race. He won the Oklahoma State Scrambles Championship.
1959-Was a listed B Rider and was 6th in the nation in the point standings.
1960-Was an Expert with a lot to learn.
1962-Was noticed at the Sturgis Races and received a National Number the next year.
1963-Won his first National i n Windber, PA and the Santa Fe Short Track in Chicago 3 weeks later.
1967-Won the Daytona 100 Miler on Saturday, came back and won the 200 Miler on Sunday. He won the #1 plate that year and again in 1968.
1969-Crashed at a Mile Race in Santa Rosa, California, because of a transmission problem. There were no hay bales guarding the 4 X 4 fence post that he hit, it compound fractured his left femur.
1973-Won the United States Road Race Championship, and was 3rd overall in the nation.
1974-Was on his way to Europe to: win the world Championship, when he had an engine seizure at a test track in Japan, hitting a tree 12 feet in the air at 120 MPH.
1975-Set out most of the year trying to get his arms to heal.
1976-He and Erv Kanemoto won the Formula 750 World Road Race Championship Title. Then lost it Politically, thanks to the European FIM and the AMA.
1979-Quit Professional Racing to concentrate on his business.
1985-Was Team Manager for Jim Frances' "Super Team" at Daytona 200 throughout 1985 and 1986.
1995-Won the Legends Race at Daytona.
1996-Tied Jay Springsteen in the Legends Race at Daytona. His goal is to win the #1 Plate as Assistant Team Manager for Total Control Racing.
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