Steel & Thunder: The Rivalry Between Harley-Davidson and Indian
These American motorcycle manufacturers have been in constant battle as to who is the ‘best’ for many years now. This rivalry usually takes the form of racing, although circuit racing wasn’t high on the agenda in the early days. Today, there is the King of the Bagger series in the States where the ‘racing’ versions of the Harley-Davidson Road Glide and the Indian Challenger have been competing, which saw Australian Superbike rider, Troy Herfoss win the 2024 championship on an Indian Challenger.
For Australian fans of American bikes, there is the Roaring Sporties, with the riders competing on modern-day Sportster H-Ds along with XB Buells and the Harley vs Indian Handshift Battle for pre-1943 bikes.
For the handshifters, the rules require the bikes to have a maximum engine capacity of 750cc, three-speed handshift gear change and a rigid rear end, which can make for challenging riding, especially when the gear shift is on the same side as the throttle, as is the case with some of the bikes. Then of course, the rigid rear end doesn’t help when it comes to a bumpy track. The majority of the bikes are either WLA H-Ds or Indian Scouts, with a few Sport Scouts in the mix.
Harley-Davidson vs Indian: The Ultimate American Motorcycle Rivalry
The series is based in Melbourne, yet several riders travel from interstate to compete. The racing is a family affair, at least as far as the Birthisels, Chegwiddens and Petiths are concerned with both father and son competing. Mick & Clint Chegwidden along with Peter and Mason Birthisel are Indian diehards, while there is a bit of added rivalry with Mick Petith favouring an Indian Scout and son Jack astride a Harley-Davidson.
The first round of the battle was held as part of the HMRAV state titles at the Broadford track on what turned out to be an almost perfect weekend for racing, just a tad warm with the temperature nudging the high twenties. Eighteen riders, nine Indians and nine H-Ds competed with the Harleys winning the Handshift Battle, at least until the next round.
While the Harleys came out as the winners, there were numerous battles amongst the riders, making for entertaining racing for both the riders and spectators. One of note was between the two leading riders, #97 Jack Petith, who happened to set the fastest lap of 1.16.007 in race 3 for the weekend, and #30 Adam Moxley, who won all four races with Jack coming a close second. Both were riding WLA Harley-Davidsons.
Further back in the field was Ross Bolding, partaking in an interesting battle with Clint Chegwidden and Mason Birthisel who happened to clock the fastest time of 1.18.385 for an Indian. Mason was also the leading Indian rider, finishing fourth for the weekend.
The Pits
A wander through the pits will reveal some riders relaxing whilst others are working on their bikes, usually with assistance from other competitors. This has even extended to a bike with a mechanical issue ‘donating’ parts, enabling other riders to continue the weekend’s racing.
The race meet isn’t just about the Handshifters, but includes numerous other classes from Period 1 through Period 5, to which can be added some sidecar action. Amongst the various race bikes are some that dominated racing in their day. These include the likes of Nordians, a couple of Indian Altoonas, Manx Nortons, Vincents and BSAs.
Italians include TT2 Ducatis and a factory Harley-Davidson Aermacchi Ala De Oro from 1966. The Japanese were represented by TZ350 Yamahas and a XR69 Suzuki, some ‘widow maker’ Kawasaki two-stroke triples were also competing. Even the car park had some interesting bikes, such as some military MotoGuzzis, a 750cc Norton Commando and a Triton parked next to an old Ford ute. If you’ve never been to a classic race meet, then add it to your ‘must do’ list, you won’t be disappointed…
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