An indoor flat track race packed the house at Madison Sqaure Garden in 1971.
Promoter Don Brymer dreamed up the crazy idea holding a motorcycle race in the middle of a big city, specifically New York City and Madison Square Garden. Brymer could make a tidy little profit with 3000 spectators in his indoor races in Long Beach, Calif., he’d need three, maybe even four times that just to break even in New York. It was a big gamble, but Brymer was confident that the New York area had plenty of motorcycle racing fans.
Terry Tiernan, Vice President of Yamaha America, agreed to give Yamaha’s backing to the Madison Square Garden race at Daytona in March of 1970. Tiernan was hanging out with Malcolm Forbes at the races that year and when the deal was made Forbes invited Brymer to fly with him and Tiernan back to New York so he could finalize plans.
“We flew back to New York on Malcolm’s private jet,” Brymer said. “When we landed there was a limo waiting for me and they drove me straight the Madison Square Garden offices.”
With Yamaha’s sponsorship and the agreement with Madison Square Garden Brymer set up an office in New York City and went to work lining up top riders and getting the word out to potential fans. The build up for the race was incredible. He brought in movie stars and celebrity athletes to help promote the race. The New York Times covered it and a young TV newsman named Geraldo Rivera reported on the scene.
Brymer’s intuition proved correct. There were tons of motorcycle racing fans in New York City and on January 25, 1971 they packed the Garden to the rafters 17,500 strong.
In qualifying Yamaha’s Keith Mashburn bettered 129 other riders and won the pole with a time 8.61 seconds. First-year Expert Al Kenyon went on and led start to finish in the final on a Bultaco. He won $2740.
“People couldn’t get tickets and were lined up outside buying from scalpers at $20 a pop,” Brymer recalls. “The Harley-Davidson folks were among those who thought I was crazy and wouldn’t back me and they were right out there trying to get tickets with the rest of them.”