From 1946 through 1953 a single race, the Springfield Mile, decided who would be crowned the AMA’s seasonal champion. Winning Springfield also determined who wore the coveted Number One plate the following year.
Then, in 1954, the AMA changed the National Championship format into a season-long series of points-paying races. Competition took place on dirt tracks including Shorttrack, Half-Mile and Mile ovals, plus TT (dirt steeple chase) and Road Races on pavement. Each event paid points toward the seasonal championship.
The first series champion was Joe Leonard who topped the field with seven race wins (of 18 events) for 1954. Ironically, the Springfield Mile was among his wins.
Regardless of who won what and where, the racing remained as exciting as before, but it was the Mile races in particular that offered the most thrills and chills, and for good reason. Mile racetracks’ two long straightaways, connected at both ends by seemingly endless sweeping left-hand turns, translated to close racing, a reality that remains to this day.
Among the Mile races that enthusiasts favored most was the San Jose Mile, run at the Santa Clara Fairgrounds in San Jose, California, from 1957 through 1993 (some years the Mile was joined by a companion points-paying race at one of the fairground’s two smaller tracks, the Half-Mile and Shorttrack ovals).
But it was the San Jose Mile that truly captured enthusiasts’ hearts. In his 1975 race report for Cycle magazine, technical editor Jess Thomas referred to this stop on the AMA’s championship circuit as “The Mile.” For good reason, too. In terms of close racing, the San Jose Mile offered excitement that was unmatched, even at other Mile venues.
How The was the San Jose Mile? Here’s what 1970 AMA Grand National Champion, the late, great Gene Romero, once said: “If you haven’t seen a San Jose Mile, you haven’t seen a motorcycle race.” And Romero was a San Jose expert — in 1973 he won perhaps the closest race on the fabled track, beating future AMA Grand National Champion Gary Scott by “an eyelash,” as one source put it. Addendum to that piece of history, the two previous years Romero had won on the fairground’s Half-Mile oval, while Scott scored his deserved San Jose Mile win in 1977.
Clearly, though, San Jose’s biggest draw was the racing itself. Long hard-packed straights allowed for easy drafting, resulting in close racing that often developed into a freight train of thundering Harleys, Triumphs, Yamahas, Hondas and Nortons battling for 25 vicious laps. The tight racing always captured everybody’s attention, even that of seasoned tuners such as Ron Wood whose Nortons were among the fastest on the track. Once, while viewing from his infield perch, the renowned bike builder uttered, to no one in particular, “I love this kind of racing.” ‘Nuff said.
Originally published as “San Jose — THE Mile” in the September/October 2023 issue of Motorcycle Classics magazine.
