Century-old motorcycles never get old for Cannonball racers

Editor's note: This story has been changed to correct the age of a motorcycle that was mentioned.

All Ernie Trakas could do was rub his jaw and laugh as Michael Gontesky rattled through the steps to coax the 104-year-old Harley-Davidson to life.

Gas, oil, clutch, and the thing started up. Its engine turned over with all the grace of a hand-crank Ford buggy, but it started, and that's what mattered.

"Unreal, man," Trakas said. "Unreal."

At 74, Gontesky was one of the oldest riders competing in this year's Race of the Century, also known as the Cannonball, a 3,400-mile transcontinental endurance race for motorcycles at least a century old. He and the other 100-or-so riders came puttering across the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge for a pit stop Wednesday afternoon in downtown Cape Girardeau.

Doc Hopkins of Wisconsin rides a 1916 Harley Davidson motorcycle with wicker side car Wednesda across the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge as part of the Race of the Century that stopped in Cape Girardeau.Fred Lynch

For vintage-bike-lovers such as Trakas, the race is a rare treat. He came from St. Louis to see the rolling exhibit and to catch up with Gontesky, a longtime friend.

"We used to race Ducatis all over the country," Trakas said.

The pair met in the 1960s at a Waffle House in Georgia after realizing they both were on their way to Daytona for a race. Their shared obsession with antique bikes hasn't faded; you might call them collectors.

"I've been selling them off," Gontesky said. "I have about 20 [motorcycles]. Trying to thin it out a bit."

He participated in the race in 2014, as well. He said it had been a disaster, but taught him how to do it better this year.

Mike Carson of Texas, riding a 1914 British Warrick customized motorcycle, is directed by Matt Dunaway to the parking area Wednesday as part of the Race of the Century in downtown Cape Girardeau.Fred Lynch

"The logistics," he said. "The support team you have to have is important."

Every racer has a support team of some sort. The bikes are 100 years old, after all, and need nightly maintenance. But once the race begins, the rules prohibit anyone other than the rider from working on the motorcycle, making the Cannonball that much more grueling.

At another bike, rider Jeff Erdman explained to a particularly impressed man about keeping the bike on the road. Erdman keeps spares of just about every piece on a trailer that follows him. Where, the man asked, does one even get spare parts for a 100-year-old machine?

"You make 'em," he said. "There are some parts that you can still buy, but in some cases, yeah just make it yourself."

Erdman bought his 1916 Harley out of a barn, where it had been badly neglected, and restored it.

"Just couldn't bring myself to paint it, though," he said. "That's probably 80-year-old paint on it still."

Erdman's first race, he said, hadn't been as uncomfortable as he might have guessed.

"Just under your seat, that's your only suspension. And a little bit right here," he said, tapping the front frame. "But that doesn't do much. You really gotta lift up on the bumps. It's the bumps that hurt."

But bumps and all, he said, the experience is phenomenal.

"What's a better way to see America than on a 100-year-old motorcycle, riding on the back roads?" he asked.

In the van as a support-team member, suggested 23-year-old rider Tanner Whitton.

He had been a support tech in 2012 and 2014 and said he wasn't sure whether riding or supporting was harder.

"They both have their pros and cons," he said. "But when you're on a support team, you get to take a nap."

New York rider Steve DeCosa had only been riding for two years when he decided to try his first Cannonball in 2014. His brothers had ridden motorcycles since childhood, but he had been interested only in cars. That changed somewhere during that first transcontinental trip. Now he loves the haggard wheezing of an antique bike, even if they go only about 45 mph.

And the best part of the trip? His favorite section of the country to ride through?

"Cape Girardeau!" he said. "Especially now that I know how to pronounce it."

tgraef@semissoruian.com

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