The 1986 250R Ninja was in a sorry state when I first laid eyes on it at the Gary Nixon estate sale. Nixon's Ninja was truly ridden hard and put away wet. I was drawn to it, but concerned it had slipped too far to be saved. Nobody else seemed to pay it much attention.
The auction was staged by Nixon's lifelong friend and fellow fomer flat track racer, Bob Sholly. The event was a family-like affair, with a small group of friends, admirers and the curious who assembled in York, Pa in July, 2012 to get a chance to buy something that belonged to their hero, the late, great American racer, Gary Nixon. He was AMA Grand National Champion on Triumph motorcycles in 1967 and 1968. He had 19 AMA Victories and spent 22 years as a top level professional racer for Triumph, Suzuki, Yamaha and Kawasaki. He was also the subject of the widely read book,
Racer: The story of Gary Nixon by Joe Scalzo.
Wife Mary Nixon and daughter Kary Ann shared stories, laughed and cried as Nixon's huge collection of personal property was sold. They had already taken the things that meant most to them, but there was so much more than any family could keep. They knew it was Gary's wishes to share this with his fans, and they were very gracious to do so.
While I was hoping to purchase one of Gary's 250cc Triumph short trackers, they quickly escalated out of my price range. $20,000.00 per machine would see them off to private collections in the mid-west and Las Vegas. Leathers, helmets, trophies, tools, books, photos; a lifetime of swag that accumulated in his shop was sold off piece by piece.
Nixon had two Kawasaki Ninja's. The La Carrera bike and a newer model he bought as a salvage item and would ride until shortly before his death at the age of seventy. The scruffy La Carrera Ninja did not draw many bids at all, except for a phone bidder and myself. I stood up and held my bidders card high - in for a penny in for a pound, right? My rival bidder made me pay way too much for the bike, but I was determined to own it. He did end up with the later green 250 Ninja which sold for about the same money as mine.
Upon seeing the Nixon Ninja, my friends thought I had lost my mind, but my brother chimed in that A) it was the most famous 250 Ninja in the world, and B) Nixon logged more miles (14,990) on it than any machine he ever owned. Battle scarred and beaten, it would take a sympathetic hand to bring it back to road worthiness but ' not wipe the Nixon off it' as a friend cautioned me. Preservation would be key, not returning the bike to showroom condition. Ace mechanic Gilbert Patterson of Delaware was charged with bringing the bike back and really got the job done. About a year after we got it back together, the engine was feeling tired. Instead of swapping in a later engine, we did a full rebuild at significant expense to sort things out.
So how did this little machine win the heart of one America's most iconic road racers, the late Gary Nixon, the famous number 9 of Triumph and Kawasaki fame? Perhaps it was the similarity to his early Yamaha roadracers; light, flickable and a definite need to be revved. Nixon joined a group of ex- racers and motor-journalists for the 1986 Mexican Road Race, the La Carrera Classic, a 115 mile race from San Felipe to Ensenada. He chose the Kawasaki 250R Ninja as his weapon of choice. At the designated time of the start, he closed his face shield and was gone in a flash, throttle to the stop until the checkered flag dropped. His average speed was 88 mph, which, when one considers a fuel stop, falling off the bike once and other distractions along the course, was really hauling the mail as they say. Holy Guacamole!
The Kawasaki 250R Ninja is not the most exciting motorcycle in the world by any stretch of the imagination. In the pantheon of modern sportbikes, it is the two-wheeled equivalent of the Mazda Miata compared to a Ferrari 348. The Miata, like the littlest Ninja, is both fun and frugal, the Ferrari fast and furious. Yet, as club racers around globe know, a well driven Miata is a joy to behold as the driftability and balance are nothing short of amazing. Such is the joy of the 250R Ninja. Wind up the tach to 8,000 rpm and the pace quickens. Keep the throttle pinned to 12,000 or even 14,000 and now you're cooking....with 30 horsepower, you'll need all the momentum you get. The key is to keep it on the boil. Momentum is everything,very much like racing a two-stroke 125 road racer.
Apparently the Skoal decal was put on by Nascar star
'Handsome Harry' Gant at a Rolex 24 Race Nixon attended.
Nixon would return to the La Carrera next year, but he deemed it too dangerous (and that's saying something!) so he chose a Chrysler LeBarron rental car to race. Given his love of rental cars, no doubt he chose to leave out the fact that he would be actually racing their car that weekend. It is true that he did once drive a rental car into a swimming pool in Daytona in the 1970's. Hey, that's the kind of sometimes wild and crazy guy he could be.
If asked, he sometimes revealed some of these tales as if they happened yesterday, sharing stories of drunken debauchery and high-speed high jinks. But to write off Gary Nixon as a merely a partying buffoon would be a great diservice to the man and the racer. He was, in fact, a loving father to his children and loving husband to his wife. He was fiercely loyal to his friends and sponsors. He was a man who loved nature, his dog and he appreciated hard work and the rewards that it brought.
Nixon opened his home to his fellow racers year after year and nutured the career of many an aspiring racer. He was demanding too: if you couldn't do one-armed push-ups, you'd never make it as a racer, he said. Then he'd drop to the floor and demonstrate he could still do it when men half his age were still struggling to master the difficult excercise.
Gary was away most weekends at events small and large. One week he'd be rubbing elbows with Valentino Rossi at the Indy Grand Prix, the next he'd be hawking t-shirts at the York Fairgounds. He hustled, he was not one to waste a day when there was fun or money to be had.
Hey, I Won !
True story: a few years back, Nixon was a guest of honor at an upscale car and motorcycle event. At the end of the day, we were loading up his van with his race bikes, table and posters he always travelled with. I noticed a small boy, maybe ten years old yanking on his very distracted father's arm. The boy said, "Dad ! Dad! That's Gary Nixon!" Well, Nixon swung around and looked down at the boy and with a big smile. "How'd you know my name?" he asked the kid, whose father now was paying attention. "My granddad says you were the best racer ever!" Well, Nixon smiled broadly and handed the kid a poster. "Kid, your grandad was right," he said. He then spent the next few minutes speaking with the father and son. As we continued to load up, he wiped away a tear and put his sunglasses back on. I don't know what was more surprising, the kid knowing Nixon's name or Nixon giving away a free poster, but it was something I'll never forget. He jumped in his van and was gone.
And then he was gone.
At his funeral service in August 2011, there were tears, but there was also a lot of laughter. Nixon truly enjoyed life to the limit every day. He was, in a word, unforgettable. A man small in stature, but big in heart. A true hero.
