HARLEY-DAVIDSON - "PEASHOOTER"

No brakes, no gears, no problem! The Harley-Davidson “Peashooter” was a full-on racing machine. Anything that didn’t help it go faster was just dead weight that was removed in a quest for victory.

Introduced in 1926, the 350cc singles were Milwaukee's response to Indian's Prince of the same displacement. They came in two variants, an economical side-valve for general lightweight transportation, or the more ferocious over-head-valve version. Known as the 'Peashooter' because of its staccato exhaust note, the 350cc roadster engine produced 8 horsepower, while the OHV racing version produced 12 horsepower and came equipped with a magneto.

The racer gained its performance advantage thanks to special combustion chambers designed by British engineer Harry Ricardo. A design feature called a 'squish band' created turbulence in the fuel charge, resulting in a fuller burn and thereby greater horsepower. In addition, the competition Peashooter engine also featured pressure oil feed to most of the bearings and had a sodium-cooled exhaust valve. It also featured a shorter wheelbase than the roadster and weighing only 215lbs, the racing "Peashooter" possessed an excellent power-to-weight ratio too.

Although introduced in the mid-1920s, the Peashooter's heyday was the early 1930s. By this time virtually all the expensive-to-maintain banked wooden board tracks closed and the focus of American motorcycle sport shifted back towards flat-track racing where the 350cc Harley excelled in the 21' cubic inch "Class A" . Flat track racing had started in the early 1900s on half-mile and mile-long horse tracks which were loosely  surfaced, hence the alternative name of "dirt-track" racing. The "Peashooter was also exported and proved its worth on the speedway circuits of Australia and Europe.

Harley-Davidson factory rider Joe Petrali

By the mid-1930s the focus of American racing had switched to the production-based "Class C" machines and the British J.A.P. engine had replaced virtually everything in the speedway world... The "Peashooter's" day had passed.

HARLEY-DAVIDSON CAC SPEEDWAY MODEL - 1934

The Harley-Davidson CAC 500cc single port speedway model is very rare and not much is really known about its history. One came up for auction in Las Vegas a few years ago and the owner talked about it to Rick Newlee. It appears that there were 12 of these machines built, the whereabouts of 9 of them is known but nobody is sure what happened to the other 3. It appears that H-D factory rider Joe Petrali was the man instrumental in getting these machines built. Joe had more or less begged Harley-Davidson to build the bikes, but they were not really interested. Joe hung around the H-D plant and pestered them until they gave in to Joe's wishes on the condition that he built it himself (or hired his own people). Other conditions were that he could only use the plant on weekends and he must leave the workshop in good clean order come Monday. He also had to put the Harley-Davidson name on the bike (just in case it became a success!). After a few of the CAC machines were built and tested, Joe tried to persuade Harley-Davidson to put the CAC machines into production for a second time, however the tests did not go as well as expected and the engines didn't make the power he had hoped for. It appears that Joe had copied the British J.A.P. engines to some degree, but had a problem with the cams and the cam timing. Harley-Davidson decided not to get involved and the project ended.

Joe Petrali, also known as "Smokin' Joe" to others, left a huge mark in the world of motorcycles. His career in motorcycles spanned from the mid 20s on into the mid to late 30s riding in everything from board track races, dirt track races, land speed records and hillclimbs. Joe is part of the AMA motorcycle Hall of Fame and a full account of his successes are available to read here

Joe Petrali on his factory Harley-Davidson racer in 1925

UPDATE>>>

I recently found this publicity photograph of Walter Davidson sitting on a CAC at the model launch.