The historic racing motorcycle world loses Rob Iannucci
I sit here tonight reflecting on the loss of a giant in the world of historic racing motorcycles. Robert Iannucci was the well-known owner of Team Obsolete based in Brooklyn, New York. For the last 40 years, the team has been front and center on the grid with some of the best historic racing motorcycles of the classic era, British, Italian, and American. Bringing in great riders, Robert was farsighted in seeing the need to keep the historic machines in motion, to be seen and heard by crowds the world over.
I had the pleasure of visiting Team Obsolete’s headquarters regularly and getting to know the guys who worked behind the scenes. The complex job of maintaining and developing obsolete and rare racers to stay competitive without destroying their original content, knowing their limitations, is challenging, expensive, and never-ending. Somehow, these rare bikes were carefully recommissioned and put to the test on race tracks, usually with David Roper riding, for the world to see and hear.
Rob was challenged by his declining health for the last few years, but he continued to forge ahead, making do and making plans. Plans for the next motorcycle, the next event, the next race, were all being worked out when Rob passed away. There was more to come, more adventures to have, more work to be finished, more bikes to acquire.
Long-time mechanic for Team Obsolete, Seth Rosco, offers, “I’m still reeling from the loss of my mentor and dear friend. His legacy is not only the extraordinary motorcycles he saved and raced, but the living culture he helped create — proof that passion, when paired with discipline and vision, can become history itself. We here at Team Obsolete fully intend to honor Rob’s legacy by continuing to rescue, restore, and race the bikes he so loved.”
We’ll not likely forget Robert Iannucci any time soon. His quest to keep important and historic racers circulating at speed was admirable and unequaled in success, but it was the people he met, the riders, the fans, the mechanics, his family, and friends that made it such a rich and worthwhile endeavor for him. Godspeed, Robert.
—John Lawless
Remembering Doug Mitchel
Doug Mitchel loved photography and anything with wheels. The author of 24 books, many about motorcycles, hot rods, and custom car culture, his photographs graced the pages of this magazine along with many other publications.
Doug’s brother, Chris, remembers that Doug started working with a lens at a very young age. Doug began taking pictures of Chris’s cars in high school. Entirely self-taught, Doug never went to photography or art school. He developed a knack for presenting motor vehicles at their best and was soon selling photos of classic cars. From there, he branched out into motorcycles. Chris remembers that Doug owned a big-bore Yamaha during the 1980s, and then he acquired a Triumph.
Marilyn Stemp was the editor of IronWorks Magazine, a publication that failed to survive the stampede to digital publication. She says, “Back in the days when a plethora of print media sumptuously covered motorcycling from every angle, editors were inundated by contributors who wanted page space for their words and images. Editors had tons of options and, speaking for myself, I worked with people I could count on. For decades, Doug Mitchel was one of them: always offering bikes that fit the IronWorks paradigm, turning in stellar images and doing so on time. Doug persisted in pleasant and pre-emptive professionalism, often sending a sample image when he discovered an “IronWorks Bike” on his travels. He was an unpaid scout when we couldn’t afford one! Doug’s unique personality infused our work exchanges with off-beat sidebars and perspective. His pervasive positivity was contagious — and legendary. Anyone who had the happy occasion to work with Doug knows this.”
Margie Siegal met Doug in the early 1990s when she was making the jump from writing for regional publications to national publications. He was assigned to shoot several of the bikes she was writing about, and turned her on to a book project, which, unfortunately, was never published. She says: “Doug was always pleasant, on time with assignments, and easy to work with. He also had a unique sense of humor!”
Doug Mitchel knew just about everyone in the classic motorcycle, classic car, and custom car worlds. Jill Parham, widow of John Parham, former owner of J&P Cycles and Chairman, National Motorcycle Museum, remembers, “John and I met Doug many, many years ago at our J&P promotions events, and he continued to follow us through our making of the National Motorcycle Museum, which was Doug’s favorite place to shoot photographs. After John’s death, Doug continued to support me at the museum until his health problems increased.”
In the last few years, Doug struggled with health problems while continuing to work. He shot all the photos for the Paul Oxman Classic Motorcycle Calendar for many years, and finished selecting and processing the images for the 2027 calendar only a few months before he died. Don Keefe, publisher of Impala News, stated, “I have one car feature that he shot for me that’s still in the can — it was probably one of the last that he ever did. It will be published soon in Impala News, and we will be doing a tribute to him in that issue.”
From all of us in the magazine world: “Godspeed, Doug”
—Margie Siegal and Marilyn Stemp
Flying Floyd: The Motorcycling Life of Floyd Emde
Flying Floyd: The Motorcycling Life of Floyd Emde is Don Emde’s biography of the legendary motorcycle racing and business career of his father, Floyd Emde. I found myself turning pages and seeing wonderful photos tracing Floyd’s racing career, reading the informative captions, then reading the detailed text on a second pass. Don has been gathering photos and periodicals covering more than 100 years of American motorcycling, has over a dozen tall file cabinets filled with great documents and photos, and he can write and publish exceptional history books with these rare materials. Important is that Don uses primary source publications; magazines published in the era, and personal written notes after every race, as Don’s mother, Florence, was keeping hand-written results in the souvenir programs.
But there’s a tipping point in Floyd’s history. How does a really good racer (husband and father of two) decide to make a living racing full-time, with no other source of income? Among the exceptional and interesting turns of events, we learn that Floyd’s wife, Florence, was key to his leaving his solid job in aviation manufacturing and going racing; full-time racing, traveling race to race. It was Florence’s idea! This is just one of many great stories in Don Emde’s book about his father, Floyd, and mother, Florence, tracing his career as a racer, then dealer in southern California. We also see Don turn pro, and with his 1972 Daytona 200 win, he and Floyd are the only father and son to have won the Daytona 200, 24 years apart.
Flying Floyd: The Motorcycling Life of Floyd Emde includes:
- Floyd Emde’s forty years as a pro racer, dealership owner, and race bike builder
- Floyd and Florence’s personal race notes, images of original programs, and other period materials
- 420 pages, hardbound, 10 x 12 format, 1,000+ images taken by Bob Magill, Shorty Campbell, and other top photographers
- This title is available at store.MotorcycleClassics.com or by calling 800-880-7567. Item #12733.
—Mark Mederski
