The year was 1972. Mike McSween of Fort Pierce, Florida, had just finished a tour in Vietnam and was in Yokosuka, Japan, preparing to ship out for home, where he planned to road race.
So he needed a roadracer. And what better place to buy one than in Japan?
So he bought a brand-spanking new 1972 130-horsepower two-stroke Kawasaki H2 roadracer and took it with him aboard the aircraft carrier USS Constellation for the trip home.
He raced the machine in the 1970s and '80s. On Sunday, July 27, 2008, at the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum Bike Show at AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio, McSween's pristine roadracer earned Best of Show honors in the Japanese motorcycle division.
Several museums have asked McSween to donate his machine to them. And one day, he says, he will, but not just yet.
"I enjoy letting young people look at history," McSween said about entering the bike in the show. "That's what I like to do."
On this day, seven-time AMA national enduro champion Bill Baird, serving as one of the grand marshals of Vintage Motorcycle Days, has a tough job: to pick his favorite bike among the scores of British and Japanese machines entered in the show.
After a lot of scrutiny of machines and a lot of thought, Baird gave the Grand Marshal's Choice Award to Jim and Joan Vandergriff of Kansas City, Kansas, for their 1917 Model H Triumph.
"It's beautiful," Baird said. "I wish I had it."
The Vandergriffs own about 40 motorcycles, and they said they bought this motorcycle sight unseen.
"Our love is British bikes," Joan said.
Download the complete list of VMD Bike Show winners (PDF).