Harley-Davidson Posts Largest Contingency Package in American Flat Track History. $562,500 Payout To Privateer Riders.

Harley-Davidson announced today its 2018 American Flat Track Contingency Program totaling $562,500 – the largest contingency posting in the 65-year history of the sport. The contingency payouts are available exclusively to privateer riders mounted on either Harley-Davidson XG750R or XR750 machines. Of course, to be eligible to collect contingency payouts while competing riders are required to run the official Harley-Davidson factory bodywork.

A total of $31,250 will be offered by Harley-Davidson at each of the 18 American Flat Track rounds in 2018. The contingency payout is structured as follows:: 1.$10,000, 2.$8,000, 3.$6,000, 4. $2,000, 5.$1,500, 6. $1,250. 7. $1,000. 8.$750. 9.$500. 10.$250.

The 2018 American Flat Track season will kick off with the DAYTONA TT on Thursday, March 15. Tickets start at just $29 and are sale now. Get yours today by visiting Daytona International Speedway’s website or by calling 1-800-PITSHOP.

16 Responses to “Harley-Davidson Posts Largest Contingency Package in American Flat Track History. $562,500 Payout To Privateer Riders.”


  1. 1 NoH2Oh Dec 10th, 2017 at 4:28 pm

    I think their $$$ is safe. Sadly not too many XR’s any longer. Good luck with the XG.

  2. 2 Mark Dec 11th, 2017 at 8:17 am

    I hope that as in the past 75 years, Harley-Davidson will again offer a real production dirt track racer such as the WR, KR and XRs of the past. These were purpose built racers, not modified serial production bikes such as the factory is racing these days. The latest motor design, the XR750, was released around 1970 with no substantial updates since!

    Indian did it right.

  3. 3 Mike Tomas Kiwi Indian Motorcycles Dec 11th, 2017 at 9:46 am

    Harley is feeling the pressure by Indian. This is desperation even reaching out to the privateers for HELP. They will make it to the podium and be competitive eventually. Well let’s hope???

  4. 4 Mdkuder Dec 11th, 2017 at 9:52 am

    Wow how much money did H-D make last year?

  5. 5 Guzzigreg Dec 11th, 2017 at 10:59 am

    The factory can’t do it,maybe the privateers can.

  6. 6 Biggles Dec 11th, 2017 at 3:36 pm

    Wrecking crew reign supreme.

  7. 7 Hillbilly Jim Dec 11th, 2017 at 3:48 pm

    With the help of V&H Harley took the street powered race bikes from not being reliable enough to finish a heat to top 10 finishes. Indian did something amazing but it did not help with sales as much as they hoped. The Thunderstroke is just ugly and people are fearful of Polaris after leaving Victory owners holding the bag. Triumph has Joe Kopp on board and their motorcycles look good while not breaking the bank all in all still an exciting time to be a flat track fan!

  8. 8 Pat h Dec 11th, 2017 at 4:31 pm

    Harley has always used privateers for help and outside contractors for the most part just as Polaris went to swiss auto for the ftr 750 motor smart money by both manufacturers

  9. 9 NoH2Oh Dec 11th, 2017 at 5:50 pm

    Polaris owns Swiss Auto. Also, the XG racing for V&H is not the same cases and such you get on the street/Street. Not sure if privateers can get those. V&H has a history with that. See NHRA.

  10. 10 Pat h Dec 11th, 2017 at 7:10 pm

    Yes no h2o I remember reading that polaris owns swiss auto now that you say that, are the cases on the ftr 750 the same as the scout

  11. 11 HD Money won't matter Dec 12th, 2017 at 1:06 pm

    Pat h, Harley has had the XG in development with VH for several years, they are just failing to deliver a competitive race bike. They asked for and got every exception that they thought they needed. Polaris did same and the results speak for themselves. Harley can offer all the money in the world in contingency, if the bikes don’t place, they don’t have to pay. That size contingency is a smoke show to distract from their pathetic showing last year.

  12. 12 Pete Dec 12th, 2017 at 4:16 pm

    The Indian bike was built in Switzerland. So much for American racing.

  13. 13 Matt W. Dec 13th, 2017 at 10:06 am

    Pete: Co-designing and developing an engine is different than building a bike. Otherwise why not just claim that V-Rods are built in Germany while you are at it.

  14. 14 Kent Dec 14th, 2017 at 11:12 am

    Sore losers, listen to the crying! 😭

  15. 15 Lawrence Mar 17th, 2018 at 7:42 am

    Harley Davidson has been the most successful manufacturer in American flat track racing history, with over six hundred victories. During this long and storied journey, Harley Davidson has had to compete against many different competitors. From other American manufacturers, British bikes, and of course Japanese bikes. There have been occasions when rivals have had short term success. But, in the end, Harley Davidson has bounced back and endured, while others have come and gone. With that said, Harley Davidson’s recent challenges in American flat track is a microcosm of how the company is performing overall. . The company was doing really well until the economy collapsed in 2008 and 2009. Since then, their sales are down and while Harley Davidson has retained its majority market share in large displacement motorcycles, they have lost between one or two points. There are some parallels that can be made between Harley Davidson’s flat track and corporate performance. After last year, Harley Davidson announced they will be intensifying its off season development program to enhance the performance of the XG-750. Even though the 2018 flat track season has just begun, I was disappointed in the results at Daytona a few days ago. Like wise, Harley Davidson is producing excellent products but things haven’t improved on the showroom floor either. This begs the question, is leadership the problem. The company has a ten year strategy to turn things around. I understand it will take time to implement the strategy. But, we should see improvement, and we haven’t. I am confident, in the long run, Harley Davidson will emerge successful in both entities. but I am concerned about the projection of this unique and special brand.

  16. 16 Lawrence Mar 17th, 2018 at 9:27 am

    Harley Davidson is the most successful manufacturer in American flat track history, with over six hundred wins. During Harley Davidson’s long and storied history in flat track, they have had to compete against many other firms from other American British, and of course, Japanese competitors . But, others have come and gone and Harley Davidson continued their dominance.

    I would like to preface my remarks by saying I am a long time, loyal, fan and supporter of Harley Davidson and that will never change, they are the best. My intentions are not meant to be an excuse to make obnoxious and inaccurate remarks Harley Davidson’s recent challenges in flat track is a microcosm of how they are performing overall and there are parallels that can be made. At the conclusion of last years flat track season, Harley Davidson announced they will be intensifying their development program to enhance the performance of the XG750. Although the 2018 season just begun, I was disappointed with the results at Daytona a few days ago. On the business side, Harley Davidson is producing excellent products. But, we have not seen better sales results. The leadership at the company has a ten year strategy to turn things around and I understand it will take time to implement the strategy. But, we should be seeing signs of improvement and we aren’t. Which would indicate to me at least that perhaps the leadership is suspect. I also think there has been some mistakes made in retaining some of Harley Davidson’s product line. For example, HD recently made substantial improvements in major components of a motorcycle, mechanical, structural, and ride quality and have addressed a number of concerns that detractors have. However, they discontinued the Dyna family of motorcycles and retained the soft tail line. This wasn’t a very popular decision with customers. The new models are far better than the Dynas but it would have been better to discontinue the soft tail line as well to avoid any confusion and come up with a new name for the product lines. Since its inception in 2016, the low rider s have earned many awards from both the motorcycle and non motorcycle press. What did they do, discontinue this model. Likewise, the VROD played an important role and was the pioneer of the entire power cruiser market, it proved that Harley Davidson has the ability to produce a high performance and sophisticated motorcycle and brought many people into the fold that wouldn’t have thought about purchasing a Harley Davidson. I have heard several people say the VROD’s engine was designed by Porsche. This is incorrect, the design and development of the VROD’s engine was a collaborative effort from both companies. The VROD also increased market share in many European countries. I believe they should have built upon this and further developed the VROD, instead, they discontinued this model as well. In flat track, the XR750 was the reason for much of Harley Davidson’s success and while I am a strong believer in making upgrades, perhaps it would have been better to continue to use the XR 750 over the current XG750.because they would have had a proven winner to use as a foundation.

    The reality is however, Harley Davidson is an one hundred and fifteen year old company. During this time they have enjoyed much success but they also have the tenacity to navigate through difficult times that were much worse than their current challenges and they will emerge successful in both flat track and corporate entities this time as well and for all you Indian fans out there, I wouldn’t get too cocky. Harley Davidson beat you before and they will beat you again.

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Cyril Huze