Guest post from Gareth Howes of Double Six. Gareth met Scotty and Jet Taylor when he travelled to the USA to buy dirt track bikes. Read that post here.
Who is behind Flat Track Flashback?
Me, Scotty Taylor from Charlotte, North Carolina. 33 years old and a full-time AP Specialist (accounts) with Sunbelt Rentals. Also a Freelance Studio Operator for DIRTVision with a focus on the live broadcasts of the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series. Spend most of my minimal spare time running, going to coffee shops (shout out Bitty & Beau's and Percantile in the Charlotte area). I also try to travel and film flat track motorcycle racing when finances allow.
Can you tell us about Flat Track Flashback?
When Covid took over the world, my full-time job implemented remote working so I had a significant amount of time at home. I had always wanted to convert the many hours of race footage my dad and I had taken into a digital form to preserve it. This allowed me that window to monitor the file conversions while still focusing on my work from home.
My dad, Jet Taylor, began filming at a short track in Red Springs, North Carolina on VHS tapes around 1991 and would travel to different tracks filming Robert Lewis, Will Davis, Tim and Irving Smith. He also took several trips to Daytona and we would watch the tapes back.
In 2001, we lost Will Davis and my dad really struggled to enjoy the racing so I decided to start filming myself.
I started uploading more and more on YouTube in 2020 and Scottie Deubler, his Off the Groove co-host and producer Chris Carter and Cory Texter took interest in what I had which motivated me to create a library of content on YouTube that would showcase events that many fans had likely never seen. Sure you can find the nationals but how many people have footage of the old MARS series with flat track bikes on pavement ovals? This blossomed into me posting every main event from various races I attended to showcase not just pros but also the vintage and amateur riders who don't see the spotlight as much.
Your YouTube Channel has over 300 videos currently, are you still uploading old footage or is it only new footage now?
Mostly newer events these days. However there are a couple older races I hope to share in the not too distant future. Most of the classics that I feel make for the best viewing have been posted.
We do have a large library of events that we purchased from other videographers that I am not going to upload for copyright reasons.
If we had to watch 3 videos of your channel which three would you start with?
1995 Caraway Speedway MARS 600cc Heat Race (top of the post).
2008 Oglethorpe Speedway Park Hot Shoe 450 Pro Sport Main Event (above).
2022 Winter Throwdown Night One 450 Expert Main Event (below).
Thanks. We've embedded those three in this interview. Over the last 30 years classes and bikes have changed do you have a favourite class or bike ?
Can't say that I have a favourite class. The racing across all levels has been extra competitive and I have been lucky enough to see incredible battles from the 50cc all the way up to premier AFT SuperTwins. So I guess my favourite class is the one on the grid about to go green.
But my favourite flat track bike is the Honda RS750, the sound, the look and the way they could hang with the Harleys was really cool.
Now my favourite motorcycle of all is my dad's Ducati 1098. That thing is as badass as it is sexy.
I do have a soft spot for the TCR Harley XR750s too. That colour scheme really stood out. The leathers and paint jobs were awesome and my dad purchased an XR750, had it painted in the TCR colours, and that is in my home office as a tribute to the bikes Will Davis rode for Tom Cummings from 1996-1998 [above with Gareth, the author of this post, on it].
See all Scotty and Jet's race footage at: Flat Track Flashback YouTube
FURTHER READING
We had a feature on the MARS tarmac flat track series in SB43. Will Davis was on the cover. It's sold out, but you can read it online at our ISSUU site.