(uplifting orchestral music) (motorcycle engine running) - [Dave] It's a sensual experience, that scenery rushing by and leaning and feeling the g-forces and all that.

(uplifting orchestral music) (motorcycle engine) - Why does a dog chase the car?

There's no reason for it but you're just programmed that way.

And I seem to be programmed that way.

I like to chase things, you know?

(birds chirping) (serene music) (cereal rustling) (milk pouring) - Certainly, we're the popular attraction.

It's considered very challenging.

There are a couple of blind corners where you sorta have to aim to where you wanna go before you can see where you wanna go.

You know?

Which is-- I always find that there's a fair amount of elevation change, which most people consider a plus.

It's good.

(calm music) (birds chirping) - This was the type of bike I first rode at the Isle of Man in June of '82.

Some people think that must've been a really tricked bike, but it's really just a stone ax.

It's simple when they're pretty easy to work on.

I try and keep it fairly original.

It's got more modern shocks on it.

Some of the engine internal's more modern.

Got the original ignition and carburetor on it.

But nice balance of light and handles well.

You know, it has been raced fairly consistently since 1970.

- [Interviewer] You've been here how many times now?

- I guess a dozen or so.

I don't know.

I'd have to look at the records to really know, but... - David Roper has more miles on classic motorcycles than the people who raced them at the time ever had.

- Since 1972, I've raced every year.

I haven't missed a year since then, so I guess we're in our 44th year.

- He's been in countless TTs, he's been in countless vintage races all around the world.

- He knew how to process information, and he was very methodical.

- He wanted to go racing, he wanted to have a battle with someone.

- To me, it's a nice combination of the physical and the cerebral, because it takes a lot of thought, both preparing to bike and riding it.

And I like situations that are in flux, that a lot of parameters are changing at the same time and you've gotta make a lot of sort of instantaneous decisions.

- He is a treasure of knowledge about these motorcycles and what it is to ride them.

- One of the major passions of my life has been Team Obsolete.

And we have been the major player in the sport of historic racing motorcycles.

- I hooked up with Rava Energy and Team Obsolete in 1978.

He asked me to ride one of his bikes.

And the vintage racing had grown, at that point, where you could stay busy just doing the vintage racing.

(motorcycle engines roaring) - Dave Roper, who's gotta be the most famous person here, American or Canadian, and all of us that come to this event, we've known him forever.

And we walk up to him and we thank him for being here.

He brings all this exotic equipment and he helps makes this event.

People talk about, "Dave's gonna be here this weekend."

Mr. Roper, you got my vote.

(engines running) (crowd talking) - [Inspector] Okay, you're set to go.

- [Dave] Thank you.

- [Female Inspector] And you've got your numbers, and you've got your medical.

(man laughing) - I work for Team Obsolete.

Parts Lead Mechanic, which sometimes is a matter of building bikes off of parts on a shelf or sometimes bikes are bought and sold, and preparing or fixing things on them.

I do some fabrication, I do welding, and turning on the wave or machine tool work.

(uplifting music) I have a background in welding.

I worked eight years at the electric boat division of General Dynamics building nuclear submarines.

Four years as a structural welder, four years as a pipe welder.

You have this image in your mind of the perfect weld and making it a reality is the challenge.

(torch sparking) You have to adjust as you go along, and you have to plan your welding and think about it as you're doin' it.

And getting your hands to do what you're envisioned in your mind is satisfying when you get it right.

- These are very high-maintenance motorcycles.

There are motorcycles in this room that would take 50 or 100 hours of maintenance for every hour of operation.

(uplifting music) We have a fabulous facility here.

We're just rebuilding these bikes two or three at a time.

And when we get a bike to the point where it's really perfect and we take it out, celebrate it, taking them out to significant events like the Isle of Man, then we park it and go on to the next one.

It's a lot of work rebuilding one of these bikes.

I mean, one mechanic could literally spend months on the bike.

It's not an easy job.

There are issues with parts.

Sometimes you have to make the part, sometimes you have to have the parts made by specialists.

It's a challenge.

Good mechanical design requires somebody who's a bit of an artist.

I think there's also art involved in riding them.

(engine revving) (motorcycle starting) (engine revving) (birds chirping) (upbeat jazz music) (record player static) - [Dave] Grew up in Darien, Connecticut.

Couple years in the Army, took to Vietnam, and moved to Hicksville, Long Island in 1978.

Been here ever since.

As a kid, I was very much into sports cars, and I always thought that's what I wanted to do-- Race sports cars.

But then, some time in high school, I was introduced to motorcycles and I totally flipped.

Lost all interest in cars and became obsessed with motorcycles.

In 1972, I saw a flyer for a road race in Bridgehampton, Long Island.

That was the first time I ever raced, on Memorial Day '72.

(movie reel clicking) Through '72, I got hooked in it and did the club racing.

But, over the winter, '72-'73, I started AMA novice professional racing.

So then, '83 on, I just did vintage or classic racing.

(calm music) I roughly go to a dozen events a year.

Typically, four races in an event.

So, a good fifty races a year, times forty-four.

That gives you a rough idea, anyway.

I've raced in Canada and Bahamas, England and Scotland, and Northern Ireland, Holland, France, Portugal, Norway, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Czechoslovakia when it was still Czechoslovakia.

I'm up to a hundred and fifteen racetracks.

I'm really fortunate to have had these opportunities.

There are not that many who can say they've done that.

So, there's still-- still room to try a lot more.

- It was a type of racing that was undertaken for its own rewards, not because it led somewhere.

- You have to be prepared to live at a fairly basic level.

There's never enough money.

You're jammin' people into a hotel room where some of 'em are sleepin' in the van and they take turns with the shower.

You do everything you can to economize.

I mean it's one thing if you race two or three times a year, and the rest of the time you're livin' a comfortable life.

But, if you're doin' it a lot, there's not a lot of comfort in your life.

- [Kevin] One of the major appeals of this life was that it was not the humdrum expected life of so many people around me who seemed to be the snake with its tail in its mouth, rolling around in a circle forever and never getting anywhere.

So, the life of going to the motorcycle races on the weekends was a transformation.

We got into the van as working stiffs.

But driving through the night, we'd become racers.

None of us was any use at it, but it was an intense, demanding undertaking that made everything urgent.

I think that David Roper had his own idea about life.

He wasn't a together-together monkey who wanted to go with the crowd.

The crowd aren't all that happy, because we are individuals and we ought to recognize.

David Roper recognized it in spades.

- It took a while to figure out what I wanted.

I was trying to clutch it in the corner-- - Never married.

So, I live alone.

But, make an effort to spend time with close friends.

(laughs) - Thank you, David.

- Okay.

I am social, and I love people.

(indistinct chatting) I do love being alone, too, and the solitude and the calmness.

The goal is to get the balance right.

- But you're holdin' up okay?

- Yeah.

Well, you know.

I'm circling the drain like all of us, but I had a little arrhythmia with my heart.

They did this procedure, this ablation.

It's pretty minor, but then were complications about it.

Urinary tract-- Anyway.

So, I spent a little time dealin' with medical issues this summer, but at least I'm going to win.

- It's all about-- it's so much of that.

Right?

- Yeah.

- [Interviewer] What is it that he's goin' for?

- Isle of Man.

I mean, he's done very well.

I believe he won Isle of Man back in the day in the 80s or whatever it was.

I mean, that's everyone's dream that comes into road racing.

If you can do Isle of Man, you're a somebody.

(somber music) (ocean waves crashing) - The Isle of Man is a very special place.

It's got this incredible history.

People are really keen, beautiful place.

Very special.

- The races go back to the early part of the 20th century.

And it's very dangerous.

It's a 37 mile circuit on public roads.

- [Dave] This whole island shuts down to let these motorcycle speed freaks go mad around the roads.

- [Rob] It's probably the most challenging race circuit to learn, because it's more than 150 turns and you've gotta know every one of them cold.

Because you can't come up to a turn and then figure out what you're gonna do.

- [Dave] Crashing a motorcycle-- it's not necessarily the speed.

It's the sudden stop, which is what hurts you.

And at the Isle of Man, there's a lot of things that'll stop you suddenly.

The stone walls, the light posts, and so forth.

Because it is public road.

Well over 200 riders have died there.

There's no arguing that it's an extremely dangerous place to race.

(somber music) I had been racing a couple years by that point.

I started asking myself, Would I ever race here?

And, my first thought was, Way too dangerous.

But then I thought, Here I am riding an unfamiliar bike on the wrong side of the road, a bike that shifts in the wrong direction on the wrong side, and I'm riding in the rain.

Is it any less dangerous than-- You know, so-- Giving it a more serious consideration, I decided I would.

I first raced there in 1982.

So we came back again in 1984, and I was racing the G50 Matchless in the historic.

(inspiring music) (motorcycle engines revving) It was a race of very mixed weather conditions.

It started dry.

But the first cloud over the mountain, you could see the clouds rolling in, and it started raining on the second lap.

A couple of the top runners got caught up by the conditions and fell in the wet.

(engine roaring) (crowd cheering) I didn't want pit syncs.

I didn't wanna know if I was five seconds behind, and then, therefore, try a little too hard.

Or, that I was 30 seconds ahead and then slacking off and not paying attention.

I just wanted to ride my own race and at my own pace.

(static) (engines running) (rising orchestral music) On the last lap, I thought I must be doin' pretty well.

Because all around the circuit, people were sort of waving.

When I went through the gooseneck, someone held up a number one.

Well anyway, I was lucky enough to win the historic race.

- [Announcer] Dave Roper crosses the line, the 500cc.

An average speed of 96.11 miles per hour.

- So when I finished, they finally figured out-- Yes, I was the first American ever to win a TT.

(men laughing) That was sort of the high point of my career.

It set the hook.

Came back many times.

Think I've raced there in 19 different races.

- [Interviewer] Do you get nervous before races?

- Nah.

Not really.

After a few thousand times-- I'd get somewhat nervous before racing at the Isle of Man, and I'd have this little chat with myself.

"This could be the last time.

"You really wanna do this?"

And I always really did wanna do it, till I didn't wanna do it anymore.

(inspiring piano music) - Racing is a sport of passion, and it's very unforgiving.

- And that's why a motorcyclist has to be as alert as a squirrel.

It's as though they're on point in Vietnam every moment of their lives in order to stay safe.

- It's certainly dangerous, to a degree.

Living is dangerous too.

In 1973, the second year I was racing, went to a race in Dallas, Texas.

I crashed, ran off the track, hit the hay bails in front of the guard rail, punctured my chest and collapsed a lung.

I broke a bunch of ribs and a collar bone.

I sort of wrestled with, "Should I quit racing?"

But I didn't.

I went back and had some success and sorta got over it.

If you're gonna approach the edge, every now and again, you're gonna step over the edge.

To some extent, that's the only way you find out where the edge is, by exceeding it.

You know, I've broken a lot of bones.

Metacarpals, metatarsals, fibula, three, four collarbones, ribs.

I've had some concussions.

I have some joints that don't work as well, and I have some aches and pains.

I pay for it a bit, but no regrets.

Bones heal.

There's a risk there, but, to me, it's a reasonable risk.

- [Announcer] Attention in the paddock.

Here we go!

The first race of the weekend.

- I suppose the danger does add something to it.

Puts an edge on it.

You never feel as alive as when you're risking your life.

You gotta die of something, and I'm at ease with it.

(inspiring music) (birds chirping) (engine revving) I'm sort of very competitive, like I say I like to chase things.

But, on the other hand, it's a challenge trying to set my own personal lap record each lap.

So I can enjoy being way out in the lead, and then having the privilege of a clear track, where you have no excuse not to get it right, or dicing with somebody in 17th place.

They're both fun and challenging, and I'd like to think I can enjoy both.

(engine running) I read an essay by M.C.

Escher, and he was talkin' about how the more he mastered the technique, the more ideas came to his mind.

And there was less between the idea and the physical reality of it.

It's a more direct connection between what's in your mind and the reality.

- The motorcycle is an extension of yourself.

There's the line between where you as a rider end and the motorcycle begins.

It's not a bright line.

- You know, in a car, you turn a wheel which turns a shaft which turns a gear which moves the tie rod.

In a motorcycle, you move your body and it's just much more direct.

There's less between this image in your mind of the line you wanna take and doing it.

(motorcycle engines running) (uplifting music) - [Kevin] There cannot be, in top level motorcycle racing, any such thing as just goin' for it.

This has a romantic appeal, but just goin' for it is a way to lose, big time.

Yanking the motorcycle this way and that, super dramatic moves is the antithesis of smoothness.

- [Rob] Roper is one of the masters at finding a nice, smooth way around the track.

He understands these bikes are not modern bikes.

They don't have a lot of brakes.

The fastest way around the track may be a nice, graceful curve, as opposed to a modern bike where you go in, square off the corner, lock up the brakes, and zip out of the corner.

That's an art.

It's almost like ballet.

- [Kevin] Roper is like the fencing master, who has learned economy of motion, who has many combinations with which to surprise the unwary.

- As you grow older, diminishing physical skills-- But on the other hand, you're gaining experience.

The two curves cross at some point.

It's not just downhill.

(engines roaring) (uplifting music) (boot dragging) Reasonable start.

Go track some guys down.

Bike worked well.

I missed one gear maybe, one shift.

But no, the bike worked quite well.

In the end, I passed a P1 Open bike and I think I sorta caught him napping and I snapped him out of his stupor.

So he picked it up and passed me back and finished just ahead of me.

But we were in different classes anyway, so-- But doesn't matter when you're chasin' somethin', does it?

(lighthearted music) (engine revving) To be at the top of any game, it takes a certain amount of obsession.

So, I guess, in that sense, maybe it's a sacrifice that you-- you sacrifice doing other things with your life to pursue something obsessive.

Many years ago, a relationship with a woman ended, and I was a little-- - [Announcer] Attention in the paddock.

- maybe, depressed over that-- - [Announcer] Race number 13-- and wondered if racing had gotten in the way.

But after a while, the whole thing evaporated, realizing I have a lot of great old friends.

How depressed can you be?

And the whole thing just sorta disappeared, and I've never been depressed again.

(inspiring music) - We're just havin' fun, doin' what we're doing.

David still races, and I think he'll continue racing as long as he enjoys it.

- All three.

- All right.

- I might be able to auction them off.

- A week from Tuesday, I go to the Isle of Man.

And then the next weekend, I'm doing a MotoGiro based in Brattleboro, Vermont.

(engine revving) And then, a weekend off, and then down to Alabama for the Barber Vintage Festival, and that ends the season.

And then the long, cold, dark, lonely winter.

- There's no necessity to give up motorcycling at some stage of life and David Roper is the living proof.

- I feel like I'm lucky, in that I figured out what I like to do early on, and I still like to do it.

Why not keep doin' it?

Good ride!

(upbeat country music)