PHOTO ESSAY: MUSH EMMONS

Step back in time with these fantastic images from one of the CWroadrace shooters in the 1970s.

From the Emmons Archive

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Funny the people you bump into on Facebook. The name Mush Emmons popped up in a comment a couple of weeks ago and sounded really familiar. Oh yeah, that’s because the CW archives are packed with Mush’s photography from American roadracing during the ’70s, the most famous shot of which has to be Steve McLaughlin’s BMW flying inverted over Laguna Seca. Even cooler, now that we’re mature enough to value human relationships over crashing motorcycles, are these photos Mush took of himself, wife Alba Vasconcelos and their Norton Commando. Mush sold his Yamaha RD350 production racer 35 years ago to buy the Commando ($1350 used), which he rode religiously on San Francisco’s infamous Sunday Morning Ride, until he moved to Brazil in 1985. The Norton stayed behind in SF, though, and stands by ready to serve whenever he’s in town. The original self-portrait was shot in 1983, the latter in 2010 at the end of the Moto Melee—which Mush rode two-up with Alba. Mush isn’t sure how many miles are on the bike now, but it took him cross-country to New York and back in 1981, and again 31 years later, last summer. Emmons, 59 years old, now runs Jaguatirica Cinema e Fotografia in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, where he’s taken on a more supervisory role than he did as a 22-year-old motorcycle nut racing and shooting. Happy Anniversary, Mush, Alba, and Norton.

 

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