06/15/2026
The Legend!
Over 1,000 cumulative wins. Motorcycles and stock cars. Six decades of racing. Jimmy Maness from Augusta, Georgia built one of the most remarkable dirt racing rΓ©sumΓ©s in the history of the American South.
It started with a Triumph. As a teenager in Alabama, Maness attended races with Mobile's Triumph dealer Bill Powell, riding in the back of Powell's pickup truck to watch. When he was old enough for a license, his mother helped him buy his first motorcycle from Powell. Before that, Maness had built his own unicycle to work on balance. The kid was an impressive fabricator from the beginning.
In 1959, Maness ran his first motorcycle race, an enduro, with mentor James Arrington helping him through. Arrington won. Maness finished close behind. Then he moved to flat-track racing on a Harley-Davidson Sprint. The half-mile tracks took time to master, but eventually the wins started coming.
Then Vietnam. Maness was drafted and served as a helicopter mechanic. When he came back, he went racing full-time.
He became THE factory rider for Harley-Davidson in the southeast during the 1970s. A partnership that lasted around ten years. He was granted national number 71, one of only 100 awarded to racers in the entire United States. In 1971, Cycle News named him East Rider of the Year.
And he did it in hot pink leathers. Maness was the first to pioneer colored leathers in motorcycle racing. The color earned him the nickname "Pink Britches" on the tracks. When he became a Harley factory rider, they let him wear the pink for his first year before switching to the brand's orange and black.
Racing was a family operation. His daughter spent more time sleeping by a motorcycle than in her bed. The schedule was relentless. Sometimes three races in different states in a single week. The family averaged 100,000 to 125,000 miles per year, racing everywhere east of the Mississippi. Flat-tracks, road courses, Daytona International Speedway. Over 760 wins from sportsman and professional motorcycle racing combined.
In 1979, Maness quit motorcycles. The retirement lasted about a month. Gordon Park Speedway sparked his interest in stock cars. Everyone told him a motorcycle racer couldn't drive a stock car. He bought a Walter Newman car, the best builder he could find, and proved them wrong immediately. Second place in his first race. Points champion that same year at Gordon Park Speedway.
He kept the number 71 and the orange and black scheme from his Harley days. The Walter Newman stock cars went on to win over 350 feature races and multiple championships. Track champion at Augusta from 1990 through 1995. I-20 Speedway points champion in 1999 and 2000. Georgia and Alabama State Champion in 1992. Rebel Yell Champion at Screven in 2010. Georgia Outlaw Champion at Screven Motor Speedway in 2011.
His last race was in 2023. His last win came the year before at Modoc Speedway. Most weekends, Maness can still be found at his favorite tracks, visiting with the racing community that has been his life for over sixty years.
Over 760 motorcycle wins. Over 350 stock car wins. One thousand total. Pink leathers, a Harley factory number, a Vietnam deployment, and a second career that started because retirement lasted a month.
