1963 — 62 years ago. In March of that year, Yamaha was still a curious foreign name to most American motorcycle fans, barely a blip on the radar in a landscape dominated by British and European machinery. That changed in a big way at Daytona, when the late Don Vesco—already a respected figure in racing circles and later to become a Hall of Fame tuner and rider—climbed aboard a humble 250cc Yamaha and proceeded to demolish the field in the USMC Grand Prix.

(Consider that Yamaha ownership in 1963 was a solitary activity. Rick Butler's dad, Charles, saw a YD1 250 at the Tokyo Motor Show in '57 and imported one. For a long time he was the sole owner of a Yamaha motorcycle in the United States.)

Vesco’s win wasn’t just decisive; it was borderline mythic. Some reports claim that during his second lap of lapping the entire grid—populated with the likes of Norton, Triumph, Matchless, Ducati, and BSA—he actually crashed, picked up the rotary-valve Yamaha twin, and still went on to win the race by a full lap. It was a watershed moment, both for Vesco and for Yamaha, marking the start of a new era in American road racing.

The finishing order of that race reads like a moment frozen just before a seismic shift. Manx Nortons and other storied British bikes were still present, still competitive—but only just. Within a few short years, those machines would disappear from the podiums and, eventually, from the front half of the grid entirely. The Japanese invasion had begun, and with it came a level of engineering consistency, innovation, and affordability that would completely reshape motorcycle racing across the globe.




USMC GRAND PRIX — 40 laps, 124 miles, 3.1 mile course
Time: 1:23.13, 89.405 mph
Pos Rider Hometown Machine Class Laps
1 Don Vesco San Diego, Calif. Yamaha 250 40
2 Lance Weil Los Angeles, Calif. Norton 500 39
3 Roger Beaumont Quebec, Can. Norton 500 39
4 Fred Chase Los Angeles, Calif. Norton 500 38
5 Wes Cooley Hawthorne, Calif. Norton 500 37
6 John McLaughlin Duarte, Calif. Norton 500 37
7 C.R. Schroeder Dumont, N.J. Matchless 500 36
8 David Lloyd Toronto Matchless 500 36
9 Jimmy Nicks Tampa, Fla. Ducati 250 35
10 David Wright Hollywood, Calif. Triumph 500 33
11 D. Thompson Great Falls, Va. Norton 500 33
12 W. Larson Daytona Beach, Fla. Honda 250 32
13 Stan Friduss Margate, Fla. Norton 500 24
14 Gene Fulmer Jacksonville, Fla. Ducati 250 23
15 Wes Weis Brownwood, Tex. Yamaha 250 21
16 Ron Grant Temple City, Calif. Norton 500 *
17 Don Pruitt Atlanta, Ga. BSA 500 *
18 Oliver Howe Toronto, Can. BSA 500 *
19 Fumio Itoh Hamamatsu, Japan Yamaha 250 *
20 Guy Spencer Miami, Fla. Honda 250 *
21 Doug Huddle Kingsport, Tenn. Zundapp 450 *