King of the Baggers future in doubt as Harley-Davidson quits

King of the Baggers was built around the century-old rivalry of Harley-Davidson versus Indian. So what's left when one of the rivals quits and leaves?

Harley-Davidson's bombshell

At the final MotoAmerica round of the season at New Jersey Motorsports Park, rumors were swirling about Harley-Davidson's King of the Baggers program. Then, a few days later — and, perhaps coincidentally or perhaps not, exactly one year after Artie Starrs took over as the company's new CEO — Harley-Davidson issued a statement about plans to "evolve" its involvement in racing. The statement said the focus going forward would be on the FIM Harley-Davidson Bagger World Cup, a one-brand series that runs as a "demonstration platform" at MotoGP events. More teams and events will be added. The statement also included one sentence about expanding "grassroots racing" but provided no further details.

Then the kicker: "As part of this evolution, Harley-Davidson will conclude its Factory Racing participation and official team support in MotoAmerica King of the Baggers following the 2026 season."

And just like that, a series based on a rivalry has no rivalry. No Harley-Davidson x Dynojet Factory Racing team. Saddlemen Racing Development, which ran two Harley-Davidson Road Glides, announced it is also exiting King of the Baggers to focus on the Bagger World Cup. The only other Harley-Davidson in the field by the end of the season was the privateer effort of M3/Tobacco Road Harley-Davidson with rider Max Flinders. That team has implied it won't be back, either. I attempted to reach a team principal for more comment but haven't received a response yet.

Because King of the Baggers was limited to Harley-Davidson and Indian from the start, the field has never been deep. The costs of building and maintaining the race bikes also contributed to that, making it hard for independent teams to keep afloat, never mind challenge the factory-backed teams. At the last round of the 2026 season, there were only nine entries in the class, five of them Road Glides. As things currently stand, that leaves a race series with one make and not enough racers to fill two rows of the grid, which looks like not much of a race series at all. That's clearly a problem MotoAmerica is currently grappling with. MotoAmerica issued a statement that was basically both a thank-you and an apology of sorts to the fans.

"King Of The Baggers has developed into a true performance competition between two unique American manufacturers. It pushes the boundaries of what these motorcycles can do and showcases a level of performance few could have imagined when the series began. That competition has been a major part of what has made the series so exciting for our fans.

"We share in your disappointment with Harley-Davidson's decision. Receiving this news at such a late stage presents challenges, but we are actively exploring all available options to continue supporting the class.

"We appreciate the passion and support of our fans and participants, and we will share additional news as it becomes available."

Reading between those lines, it appears MotoAmerica management was surprised by Harley-Davidson's abrupt withdrawal. And they weren't alone. Few people in the paddock have more knowledge and perspective than Terry Vance, who's been in racing for more than 50 years. His teams raced Harley-Davidson Road Glides in 2025 as the RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson team, placing two riders in the top five, and won the championship this year with Hayden Gillim on an Indian Challenger as the J&P Cycles/Motul/Vance & Hines Factory Indian team. He was still taken by surprise by Harley-Davidson's decision. When he heard the rumors at the final round in New Jersey, "I said, 'Wait a minute, that's never going to happen, because Harley would be hurting their own customer.' It doesn't make any sense to me."

"I'm disappointed they made that choice," Vance said. "I'm disappointed that Harley would leave the Americas. It just doesn't make any sense to me. The biggest portion of their customers is here, the biggest fan base is here, people love the baggers, they actually built a tribute bike to the baggers, and it makes no sense to me for them to go and do the MotoGP thing and think that that's going to solve the problem. I just don't buy it."

Those of us who have been following domestic roadracing for a long time have seen this before, however. Just like with its current Bagger World Cup, Harley-Davidson sometimes prefers to race against itself. Harley-Davidson's previous involvement in professional roadracing included the Harley-only 883 series in the 1990s and XR1200 series in the 2010s. The company did go Superbike racing with its VR1000 in the 1990s, but that effort yielded no race wins in eight seasons of trying.

The withdrawal puts the future of King of the Baggers in question because, if you read Harley-Davidson's statement literally, it calls for not just the end of the factory team, but also an end to "official team support." Harley-Davidson supplies independent teams with some of the go-fast parts, up to a point. Given how expensive it is to build 620-pound baggers capable of hitting 185 miles per hour on the banks at Daytona International Speedway and turning lap times equivalent to fully developed Supersport bikes, that support is crucial. Without it, there will be no independent teams on the King of the Baggers grid and thus not even a hint of a Harley-Indian rivalry.

"If Harley doesn't support (independent teams) with parts, the parts bill gets so big you can't do it," Vance said. "If they don't support someone here in the states, that's going to be criminal. Because they've got the stuff sitting on the shelves."

All this leaves MotoAmerica looking for a way to save a popular series that expanded its audience. Some have suggested opening the class to other manufacturers. It would be fun to see something like BMW's six-cylinder K1600B or big-boxer R 18 B competing against the V-twins from Indian. But here's a reality check: A massive amount of development has gone into King of the Baggers race bikes over the past six years, as 800-pound baggers capable of minimal lean angles have been built into 620-pound, full-blown race bikes not far off Superbike lap times. Any new platform would need time and money to catch up.

The question is, with racing supposed to start in Daytona in five months, does King of the Baggers have time?

Indian isn't giving up on the series, at least not yet. Indian CEO Mike Kennedy issued a statement saying the company was disappointed by Harley-Davidson's decision and took a parting shot at the Bagger World Cup, saying "Rivalry, and the inherent possibility of losing, is what makes competition truly meaningful and what drives brands to rise up, innovate, and prevail. Ultimately, it’s our industry and American V-twin riders that benefit most from this."

"Our path remains unchanged," Kennedy stated. "Indian Motorcycle remains committed to partnering with MotoAmerica in an effort to continue one of the greatest competitive spectacles in V-twin motorcycling."

For his part, Vance said it is "going to be really, really hard" for MotoAmerica to find a way to save King of the Baggers without the rivalry, but he also added he has full confidence in MotoAmerica ownership and management.

"Listen, this is the most important thing," Vance concluded. "I want racing here in America. I don't want to go to Japan or Italy. I want to race here in America. And I think the fans want to see racing here in America."

My take

It would be easy to quip that this is the kind of thing that happens when you have a CEO with experience in pizza and golf, not motorcycles. But I honestly believe that would be glib and inaccurate. There are lots of smart people in Harley-Davidson's corporate offices and most are passionate and knowledgeable about motorcycling. Starrs comes across as a leader who's willing to listen, and there are plenty of people who could provide multiple perspectives.

All that just makes it harder to understand this decision. Sure, the MotoGP audience is many times larger than the MotoAmerica audience, but it also includes millions of fans in places like India, Indonesia, the Philippines, etc., people who ride a motorcycle or a scooter every day but who will never buy a Harley-Davidson, especially a performance bagger. Motorcycle racing is marketing, and putting that marketing budget into the Bagger World Cup is like buying time on a local television station in Miami to advertise your down parkas instead of advertising in Fargo, North Dakota. Sure, the Miami audience is much larger and you may even convince the people of Miami that your down parkas look fantastic, but are you really going to sell more of them?

There was evidence, both anecdotal and statistical, that King of the Baggers was succeeding. You could see it in the number of fans in the MotoAmerica paddock wearing Harley-Davidson and Indian gear, folks who didn't come out to the races in numbers before. You could divine it in the fact that Road America in Wisconsin, the heart of cruiser country, set new attendance records for a motorcycle event at its track the last two years. I know of no one who questions that King of the Baggers contributed to that.

King of the Baggers has built a genuine fan base. MotoGP fans are mostly indifferent and see the World Bagger Cup for what it really is: essentially a paid advertisement for Harley-Davidson that takes place either early in the morning when most fans aren't in the stands yet or at the end of the day when many are leaving for home. The worst of the backlash on social media goes something like this: Harley-Davidson, a quintessentially American company that does most of its business in the United States, is abandoning and possibly dooming a domestic racing series to go off and race against itself in other countries around the world. I can't see where that take is wrong.

Not a good look, Harley.