Few who know of MotoParilla will not know of PJ Johnson. Enthusiast & organiser of the Parilla Days events in the USA. He is the foremost Parilla fan in the USA & as well as a collection of stunning historic factory race bikes he is developing a 250 HiCam to compete in the Classic Daytona races in 2008. Here follows an extract of an interview PJ gave to Phil Schilling of Cycle magasine. Phils question was:

When did you first get interested in Parillas?"

I was in the late 60s but I don't remember the exact year.  I wasn't racing then. I saw a picture in a magazine and thought it was perfection.

    Shortly thereafter I was in England from 1969 thru 71 In the music business. I was deprived of an old Velo Venom I built in Gibraltar and took up to England. I had to give it away because there was no room for motorcycles in that discipline.  The only way I could get a fair dose of motorcycling food was to buy the "red un" and the "green un" every week religiously.  I devoured every word of every issue and became pretty well versed in cycling and racing lore from the British point of view.  It seemed as if I could tell anyone anything about nearly every motorcycle Britain produced as well as some Italian marques.  It was then I saw that Parilla again in their pages and resolved to own one as soon as I got back to the States.

    It was a couple of years after I got back home that I finally saw one advertised. I promptly went out to L.A. and bought it.  It was a wreck but it was a start.  I was on fire with enthusiasm for Parillas  and began searching in earnest for anything on them.    Some months later I was able to purchase the Hal Burton bike thru a middle man dealer. I had read about Hal and definitely wanted the bike. Shortly thereafter I met fellows like Phil Foronda and Fred Mork who both  had Parillas.  Then in the mid 70s, we three and a few other Parilla owners  cooked up a race at the old Speed Drome in Las Vegas since it was sort of central to the Bay area and New Mexico. I nearly won the first race and was forever deeply hooked. Truthfully I rode way over my head. By then Colorado and other States were just beginning to host a vintage class among their modern race programs and I would go to them whenever I could afford to.

Then around 1982 the budding vintage race scene began to blossom. I took the Superbike School at Laguna Seca, got my certification and set my sights on Daytona

I went as an observer in 83 and got attached to Alan Cathcart as part of his fictional pit crew. He could tell I didn't have a lot of money and he seemed always willing to help the enthusiastic riders.  AHRMA was not formed as yet but I tape recorded the formation of AHRMAs predecessor...a National Vintage Race Club, though I've forgotten it's official name. The meeting was run by Bob Barker, Beno Rodi, Rob Iannucci Will Harding and a host of other much bigger fish than myself. 

   In 1984 I came to compete. There were not enough vintage entrants or enough organization to do more that two huge classes...namely the lightweight class  50cc to 350cc and the heavyweight class...the 500s and 750s.  I was terrified at the number of entrants in each class and so  I  started in the back ( 57th or so )  The green flag waived...and nobody moved !  So I left and possibly passed 30 riders before the first corner. There was a Wizzer in the lightweight class so the disparity is to be noted. By lap 4... I was shown as in ninth but it was pretty clear I was never going to be 8th...those guys were out of sight.   Finally a fellow on a 350 Aermacchi got round me but was apparently so timid in the corners and he had been frustrated by the Parillas handling and my late braking when compared to his.  He powered his way around me on the main straight and took the line. He stunned me with such an early brake point I was caught by surprise. I didn't have near the front brake he had, and I hammered him hard, highsided and was run over from behind. My Injuries were so extensive and the insurance so inadequate that it effectively ended my racing days. Since then I've taken part in track days but not another green flag.  I can't seem to stop either prepping bikes for chosen riders or cooking up events for Parillas to play a part in. 

Prior to the racing days I was simply buying old rusty bikes and fixing them up to have, ride and eventually to sell. This was in order to finance getting a better, bigger bike to learn what the next one was all about.

 Then in 1996 I went over to Italy for the first Parilla Days event and got fired up all over again. 

More from PJ in a later edition