Rider offers condolences to the family and friends of Dr. John Wittner, DMD, who passed away Feb. 15 in West Chester, Pennsylvania, at the age of 78.

John Wittner was originally known as “Dr. John” to the patients in his dentistry business; however, previous to graduating with his dentistry degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine, he studied mechanical engineering at Lehigh University. He used these skills in his spare time from his dentistry practice to tinker with tuning Harley-Davidson engines for the purpose of road racing. In 1983, he purchased a Moto Guzzi Le Mans, which longtime motojournalist Alan Cathcart said in his book Dr. John’s Moto Guzzi was primarily because Wittner “thought it looked neat, and also had a pushrod motor like the Harley’s he was familiar with working on.”
Wittner had another motivation. ?I bought the bike with the sole intent of forming a team of friends to go Endurance road racing with it,? he told Cathcart. ?I had worked on and ridden a number of Guzzis, and knew they were extraordinarily reliable, the perfect weapon for Endurance competition.?

Thus was born Dr. John’s Guzzi racing team, which went on to win the 1984 U.S. Endurance Championship?s Middleweight class with a perfect 100% finishing record. In 1987, Dr. John’s Guzzi rider Doug Brauneck won the AMA Battle of the Twins championship on a Le Mans III developed by Wittner with the financial su...