When I was at the Barber vintage event, Chris Smith of www.ClassicBikeBooks.com gave me the 30th anniversary issue of Morton Media Ltd's The Classic Motorcycle which included a reprint of their first issue from 1981. In it is a good article by Mick Woollett on the very first vintage

race at Daytona in March of '81. Subscriptions to the magazine are available through Chris and this particular issue is still available.

While Woollett tells of the red flag and restart, there's a little more to it. The first start was a push start. Clive Watts was used to this and got a flyer. Many of the Americans struggled. Kurt Liebman said his foot was run over in the start and, during the red flag delay, agitated for the restart to be by clutch. A vote was taken and clutch start it was. Watts got a less good start and, if I remember correctly, Jimmy Adamo on the 350 Ducati might have led into turn #1. Watts and I overhauled Adamo, and I led the rest of the race.