Dhananjay Wadnagare

Dhananjay  Wadnagare

Active Years: 1975 to 2018

We had a motorcycle dealership for Rajdoot motorcycles. I used to like riding motorcycles.

The first time I took part in a rally was in 1975. It was a 800 k.m. long rally over 2 days. Teksons Masa Rally 75 was organised by Maharashtra Automotive Sports Association. I took part on my Rajdoot Bobby with Sudhir Paranjape as corider. We did very well and we were awarded a special prize - huge trophy! During the course of this rally I came in contact with the organisers of the rally. They were all stalwarts of motor sports from Mumbai.  Mr. Anand Swadi, whom we used to call 'Dada' taught me the basics of rallying.

My father, Dada Vadnagare was jailed under MISA in emergency and I had to take care of the business. So the rallying stopped for some time. After he was released in 77, I participated in some more rallies. Then the Mumbai organisers started involving us in their rallies passing through Nashik, Nagar or Thane districts as marshals. My friends and I developed understanding of how to organise these events. Around 1980 we organised first rally in Nashik district which was 250 km and went on well. The participants in that event went on to become famous riders nationally. Later on all of us formed the Nashik Automotive Sports Association. This organization went on to hold many National Championship events in Nashik.

I realised that in these long, tiring and bike breaking events, the good riders need logistical and mechanical support all along the route. As I had the dealership of Rajdoot and later Yamaha, we had the capability to provide this. I started modifying the bikes for the events so that they perform better. I also provided service support through Vadnagare Automobiles service teams. Our teams won many National events,  Late Vijay Deshpande, Raju Deshpande, Rajendra Waghchoure, Late Hoshi Patel, Girish Dubey and many others were a part of this team. We won a National Motocross in Pune and our riders were taken up by the factory Yamaha team.

Being an active organiser for Nashik Automotive Sports Association and supporting the NASA riders with Service Teams and help them win many prizes is my main contribution to the motor sports activity. I was also the Chairman of Two wheeler technical commission of Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India for 3 years. The new set of simplified technical rules came into force in my tenure.