Nineteen eighty-four was a unique year in AMA racing. It was the beginning of the end of the “works” era, as two of the four Japanese manufacturers, Yamaha and Suzuki, had pretty much scrapped their works bikes as a cost-cutting measure, despite the fact that the AMA’s “production rule” would not go into effect until 1986. Also, the once-dominant European manufacturers were pretty much out of the game by this point, unable to keep up with the deeper-pocketed Japanese competitors. Only Honda and Yamaha would still have their riders on full-on works bikes in ’84.