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Posted October 8, 2007
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The 2007 Motorcycle Hall of Fame inductees or their representatives. Back row:
Roger Ansel, representing Sammy Miller; Trampas Parker; Harry Hurt III,
representing Harry Hurt Jr.; Pat Hennen; John Clauss, representing Orie Steele,
Sr.; Ed Waldheim. Front row:
Don and Derek Rickman; Billy Uhl; Eric Beauchamp, representing Rex Beauchamp;
Mike Kiedrowski.
Stories and legends: Hall of Fame Class of 2007 honored
Photos by Ken Frick
The Class of 2007 officially joined the Motorcycle Hall of Fame during a ceremony held in Columbus, Ohio, on October 6. This year's diverse class includes racers from a multitude of disciplines, a trio of noted designers, a pioneering journalist, a tireless advocate for motorcyclists' rights and the man behind the best-known research ever done on motorcycle crashes.
The stories told during the event were as varied as the sport of motorcycling.
Take the tale of pioneering American roadracer Pat Hennen, as told by his
mechanic Frans VandenBroek (both shown left).
It was the summer of 1976. Hennen and his brother were campaigning a borrowed Suzuki on a shoestring budget in Europe when a young tourist sneaked through a hole in the fence to wander the pits at the Belgian Grand Prix.
Seeing the stranger hanging around their race van, Hennen asked VandenBroek if he knew English and could work on motorcycles. VandenBroek did and could, and so was drafted on the spot as an unpaid race mechanic for the team.
After the race, VandenBroek followed the Hennen brothers north for the Finnish Grand Prix, where, on August 1, Hennen became the first American to win a World Championship Motorcycle Grand Prix. The win was so unexpected that the Finnish organizer did not have a copy of the U.S. national anthem to play during the awards ceremony.
"He did it on a borrowed production-based Suzuki racer tuned by himself and maintained by his brother and a tourist," said VandenBroek, who presented Hennen with his Hall of Fame medal. "Folks, this ain't likely to happen again."
VandenBroek stayed with the team through the fateful 1978 season, where Hennen, then at the height of his career and now a factory Suzuki rider, collided with a bird at 155 miles per hour during the Isle of Man TT. Hennen survived the crash, but spent three months in a coma and would never race again.
"Sometimes this sport that we enjoy so much can be unbelievably cruel," said VandenBroek of the accident. "A wayward bird took the career of a gifted and deserving and modest young man. But there's one thing no one can take from Pat Hennen, and it's this: Before there was Nicky, before there was Kenny Jr., before there was Kevin, Eddie, Wayne and Kenny Sr., there was Pat Hennen."
Motorcycle frame builders Derek and Don Rickman
(right) travelled all the way
from their native U.K. to tell the story of their attempt to donate
their successful Metisse frame design to the British motorcycle
industry.
The Rickman brothers came to motorcycle design via a successful off-road racing career that included stints on the 1963 and 1964 British Motocross des Nations teams. Racing taught the brothers that the stock frames of the day left much to be desired and led them to develop their own frame design.
The Rickmans' nickel-plated Metisse motocross frame shaved between 30 and 40 pounds off a stock bike and was stiffer, to boot.
"After our first frame design was finished and proven, we decided to offer it to the British Industry free of charge," said Derek Rickman during his acceptance speech. "We did this because we had no manufacturing facilities. One by one, BSA, Triumph and Matchless all turned us down. This made us mad, so we came home and we decided to start production ourselves."
The Rickmans did just that, producing frame kits and, later, complete motorcycles from the mid 1960s through the late 1970s. At its peak, the Rickman factory produced nearly 4,000 motorcycles, largely to feed the growing sport of motocross in the United States.
"Can you imagine the size of the market for a Triumph Metisse produced by the Triumph factory?" continued Rickman. "Ironically, a year later we were the only motorcycle factory left in Great Britain. If just one of those factories had said yes, we might not have been here tonight."
While many of the evening's stories focused on past achievements,
off-road riding advocate Ed Waldheim and ISDT medalist, activist and
instructor Billy Uhl cautioned the capacity crowd that all
motorcyclists, regardless of background or interest, must also look
forward.
"Right now we are in the midst of the worst onslaught in trying to take away our rights to access public lands" said Waldheim (left). "We must let our enemies know they will not take away the sport we love."
"Sometimes we in the motorcycle community want to do things the hard
way," said Uhl (right). "But this is a tireless battle with no end. We need to
build a bridge between street bikers and dirt bikers to form one voice
that the politicians will listen to. Let's learn from each other, from
the mistakes and successes of our family, whether it's riding techniques
or how to interact with a government agency. We need to come together as
a group to preserve our future."