Robbie Knievel challenges British world record holder and motorcycle stuntman extraordinaire Eddie Kidd to a world title 'jump off' competition in St. Louis, Missouri. Knievel had deemed Kidd to be the only jump rider in the world worthy of challenging him (hmm, bit of an ego?). The event was televised as a $19.95 pay per view event titled, "The Daredevil Duel, Knievel vs. Kidd". The competition required each rider to make three jumps, with the accumulative distance covered by each rider calculated to determine the winner of the contest. Kidd took the winner's belt by out-jumping Knievel by 6 feet. Robbie Knievel said he had hoped for a 'rematch', but three years later, Kidd retired after sustaining serious injuries in a motorcycle accident, so the opportunity for him to win the title belt back from Eddie was never to be realized. Heavy sigh, big pout.
Eddie Kidd worked as a stunt double in many films for actor's such as Timothy Dalton, Val Kilmer, Roger Moore, Michael Caine and Pierce Brosnan. One of his most famous stunts was in the 1979 film Hanover Street , doubling for Harrison Ford on a motorcycle, he jumped a 120 feet railway cutting at 90 miles per hour in Shepton Mallet, Somerset.
Evel Knievel, America's favorite daredevil strikes again.
In Centralia, Washington at the Lewis County Fairgrounds, Evel jumps 13 cars, eleven Dodge Coronets, one Dodge Monaco and a Dodge Polaris. From his Triumph T120 firing up on the first kick to the near perfect landing, the jump is a complete success. The Centralia jump marks seven successful attempts in a row dating back to June 19, 1966, in Missoula, Montana. Where attempting to jump twelve cars and a van, Evel's rear wheel catches the van's door frame resulting in a severely broken arm and several broken ribs.
Two and a half weeks later in Graham, Washington, at the Graham Speedway, the lucky streak comes to an abrupt halt in an attempt to jump sixteen VW Bugs and a panel delivery truck. If he had only stopped at the Bugs.
Bobby Hill is born in the small town of Triadelphia, West Virginia. Population 811.
After the frustration of consecutive second place finishes, on a sweltering, shirt-soaking Atlanta afternoon, on August 8, 1948, Bobby Hill finally wins his first race but, alas, he has to share it. In one of the most memorable races ever, Hill and Billy Huber crossed the line in a dead heat and both were declared winner, the only time that has happened in AMA racing history.
He would eventually win the AMA Grand National Championship in 1951 and 1952 by his victories on the Springfield Mile. By no means taking away from his feats but, from 1946 to 1953, the AMA Grand National Champion was crowned based solely on the results of the Springfield Mile held at the Illinois State Fairground racetrack.
After winning the national title in 1951 and 1952 riding an Indian, he won the Daytona 200 in 1954 while piloting a BSA.
Hill won a total of 12 AMA nationals during his professional racing career between the years 1947 to 1959.
Bobby Hill was inducted to the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1998.
TT legend Joey Dunlop dies in Tallinn, Estonia.
Having already won the 750cc and 600cc class races, Joey Dunlop was leading the 125cc race when, in wet conditions on Pirita-Kose-Kloostrimetsa Circuit, he lost control and hit head-first into the trees killing him instantly.
Dunlop was so well-loved that Northern Ireland television carried live coverage of his funeral. Fifty thousand mourners, including bikers from all parts of Britain and Ireland, attended the funeral at Garryduff Presbyterian church and his burial in the adjoining graveyard.
Joey Dunlop's riding/racing ability and his list of wins was so impressive that Motorcycle News voted Joey as the fifth greatest motorcycling icon ever. He won 26 times at Isle of Man TT, including three hat-tricks in 1985, 1988 and 2000. In 1986 he won his fifth consecutive TT Formula One world title.
Originally from Ballymoney, Northern Ireland, homeboy won the Ulster Grand Prix 24 times.
On the Isle of Man, a statue of Dunlop astride a Honda overlooks the Bungalow Bend at Snaefell.
William Joseph Dunlop was awarded the MBE in 1986 for his services to the sport, and in 1996 he was awarded the OBE for his humanitarian work for children in Romanian orphanages, to which he had delivered clothing and food.
The Bates Manufacturing Company is incorporated on July 1, 1958.
When you think of choppers you think Bates headlight. Single, large, small, square, rectangular, teardrop, over and under. On that springer has gotta be a Bates.
Robert Owens Bates started Bates Motor Scooter Service in 1939 in Los Angeles, California. In October of 1948, he printed his first complete catalog: 14 pages of accessories for Wizard Bikes, Harley-Davidson, Indian and English motorcycles, Cushman, Salsbury and Moto Scoot scooters. The catalog also displayed Bates’ own headlight, motorcycle saddle, pillion seats, luggage racks, saddle covers and apparel. When the company name was changed to Bates Manufacturing Company in 1958 Robert Bates, Jr., who worked in the business as a saddlemaker and leathercutter, was named vice president and helped them become pioneers in the aftermarket industry that helped foster the motorcycling community’s affection for customization.
Robert Bates, Sr. also provided volunteer first aid and ambulance service for local races when none previously existed. He took a first-aid course, bought an old Ford station wagon, had it painted bright red, and purchased a stretcher at a war surplus store.
Robert Owens Bates, Sr. was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum in 2009.
Joe Teresi's neighbors think they live next to a pigsty, and he is determined to prove them right.
Joe Teresi had originally planned to expand his Malibu Mountains Racquet Club, but Los Angeles County planning commissioners revoked the club's operating permit in April after neighbors complained that the onetime tennis ranch had degenerated (?) into a rowdy biker hangout.
Neighbors noted that the land was zoned for light agriculture--for hogs with tails, not tailpipes. Now Teresi says he is giving them their wish.
Teresi is preparing to reopen the club July 3 with a new name: the Malibu Mountains Hog Ranch, in honor of the "attack pigs" he plans to raise there and of his members' fondness for riding large motorcycles known as "hogs."
Known throughout bikerdom as publisher of the adult custom motorcycle magazine Easyriders, he has appealed the Regional Planning Commission's revocation of his conditional-use permit, thereby staying the action until a September hearing. He plans to ask for a new permit to run a recreational facility for bikers--who, he notes, also play tennis--and may continue farming at the rural Malibu property along Latigo Canyon Road.
In addition to the "attack pigs" (actually they're tamed, tusked boars), Joe said he also intends to raise turkeys, chickens, rabbits and beefalo (a cross between buffalo and cattle). One of the tennis courts is being transformed into a chicken coop and he envisions one of the club's swimming pools as a trout pond.
The pigpen will be dubbed "Le Corral Gee Wulliger's," Teresi said, in honor of one of the county planning commissioners, Richard Wulliger. At the Regional Planning Commission meeting in April, Wulliger said he became convinced that the club was no longer a tennis ranch when he learned that its restaurant was named "Le Cafe Bubba."
"With all due respect," Wulliger said before voting to revoke the permit, "I don't know of any tennis players named Bubba."
At the April meeting, there were complainaints of loud engines and alleged crime and drug use from the club. Teresi denied that any criminal activities were ever traced to his club and said the noise problems had been corrected.
Now that it appears that Teresi is taking those sarcastic comments literally and the neighbors panties are getting all bunched-up.
One of the bitchy neighbors particular concern is Joe Teresi's offer of free beer at the opening celebration and a map used in advertising that shows the Rock Store, a nearby motorcycle hangout, as the only area landmark.
