Today in motorcycle history, May 10, 1957

                 

  Bruce Lee Penhall is born in Balboa, California.  Soon teenage girls everywhere would be pasting his picture on their walls and inside their locker door.

 

  Bruce Penhall was well known for his role as Cadet/Officer/stud Bruce Nelson riding alongside his partner Ponch, a role immortalized by Eric Estrada, in the final season of the television series CHiPs.

 

  But, before he was Ponch's stable-mate he was a World Speedway Champion racer riding for the successful Cradley Heath Heathens speedway team in the United Kingdom from 1978-1982.

   The 1981 Speedway season proved to be Penhall's all conquering year.  Racing at the World Final at London's Wembley Stadium, 92,479 people witnessed Bruce Penhall come from behind to beat both former World Champion Ole Olsen of Denmark and later another Dane Tommy Knudsen on the finish line.  Also in 1981 Penhall partnered fellow American Bobby Schwartz to win the World Pairs Championship in Poland and alongside fellow World Finalist Erik Gundersen of Denmark led Cradley all the way to their first ever league title victory, topping the individual league averages on the way.  On top of a clean sweep of all the SWAPA personality awards was a special citation from US President Ronald Reagan.  *Seriously.  I couldn't make this shit up.

 

   He retired from speedway racing the night he won his second World Championship in 1982 in front of his home crowd at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.  See * above. 

 

  Bruce was not only Bruce Nelson, but Bruce Christian in the 1989 film Savage Beach and five of the movie's sequels as Bruce, Bruce, Bruce, Bruce and Bruce.  Bruce then reprised his role as Officer Bruce in the 1998 television movie CHiPs '99.  There's a Monty Python sketch here somewhere.  

 

  In 1999, Penhall was inducted into the A.M.A. Motorcycle Hall of Fame.  

  

Today in motorcycle history, May 9, 1956

  Supercross racing is born.

 

 I know, I know, Supercross is our "baby", it was born right here in the U.S. of A., oh, really...

 

 On May 9, 1956 in Prague, Czechoslovakia, 80,000 fans filled Strahov Stadium to watch the "Great Victory Day Race" (Great Victory Day marked the liberation of the Czechoslovakian Socialist Republic from Nazi Germany by the Soviet Union).

  Off-road motorcycling had already become a major sport in post-war Czechoslovakia, so there was plenty of interest in such an event, and plenty of talent to thrill the fans.  But there wasn't adequate public or personal transportation to take great throngs of people into the countryside, so the idea of staging a race for people to enjoy in comfort in the very center of Prague was only logical.  In addition to motocross in the infield, the fans were treated to speedway races around the perimeter oval.  The motocross course twisted over a half-mile circuit that included a steeple-chase type water crossing and seven or eight jumps (sound familiar?), which were created by piling dirt on wooden ramps.           

 

   But because of the political nature of the holiday, only Czechs and riders from neighboring Iron Curtain countries were allowed to participate, and only motorcycle brands from the region, (i.e. ESO, Jawa, CZ, MZ and Junak), were to be raced.

   Due to state-controlled communication on both sides of the Curtain, Western riders and motocross fans had little knowledge of or interest in the event.  However, Czechoslovakia was not the only nation of the Cold War era to come up with the idea of taking racing to the people.  British world champion Jeff Smith recalls participating at international meets held in soccer stadiums in Belgium at night under piss-poor lighting.

 

  16 years later, at Daytona International Speedway, the "first" Supercross race would be held.         

Today in motorcycle history, May 8, 1960

  Jock Weddell and his Norton
                                                         

  Victor Devine Motorcycles, Glasgow, Scotland, opens it's doors.

 

  Originally established as Weddell and Devine in Clydebank, Scotland,  in 1948.  "Jock" Weddell and Victor Devine both were well-known Norton and BSA racers.  As well as his TT successes Jock was one of the first British riders to compete on the European circuits.

 Unfortunately, circumstances led to their partnership being dissolved in the late 1950's.  Not to be deterred, Victor established the current shop on May 8, 1960 at the St Georges Cross end of Great Western Road.  Originally selling Iso Milano, Bianchi and Ducati but, by the mid sixties he was firmly established as Glasgow's premier Triumph dealer and by the end of the decade BSA and Norton.  With times-a-changin', 1970 saw Devine appointed as a Honda dealer.

  The shop moved from Great Western Road their current premises on Hydepark Street in the Spring of 2002.   Victor Devine Motorcycles is now considered one of the foremost Honda motorcycle dealerships in the United Kingdom.
  They have been putting Scotland on two-wheels for over 50 years now.  So, next time you're in Glasgow and are looking to buy a bike to check out Clydebank and the great distilleries of Scotland...oh, sorry...er..the great countryside of Scotland, their address is; 58-60 Hydepark St, Glasgow, Lanarkshire G3 8BW, United Kingdom.

 

  Remember kids, don't drink a lot of single-malt scotch and drive.

 

 

Today in motorcycle history, May 7, 2000

                                             

  One of the world's best-known Triumph tuners/builders George W. "Jack" Wilson dies.

 

  Bikes and engines built by the clever, often wisecracking Texan won hundreds of races and held scores of national and international speed records. 

  His first record-setting Triumph began in a garage in 1954 when his friend, J.H. "Stormy" Mangham, constructed a streamliner aimed at beating the 1951 180-mph world motorcycle record set by the German NSU team.  Wilson started with a standard Thunderbird, set up initially to run on gasoline, the T-Bird would eventually burn methanol and finally a 60 percent load of nitromethane, which at the time was just beginning to enter the drag-racing circles.

  The T-Bird's internals and careful assembly showcased Wilson's innovation.  He combined the latest Triumph factory speed parts, particularly camshafts, tappets, and gears, with a vast array of parts from various sources, including modified Harley K-model valves, Cadillac V8 shell-type main bearings on the connecting rod big-ends, and a 30-lb billet crankshaft machined from Natralloy.  It all added up to a liver-quivering 100 horsepower, according to Wilson.

  In 1956, after nearly 2 years of head-scratching and knuckle-busting, Wilson's nitro-fueled 650cc Thunderbird engine powered fellow Texan Johnny Allen to a 214.40 mph world speed record for motorcycle on the Bonneville Salt Flats.  It was this feat inspired Triumph to name their 1959 model the Bonneville!


   One world record just wasn't enough, so in 1958 Jack built a seriously trick 500cc Triumph twin and put 18-year-old Jess Thomas (another Texan) at the controls.  The machine clocked an average of 212.28 mph, seting a new world record for an unblown, streamlined 500cc motorcycle running on nitro. That record stood for 50 years.

   Jack Wilson was inducted in the AMA Hall of Fame in 2001.

                                    

Today in motorcycle history, May 6, 1972

 

  Doug Malewicki and Evel Knievel unveil Knievel's Steam Rocket Powered X-1 SkyCycle at the Twin Falls, Idaho, Snake River canyon jump site on May 6, 1972.

 

 

  Doug Malewicki was the designer and engineer of  Evel's X-1 Skycycle and X-2 Skycycle, the rocket-powered motorcycle that was shot over the Snake River Canyon to test the viability of his Skycycle jump. 

 

  An aeronautical engineer by training, Malewicki spent much of his career working for American aeronautics and space companies: the Apollo program moon landing vehicles, the Stealth bomber, and Cessna aircraft including their first private jet airplane.  He was a model rocket enthusiast,  (one of those geeky kids in the corner of the park that people unfairly point at), becoming famous early in his career for the Malewicki Equations that predicted the altitude and coast time of a model rocket flight.

  According to Malewicki's daughter, he was the inspiration for the original one eyed monster, called Mike on Peewee's Playhouse TV show, and later to become the inspiration for Mike Wazowski drawn by Ricky Nierva in Monsters, Inc.

                             


                                            

Today in motorcycle history, May 2, 1973

                                                 

  John Dolphin dies at 67 in Whitchurch-on-Thames, Oxfordshire. 

 

  John Dolphin was the inventor the Welbike Parachutists' Motorcycle during his time as the Commanding Officer of the top secret Second World War Special Operations Executive (SOE) "Station IX" where specialist military equipment was developed.  An engineer and natural-born inventor, Dolphin also invented the Welman and the Welfreighter midget submarines (the Welfreighter was classified Top Secret for over 50 years).  All machines developed for the SOE by "Station IX" at Welwyn were given prefix "Wel-".

  Being a motorcycle nut himself, (he owned a 1000cc Ariel Square Four), and with design help from Harry Lester, a former racing bike engineer, they developed a prototype of a small folding motorbike that could be dropped in a parachute container and be used by paratroopers.  Codenamed the "Welbike" this was to be the first operational transport for individual parachutists.  Between 1942 and 1945, 3853 were built and although it was not much used by the SOE, many were issued to the Parachute Regiment and used at Arnhem (Netherlands) during Operation Market Garden.

 

 

   After leaving the British Army he founded a number of companies, including the Corgi Motorcycle Co Ltd. in 1946 and also set up Dolphin Industrial Developments Ltd, and Hydraulic Developments Ltd, which he ran until 1950 when he became Chief Engineer at the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment.  He then went on to become Engineer-in-Chief at the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority Research Group until 1959.  Not good at sitting still, he became joint Managing Director of Lansing Bagnall Ltd and J. E. Shay Ltd until 1964, and a Director of TI (Group Services) Ltd, where he successfully secured patents for a number of inventions, including sheet piling revetments, improvements to fork lift trucks and battery-powered tricycles (the forerunner of the modern mobility scooter), bicycle frames and exercise equipment.

 

  John Robert Vernon Dolphin was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1956 Queen's Birthday Honours.                                           

                                          

                                              

 

Today in motorcycle history, May 1, 1976

  The BMW Motorcycle Club of Colorado is organized May 1, 1976 as MOA (Motorcycle Owners of America) Chartered Club #66.  

 

   In addition to hosting the world renowned Top O' The Rockies Rally in Paonia, Colorado for the past 20+ years, they are also host to the annual 100,000 Foot Ride that takes riders on some of the most spectacular roads in America.      

 

  The Top O' The Rockies Rally is the club's annual rally located on the grounds of the City Park in historic Paonia on the Western Slope of the Rockies.  The Top O’ The Rockies Rally started with the idea of providing riders with the best riding and scenery in Colorado.

 

  The BMWMCC also presents an annual all-day riding event, the 100K Foot Ride.  The ride is structured to take you over enough mountain passes to total over 100,000 feet in a single day.  This achievement is not attainable anywhere else in North America.  The 100,000 Foot Ride provides riders with not only incredible views, but a broad selection of some of the best motorcycle roads the state has to offer.