Indian board-track Champion and fan-favorite, Shrimp Burns is killed after crashing his Indian during a board-track race in Toledo, Ohio.
Albert "Shrimp" Burns was one of the top board-track racers of the 1910's and early '20's, riding for both the Harley-Davidson and Indian factory teams during his career. He was the youngest champion of his era, winning his first title at 15.
On May 4, 1913, Burns entered his first professional motorcycle race in Sacramento and finished an impressive fourth. That summer, he continued to hone his racing skills on the tracks of Northern California. On August 17, Burns rode against the stars of the day such as Bob Perry, Ray Creviston, Otto Walker and Carl Goudy in a AMA Championship race in Sacramento. Burns took fourth in the 10-mile feature and finished second in another race. The established stars didn't like being upstaged by a 15-year-old kid who looked even younger and rode inferior equipment. Their protests/pouts kept Shrimp out of several of the big race meets that season. He was finally allowed to race against the same group of riders late that season in San Jose and he shocked the riders and the fans by earning his first victory.
For the next several seasons, Burns continued to race in his home state and steadily earned a following of loyal fans. One reason the fans loved him was because of his toughness and his refusal to quit. In a Marysville, California, race Burns suffered a hard tumble on the wood. He hobbled to the pits and put his bike back together in time for the next race. Riding in obvious pain, Burns went on to win the five-mile final to the roar of the crowd. His friends insisted that Burns be checked by a doctor after the race and it was discovered that he had ridden with a fractured collarbone and broken shoulder.
In June of 1919, Harley-Davidson signed the 20-year-old rider to his first factory contract.
With Harley-Davidson, Shrimp Burns was eager to be able to show the rest of the country his talent. On July 4, 1919, he made his first appearance on the East Coast, riding a National meet in Baltimore, Maryland. Burns, who rode in an unusual style by hugging the inside rail around the circuit, won a five-mile solo race as well as a sidecar event. The Baltimore performance set him on the road to gaining a reputation as one of the country's best racers. Burns spent much of the summer of 1919 on a winning streak in Midwest races and even gave the legendary Gene Walker a serious challenge in Atlanta, something no rider had been able to do against the South's almost unbeatable rider.
In the final major race of the 1919 season, Burns earned the 100-mile National Championship by edging out Ralph Hepburn by mere inches on the board track at Sheepshead Bay, New York.
Burns shocked the motorcycling community by signing with the Indian factory for the 1920 season. In those days the rivalry between Harley-Davidson and Indian was so intense that it was rare for a rider to make the switch from one factory team to the other. Burns felt he was playing second fiddle to the more established stars of the Harley team and was promised the best available equipment by Indian.
It didn't take long for Burns to prove his worth to Indian. He took home the very first National title of the 1920 season, winning the 25-mile National at Ascot Park in Los Angeles. According to magazine reports of the day the spectators on hand flooded the track and carried Burns on their shoulders, chanting his name.
Burns opened the 1921 season in spectacular fashion, winning on the new 1.25-mile board-track in Beverly Hills, California, before nearly 30,000 fans. After having won the opening race of the day, he crashed hard in the next event, the spill resulted in his hands and arms being a bloody mass of large splinters. The day's racing proceeded with Shrimp apparently out with his injuries. Before the final race of the day the large crowd came to its feet when it was announced that he would attempt to race. He borrowed a bike and rode with bandages covering him from his fingertips to shoulders. Early in the race it appeared that Burns was content to simply ride mid-pack in the draft of the others. On the last lap Burns made his move and went high on the final turn and sped down the steep banking to win the race in one of the afternoon's most dauntless performances. Later, a cartoon strip in a local newspaper showed Shrimp bandaged from head-to-toe racing in front of admiring fans shouting his praises.
On August 14, during a AMA-sanctioned board-track race in Toledo, Ohio, coming out of a turn Burns ran into the back of *Ray Weishaar's Harley-Davidson. The impact sent Burns into the railing and he later died of massive head injuries. The motorcycling world deeply mourned his loss. Numerous tributes were written about him for months following the accident.
Albert "Shrimp" Burns was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1998.
*Ray Weishaar rode for the H-D's legendary 'Wrecking Crew,' and helped to popularize the nickname 'hog' by carrying the team's mascot, a small pig, around on their victory laps, of which there were many.
Today in motorcycle history proudly supports the National Association for Bikers with a Disability (NABD). www.nabd.org.uk
