Skip;
There are usually several Rickman's at each Reunion Ride, and those guys really know how to make them talk! Lots of other thumpers also, BSA, Matchless, Norton Desert Master, and Triumph. Dave Mungenast was on the Triumph Team in 1973, and rode his original bike in 2003. Dave was one of my early riding heroes, as he was from here in St. Louis, had motorcycle and car dealerships, and a riding park about 2 hours out of town. I bought my '75 Husqvarna 250WR from his Dirt Bike Headquarters back in the day. He also did movie stunt work, and was in a whole bunch of movies, the most notable I think was the Burt Reynolds Movie "Hooper." Remember the scene where the gang was racing down the Pacific Coast Highway backwards, and a cop pulls them over? That was Dave Mungenast ! In the video, he was the one that gave the speech at the banquet and was about 75 years old at that time. Dave passed away several years ago from brain cancer.
Bob;
Carl Crank was another of my heroes back in the day also, and was very skilled at anything with two wheels and one of the best mechanic/engineers that you would ever meet. The best way to describe him in one word is FAST! He became a Penton employee and was on several ISDT Penton Vase teams. Very nice guy, approachable and great to talk to. He was also a pioneer in the field of CAD design and engineering. In the late 1970's or early 80's, he walked away from motorcycles and racing and took his first engineering job with Preston Petty Products. Preston Petty was also a ISDT veteran, outstanding innovator and engineer, and had one of this country's first CAD operations, and gave Carl his first job. Carl went on to excel in that field, married and had a few children, and never told them about his early life racing motorcycles. It wasn't until the movie that was made about the life of John Penton came out and Carl made his contributions to it, that they became aware of it. He is in several motorcycle and racing halls of fame. Sadly, he also succumbed to brain cancer late last year far too young.
I only had one OSSA, a Mick Andrews Replica trials bike. My brother time has one of the white OSSA 250 SDR Pioneers. Helmut "Speedy" Clausen was in this video, and expatriate German who lives in Ontario, Canada and was a member of the OSSA factory team, and developed the OSSA SDR series, which stands for Six Day Replica.
Doc;
Yep, that was me. Back in the 40's, 50's and 60's, there were no purpose built off road motorcycles. You took street bikes and did what you needed to do to make them as light and as reliable as possible. Harley-Davidson, BSA, Triumph, Matchless, and a few others were the norm. The Truimph T-100 was popular because it was pretty simple, lighter than the others, and just better suited for the event. Some stripping down of excess weight and the addition of an old scoop shovel to the bottom of the engine cradle for a skid plate and some knobby tires was all that was really done besides some normal race prep and water proofing. Bill Baird was a legend of enduro racing and he was a devoted fan of the Triumph T-100 and won 7 National Enduro titles on them, a record that stood for many years until Dich Burleson equaled it in the late 70's and early 80's aboard a variety of bikes, but mostly Husqvarnas. Bill rode them basically stock with the few modifications that I mentioned. Steve McQueen rode the 1964 ISDT on a Triumph, and most know of his riding and racing exploits. When he was in Germany making the Movie "The Great Escape" he and several others took advantage of the time and location to spectate at that years ISDT that was being held close by, and that gave him the desire to try his hand at that type of racing. McQueen did not do that jump, but the man who did, Dave Eakins, was a friend and rscing buddy of Steve's and was also a USA team member in 1964. And the bike that was used? It was a doctored up Triumph T-100!
Thanks for the interest and comments, guys!
Type at you later,
Dan McEntee
Topic: OT: And Now for Something Completely Different! (Read 1246 times)