A Weekend of Legends at the Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum

Image Gallery Attendees mingle among all the immaculate classic bikes at the Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum. Photo by Doug Mitchel

This year's annual Motorcycle Hall of Fame induction ceremony and Concours d'Elegance was not to be missed.

Nine more individuals indelibly linked to motorcycling are now forever enshrined in the Motorcycle Hall of Fame: Doug Chandler, Alfred Rich Child, Wally Dallenbach, Sr., Denis Manning, Heikki Mikkola, Burt Munro, Cook Neilson, Roger “Sodie” Soderstrom and Melbourne J. “Mike” Wilson were honored as more than 400 attendees gathered at the Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum in Pinkerington, Ohio, Oct. 7-8, 2006.

In opening remarks for the induction ceremony, MHFM executive director Mark Mederski said the Hall of Fame “honors those individuals whose passion and accomplishments have taken our sport and our industry to a higher level.” Famed Harley-Davidson tuner Bill Werner served as master of ceremonies for the evening, presenting each inductee (or their representative) with a gold Hall of Fame medal.

After accepting his medal, Doug Chandler commented, “All my life racing bikes, I never dwelled on what I’ve done in the past. I always look forward. Just having my name on the wall among those others … it really feels good, and it’s a great honor.” Chandler is one of only four riders to ever accomplish what is known as the “Grand Slam,” winning races in five different disciplines of AMA-sanctioned motorcycle racing: the half-mile, mile, TT, short-track and road racing.

Herbert “Burt” Munro’s story became known to thousands this past summer through the release of the movie The World’s Fastest Indian, which was based on his life-long pursuit of speed. John Munro and his sister, June, were on hand from New Zealand to represent their late father, who set land-speed records on his home-built Indian Scout.

Alfred Rich Child was a Harley-Davidson sales representative in Africa and Japan during Harley’s early years (learn more about Child in our article on Rikuo motorcycles on page 54 of the January/February 2007 issue of Motorcycle Classics).

“It was amazing,” says freelance motorcycle journalist and Japanese bike enthusiast Doug Mitchel, who represented Motorcycle Classics at the event. “I thought I’d been in motorcycling a long time, but now I feel like I’ve barely started.”