Herschel Chamberlain, a local amateur motorcycle racer from Detroit, Michigan, is but one of the countless hundreds of America’s daring, early enthusiasts to have found the thrill of speed on two wheels and took to the track to test their mettle. Proudly straddling his winning mount, Chamberlain rode this spartan and unruly 1911 Indian twin to victory in the 3-mile novice competition at the Detroit Motorcycle Club’s Labor Day weekend races that same year. The young speedster rolled to the line alongside some of the finest riders in the country, men like Frank Hart, Johnny Constant, Don Klark, Charles Gustafson, and William Teubner.
1911 was a tremendous year for the sport, with Jack Prince’s thrilling board track motordromes popping up across the country, and manufacturers unveiling some of the most iconic racing machines of all time, like like Indian’s Big Base 8-Valve and the mighty Excelsior 7. Among the field in Detroit, Hart, Constant, and Klark were each a part of the dominant Indian factory team, having recently arrived from the big National Championship races held in Fort Erie, Ontario, that July. It was Frank Hart who wore the crown as at Fort Erie, he had been awarded the title of America’s first amateur national champion and proceeded to dominate the races at Detroit yet again.
Hart shared the honors with Flying-Merkel’s William J. Teubner, who had spent the better part of the past two years keeping the underdog brand competitive on the national scene with dozens of dirt track victories. Still, after finding himself consistently chasing a blur of crimson Indians and at the beckoning of his pal Frank Hart, he signed a deal with the Springfield behemoth one month after his showing in Detroit. As for Herschel Chamberlain, like so many of the country’s earliest racers, his time in the limelight was brief. No records of Chamberlain appear aside from his triumphant day in Detroit in 1911; perhaps he continued competing in smaller local and regional events overshadowed by the increasingly popular sport on the national scene, or it could be that the 20-year-old, then married and soon-to-be a father, satisfied his taste for glory and bowed out on a high note. Still, the men like Chamberlain, the riders and enthusiasts of America, helped establish a rich culture of motorcycling and motorcycle racing that endures.