Walter G. “Mile A Minute” Collins, onboard his Indian factory V-twin racer in San Francisco, California July, 1908.
Former bicycle racer and American motorcycle pioneer Walter G. Collins onboard his 1908 Indian twin in San Francisco, July 12, 1908. “Mile A Minute” Collins, as he became known after being the first to top the 60 MPH mark at LA's Agriculture Park track onboard a cumbersome French Peugeot twin, was one of the founding fathers of American motorcycle racing. Hailing from LA, Collins had been among the best bicycle racers on the West Coast during the sport’s heyday before quickly transitioning to motorcycles once they first arrived.
He was a founding member of the LAMC and played a pivotal role in arranging some of the first races in the area with friends and fellow pioneers like Paul “Daredevil” Derkum, Ray Seymour, Charlie Balke, and Morty Graves. Collins and Paul Derkum even arranged to tour the Vaudeville circuit as a pair of speedsters before he found a more steady paycheck in San Francisco, souring his relationship with Derkum as he headed north. Once there, he again became a central figure in the budding culture, acting as the president of the newly formed SFMC.
The machine Collins poses on in this image was among the first production V-twin American motorcycles, initially developed by Oscar Hedstrom in 1904 as a response to fellow pioneer Glenn Curtiss, who unveiled the first V-twin motorcycle in America in 1903. These early Indian twins were the machines ripping around the dusty track at LA's Agriculture Park at the very birth of the sport, helping establish both the brand and the platform as the foundation of American motorcycles. On it, Collins took the victory at the Castro hill Climb that day, shooting up the 1,463-foot, 16% grade in a shade over 23 seconds.