Birmingham’s Bob Stubbs, the first champion of motorcycling in the American South onboard his Indian factory racing twin at Ormond Beach, Florida, March 1911.
Though not as recognizable as many of his iconic peers, Robert Thomas Stubbs, better known as Bob, was a champion pioneer in the earliest days of motorcycle sport at the turn of the century. Hailing from Birmingham, Alabama, Stubbs was the eldest of ten children of Lizzie Gilbert and Thomas Jefferson Stubbs, a Confederate soldier who fought in the battles of Tuscaloosa and Chickamauga. Like many of America's first motorcycle racers, Stubbs was active in the cycling world of the late 1800s, competing in regional events throughout the southeast. His passion for two-wheeled racing soon turned to the exciting new motorized machines as they first appeared in the South. As Indian was among the first manufacturers to establish a firm grip on production and distribution at scale, Stubbs' name became among the first in the American South, just as his counterpart in Georgia, Harry Glenn, to appear beside mentions of the Springfield marque in the earliest local competitions. By 1907, Stubbs had been elected President of the newly formed Birmingham Motorcycle Club, where he organized some of the first track competitions in the region at the nearby dirt track at the Alabama State Fairgrounds, arranging the first ever meet there on July 4, 1907, and sweeping every event.
He secured a position as one of Indian's distributors in the deep South and continued racing the crimson machines with such skill and grit that any aspiring professional in the country knew that if they ventured below the Mason-Dixon, it was Stubbs they had to beat. By the end of 1908, Stubbs was far older than most of his competitors, already in his 30s. Still, he had exerted his dominance, having claimed the title of Southern Champion, won 13 races in October alone, and set a world record time for 100 miles that December. His accomplishments garnered national headlines, and when coupled with his sales numbers back in Birmingham, he caught the attention of Hendee and Hedstrom back in Springfield. An avid speedster himself, Oscar Hedstrom contacted Stubbs about running for the brand in national competitions as one of its factory professionals, making Stubbs among the very first riders in America to become a professional, factory-sponsored motorcycle racer.
For his first outing, Stubbs joined AG Chapple, Walter Goerke, and Hedstrom himself at Ormond Beach, Florida, for the annual Carnival of Speed in late March 1909. Each man from the "tribe" reached and broke new records, except for Hedstrom, who was reported as being too busy tinkering with his Simplex-powered Hot Shot, which had too large a displacement to qualify for any FAM record runs. During a run on Wednesday afternoon, Stubbs met and exceeded the limit of his powerful Indian twin racer, and at over 80 mph, undoubtedly the fastest creature on planet earth at that moment, he went over the bars. Stubbs not only came out of the incident unscathed but smiling, an unusual emotional break for a typically stoic man based on all photographic accounts; his machine, however, was destroyed. After a short recovery, Stubbs was dispatched by Indian to compete in events across the country and was among the 31 entrants at the opening races of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as well as Asa Candler's comparable venue, the Atlanta Speedway.
Goerke, Stubbs, Chapple, and Hedstrom, ormond Beach, Florida, March, 1911.
Walter Goerke, Oscar Hedstrom (w/ Hot Shot racer) Bob Stubbs, and A.G Chapple at the Ormond Beach speed trials in March, 1911.
By 1911, Stubbs, with his dozens of professional victories and numerous speed records, had more than earned his stature as one of America's speed kings. His reputation was that of a champion, and influenced the culture of motorcycling far beyond his victories and records. While racing in Dallas in 1911, he ran against veteran legends like Denver's Erle Armstrong and Arthur Mitchel, as well as newcomers like a young local named Eddie Hasha. It was Hasha's talent against the might of Robert Stubbs in November 1911 that nearly drew Harley-Davidson into the professional racing game. The Milwaukee-based manufacturer had abstained from the perilous sport of track racing as it developed and had taken a firm stance against what its founders considered the bloodsport of motordrome racing, then at its height. However, in 1910, a stripped-stock factory racing model, the 6E, was developed and offered to select dealers to run in privateer events. Arthur Davidson had crossed paths with the talented young Hasha while touring its distribution in Texas, and arranged to have one of the rare 6E racers sent to him to try and take Stubbs' names out of the headlines, hopefully putting ads for Harley-Davidson victories in their place. It worked, and Hasha was able to best Stubbs in several events in Dallas. Harley-Davidson plastered the press with advertisements, Stubbs returned home defeated to Birmingham, and Hasha secured a Motor Co. dealership in Dallas until he decided to turn professional as the newest star for Indian at the pinnacle of the board track era, a fateful and historically tragic decision.
Stubbs in New Orleans during his 1911 tour.
Back home in Birmingham, Stubbs continued tending to his dealership when not racing. In October 1911, he welcomed two of the best racers in America, Jacob DeRosier and Charlie Balke, who arrived from the big races at Chicago's Riverview Motordrome to compete in a series of championship dirt track races in Birmingham. Both DeRosier and Balke had been teammates of Stubbs on the Indian factory team, DeRosier having been its first champion at Indian and the first professional motorcycle racer in the country. However, both racing stars had been recently and abruptly released from their contracts at Indian following a snappy letter DeRosier sent expressing his dissatisfaction with Hedstrom's new 8-Valve racer and its inability to keep pace with Joe Wolters and the new Excelsior 7. Nevertheless, both men had been promptly signed to ride their own 7 series racers for Excelsior just weeks before the scheduled appearance in Birmingham, and both knew that Indian's remaining champ, Robert Stubbs, would be waiting.
Beginning Thursday, October 5, 1911, races were scheduled each day through the following Saturday, the 14th, ranging from 3 miles to 25. Each heat brought different parings and hair-raising battles in the Alabama dust, but Jake DeRosier's new Excelsior mount was inconsistent at best, leaving him dead on the line more often than not. Charlie Balke, who was having far less trouble with his new machine, cleaned up at Thursday and Friday's races, though Stubbs was never far behind. However, after only two days of racing, it was the events that occurred after the track closed on Friday night that captured the attention and the imagination of the press. Reports vary as to the timeline of the accusations, but DeRosier is said to have grumbled that Birmingham was a town deeply rooted and invested in Indian, at the influence of Stubbs no doubt, and that any other make couldn't get a fair shake. An odd proclamation, seeing as all of the events so far had been won by his Excelsior teammate Balke, but one can assume that the notoriously temperamental DeRosier was not having a good run since his return from the UK and was not in the best of spirits. Still, his frustrations were brought to a head following the races on Friday, after his new machine left him standing still on the line again. Though what was stated is unknown, the story reported states that Barbara Stubbs, Robert's wife, took the opportunity to give DeRosier a good ribbing as he pushed his crippled machine off the track Friday evening. Boiling no doubt, DeRosier then confronted Stubbs at the Hillman Hotel that evening about his wife's remarks, of which Stubbs would hear nothing of, and a fight broke out.
A diminutive man when standing next to Stubbs, DeRosier took a substantial beating. According to DeRosier, Stubbs' beating was accompanied by fists from five of his buddies, and the gash that was opened on his head was from a blackjack or pair of brass knuckles used by Stubbs or one of his accomplices. The hotel being located directly across from City Hall, the police were quick on the scene, the commotion subdued, and Stubbs was ordered to pay a fine of $10 in court the next morning, after which he headed back out to the track for Saturday's events. Needless to say, gossip traveled like wildfire in those days, so the fairgrounds were flooded with spectators eager to see what was about to happen on the track after such an eventful Friday night in downtown Birmingham. The racing world at that time was a frenzy of action and colorful characters, and though the ruckus in Birmingham was typical for men like DeRosier, it was an unusual occurrence for Stubbs.
No races were scheduled for Sunday, but Monday, the 9th, brought about a new series culminating in a 10-mile open event. Again, the Excelsior was proving to be a machine hard to beat, with Balke winning the first 3-mile heat and DeRosier the second. Stubbs was focused on bringing in another Indian victory in the day's main event, the 10-mile, but as he charged hard on the Alabama dirt at speeds of over 70 mph, his rear clincher blew, sending him over the bars and into a terrible tumble. After being rushed to the hospital, initial reports surfaced that Stubbs would lose one of his eyes as a result of the incident; however, the injuries proved to be less severe, and Birmingham's beloved motorcycle king would come to heal.
The riders of the 1914 FAM Southern Championship Endurance Race, also known as the Ledger Cup, in front of the newspaper’s office in Birmingham, July 1914. Stubbs can be found in the back row on the right with the goggles on his head, a young Eugene Walker, his mentee just in front of him.
After a few brushes with serious injury, he chose to prioritize his wife's pleas over the sport. He hung up his jodhpurs, continuing in lower-stakes endurance and sidecar competitions in the coming years. Still, racing was in his DNA, so rather than run himself, he chose to mentor the brightest youngsters in Birmingham, taking a local named Eugene Walker under his wing. With a legend like Bob Stubbs as his coach, Walker quickly established himself as one of the country's finest racers, turning pro in October 1914, signing as a factory rider for Indian and winning his first national event in Saratoga, NY. Walker's ascent was interrupted by America's involvement in WWI, but once the sport resumed in 1919, Walker, with the might of Indian, was poised to dominate. Postwar professional motorcycle racing in America was a continuous battle between the now mighty Harley-Davidson factory team, Bill Ottoway's legendary "Wrecking Crew," and the burgundy gentlemen of the WigWam, but Walker gave the Milwaukee boys a hard run for their money, claiming six national wins for Indian in 1919 alone. In April of 1920, Walker was sent to the famous speed coast along with fellow Birmingham racer Herbert McBride to make runs at several land speed records recently broken by Harley's Red Parkhurst and Otto Walker a few weeks prior. The Birmingham boys then smashed 24 national and international speed records. In fact, Walker performed so well onboard his newly configured Powerplus racer that the setup became known as the "Daytona" motor, a legend among American racing machines. Of the records, Walker claimed the first international FICM record at 104.12 mph, and hit 115.79 mph onboard his 61ci 8-Valve racer. Following his exemplary showing in Florida, Walker continued to race and win for Indian.
Stubbs protege Eugene Walker seen on the far right onboard an Indian factory 8-Valve before racing at the Alabama State Fairgrounds dirt mile in 1914. Excelsior’s Joe Wolters can be seen in the middle, it would be among his final races for the brand before moving to the newly formed Harley-Davidson factory team.
Back in Birmingham, Stubbs looked upon the headlines of Walker's success with pride. He remained an ambassador for motorcycling culture until he passed at only 43 years old in 1922. Though his name may not echo as loudly as Hasha, DeRosier, or Parkhurst, Robert "Bob" Stubbs stands as one of the South's first and fiercest champions of motorcycling. From blazing new speed records to mentoring the next generation, he bridged the sport's earliest bicycle-born contests to its roaring professional era. His victories, his dealership, his grit on the track, and his devotion to young riders like Eugene Walker helped lay the foundation for Birmingham's role in America's motorcycle story. Stubbs lived and raced at the ragged edge of speed when the sport was still carving out its identity, and though his life was cut short, the mark he left on the two-wheeled world endures—an unsung pioneer whose name deserves to be remembered among the greats.