Jim Davis and Joe Ryan, Baltimore-Washington Speedway, Sept. 7, 1925.

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One of the last gentlemen of the storied Harley-Davidson Wrecking Crew era, a zebra-striped Jim Davis collects himself in the pits of the Baltimore-Washington Speedway on September 7, 1925. Originally from Columbus, OH, a young Davis began his illustrious racing career before WWI, and as such he is one of the only pioneer motorcycle racers to hold titles under each of the first sanctioning bodies in the country, the FAM, the M&ATA, and the AMA. A lifelong ambassador of the sport, Davis is without question one of the most beloved figures in American motorcycle racing history and yet another colorful character full of remarkable stories from those earliest days. 

Both Davis and Wrecking Crew new-comer Joe Petrali were on a war path for the 1925 season, racking up title after title and knocking down speed records on both dirt and boards throughout the country. Davis clinched the AMA 5 Mile National Championship title on the #3 Harley-Davidson Two Cam in this photo, setting a new record with an average speed of 111 mph. His teammate Smoking’ Joe Petrali, who had only joined the Harley-Davidson team after a mixup with his Indian factory racer at the Altoona track two months prior knocked down three new records as he took the top spot in the 10, 25, and 50 Mile championships. Another photograph from this event was featured in a post I did back in February as it featured fellow Harley man Bill Minnick holding a raccoon, a rather odd mascot while posing in victory lane with his Wrecking Crew teammates Davis, Petrali, and Eddie Brinck.

Here is American motorcycle racing icon Jim Davis in his black and white striped jersey at the Baltimore-Washington Board Track Speedway in Laurel, MD, Sept. 7, 1925. Master mechanic and longtime head of Harley-Davidson’s Service School Joseph Ray Ryan stands besides Davis’ #3 Two Cam mount in coveralls, an empty Coke bottle on the track, and shipping crates litter the background.

Don and Irene Klark, Detroit Motordrome, Summer 1913

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Indian motorcycle star Don Klark, Captain of the Detroit Motordrome team posing with his lovely bride Irene inside the Motor City saucer in the summer of 1913. A veteran of the Indian factory team, the 24 year old Klark was selected to lead the “home” team of racers contracted to ride in Detroit, Jack Prince’s latest board track motordrome. The first of 8 new motordromes built in 1913, the 1/4 mile stadium in Detroit was completed in May with an intense banking of 60 degrees, making it one of the steepest of these tracks ever built. Shortly after the gates opened tragedy struck, as it so often did on these tracks and a young aspiring racer, an Austrian pilot by the name of Emil Haloubek became yet another victim of the sport. Klark had arranged for Haloubek to make a few laps around the new saucer on June 5th so that he could evaluate his abilities for potential placement on the team, but the inexperienced Austrian lost control of the machine. Haloubek’s death, which increased the number of fatalities on American boards to over a dozen inspired a scathing editorial in the Detroit News. The highly critical article featured a now famous cartoon entitled “A Pagan Holiday” in which Death, with his sickle and a shield bearing a dollar sign stands with a rider beneath his foot at the center of a motordrome, the crowd giving a unanimous thumbs down as if spectators in a Roman coliseum. However, despite the growing public distaste the Detroit Motordrome insisted that the accident was a simple abnormality and continued hosting races until ultimately, poor attendance forced it to close its doors the next season.  As the gates were closing at the Detroit Motordrome in the fall of 1914 Klark and Irene welcomed a daughter, Ruth into their family. Klark continued racing for a time and was considered to be one of the best in country, but he eventually retired into a cushy and far less perilous position at Packard. Unlike so many of his fellow gentlemen racers, Don Klark enjoyed all of the thrills and triumphs of a racers youth as well as the treasured wisdom of old age, passing away just before his 86th birthday in 1976.

Archive Icon: A.F. Van Order

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The man himself, Mr. Ashley Franklin Van Order posted up on his good friend Otto Walker’s factory racer at Ascot Park, January 1920. A child of the great American midwest, Van moved his family to the sun-rich land of Los Angeles in 1911 in order to pursue a life on two wheels. A tenacious yet easy going man, Van was driven to immerse himself in the bustling motorcycle culture of southern California at the turn of the century, and as such became a staple player in the very creation of American motorcycle culture. A master rider, novice racer, and successful salesman, Van’s life was quickly consumed with all things motorcycling. He became an officer of the LAMC, coordinating countless rides and races, often acting in whatever role was lacking at the event. Sometimes he was an official for the FAM, or manned the flags and stopwatches, if needed he even held things down in the pit crew for his professional racer pals. 

The first half of Van’s life was spent in the saddle pursuing good times, that familiar motivation in which we all share a stake. Van then dedicated his remaining years to preserving and sharing the stories of those early days so that future generations would know right where they came from. By the 1930’s Van had begun trying his hand at journalism, recounting the glory days of American motorcycle racing for Motorcyclist Magazine, illustrating his articles with images snapped and collected over the years past. It is those images, amassed by Van Order over decades, combined with his drive to preserve the stories of his culture that has given us such a rich understanding of our heritage. His collection of photographs define the spirit of American motorcycling and his efforts as the first great champion of our culture have earned him his place amongst the founding fathers of our sport.

I have been honored with the opportunity to tell Van’s story and share his remarkable collection of photographs in my next book. His is a legacy to which we are all indebted and I am excited to move into the next phase of this project, hopefully having a release date in the middle of next year. Until then keep an eye out for #TheVanOrderCollection tag in my IG posts for an exclusive peek at the iconic photographs from the project.

Cleo Francis Pineau, Toledo Ohio, June 9, 1914.

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Fascinations can easily get away from you once you begin digging into the details of early American motorcycle racing. Those first decades overflow with icons and legends, unique characters with unbelievable lives and undeniable grit. It is this man however, a diminutive New Mexican with a quintessentially French name that I cannot seem to keep from studying. Cleo Francis Pineau was so eager to jump balls deep into life that he dropped out of school in 6th grade, dead set on beginning his remarkable adventure. He lead a life so full that it would take a Tolkienesque effort to recount his exploits, far to much to dig into in one of my little posts, but I hope to one day get to tell his story in full. 

Not only was he a pioneer of the dirt track and the motordrome, but he was also one of the earliest to thrill audiences inside attractions like the wall of death. He was a staple member of the Yellow Jackets, the competitive factory team of Flying Merkel in the early teens despite his career being interrupted at its peak by WWI. In yet another example of his continuous exceptionalism Pineau enlisted for service in the Royal Flying Corps when the war broke out and trained to be a pilot. With less than 100 flying hours under his belt he shipped out to France where, in less than a month of active combat he distinguished himself as one of the top pioneer fighter pilots in the world shooting down 6 enemy aircrafts. After becoming one of an extremely small group of American Ace’s Pineau was himself shot out of the sky only to survive and spend the remainder of the first world war in German POW camp.  

He returned to the states with a chest made heavy from medals from several different countries and jumped right back into the saddle. He later became an executive representative for Indian before starting his own steel company which is still in operation today. He spent the remainder of his life being counted among the close personal friends of American aviation icons like Wiley Post, Charles Lindbergh, and Amelia Earhart. This man in the photo, Cleo Francis Pineau onboard his Flying Merkel factory racer, a blanked off OHV twin setup for the races in Toledo, OH, June, 1914, is in my opinion one of the most fascinating people in American history.