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.
Los Angeles' own J. Howard Shafer, one among the few pioneers of motorcycle racing in America with his Thor twin in 1908. Shafer was a part of the first class of enthusiasts in the Los Angeles area at the turn of the 20th century and one of the first motorcyclists in the country to venture into competition. As a founding member of the Los Angeles Motorcycle Club, Shafer acted as the club's secretary and was highly active within an elite group, including racing icons like Paul Derkum, Charlie Balke, Ray Seymour, Will Risden, and Morty Graves, many of which represented the first motorcycle dealerships in California. Before long, the club began sponsoring and promoting races at the nearby 1-mile-long horse track at Agriculture Park.
I have had the distinct pleasure of being asked to give a guest lecture at the Glenn H. Curtiss Museum this Thursday, February 27 at 7 pm EST, available for anyone to attend for free via Zoom.
Curtiss was one among America’s first class of motorcycle pioneers, equal parts engineer, entrepreneur, and fearless sportsman that helped give birth to the machines themselves. Often overlooked given his diverse mechanical interests and successes in the earliest days of aviation, Curtiss stood alongside men like Charles Metz, Oscar Hedstrom, and Joseph Merkel as the founding fathers of both the American motorcycle and the sport of motorcycle racing. Join in tomorrow, February 27 at 7 pm EST for a look back to the beginning of motorcycle racing and the invaluable contributions made to the culture by Hammondsport’s own Glenn Curtiss.
I’m looking into re-releasing my first book, Georgia Motorcycle History soon. It was a project which marked the beginning of my interest in writing about this unique history back in 2013 which was funded with the support of the community. Though it was a narrow niche the response was inspiring, and after 3 pressings sold to enthusiasts in over 20 countries I fell in love with researching motorcycle history and decied I wanted to do what I could to help preserve stories from the early days of this rich culture of ours. The project quickly evolved into Archive Moto, and I have thuroughly enjoyed the ooportunity to dig deeper into my passion, connect and collaborate with so many like-minded folks, and share in this collective interest. GMH has been sold out for the better part of 5 years now, and though the printing house in Georgia I used to produce it is no longer available, I have been exploring ways to have another pressing.
