Burt Munro, the motorcycle landspeed record-holder, has been inducted into the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum Hall of Fame.
This has been celebrated by Indian Motorcycle, whose bikes Munro would become somewhat synonymous with during his record-setting career.
One motorcycle in particular forged the Munro-Indian connection, that being the New Zealander’s own 1920 Indian Scout, which he tuned and rode to three landspeed records on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.
Those included the record set in 1967, when Munro was 68-years-old, for under-1000cc motorcycles. The record then was 184.087mph, and the record now is unchanged, even 56 years on.
Aaron Jax, Indian Motorcycle Vice President, said: “You cannot tell the history of motorcycles without mentioning Burt Munro. Burt’s stories have literally molded the Indian Motorcycle brand, as we continue to live like Burt and push the envelope to drive innovation, break boundaries and blaze new trails.”
Gary Gray, Vice President – Racing, Technology and Service for Indian Motorcycle, added: “Burt’s a legend. His accomplishments, through trials and tribulations, inspire our racing efforts today.
“While it may be overdue, it’s quite an achievement for Burt to be enshrined into the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum Hall of Fame, and we’re incredibly proud and grateful to celebrate Burt Munro not just today, but every day.”
Other inductees at the induction ceremony on 9 August at Sturgis included the victorious Team USA of the 1981 Motocross des Nations, whose triumph in Germany that year proved pivotal in the history of motocross.
Before 1981, no American team had won MXdN, and even that year none of the major stars of the US series wanted to go to the race, but the winning team of Donnie Hansen, Johnny O’Mara, Chuck Sun, and Danny LaPorte - all on Honda machinery - laid the foundation for a period of dominance for the US at the event that would go unchecked until Rob Herring, Kurt Nicholl, and Paul Malin won for Great Britain in 1994.
