Issue #268 The Boys of 2011 enter the Hall
The Canadian Motorcycle Hall of Fame ushered in a stellar class during a ceremony in Burnabby, BC.
It has been a decade now decade now since Bar Hodgson set out to preserve the history and heritage of motorcycling in this country with the founding of the Canadian Heritage Motorcycle Museum. The Toronto-area impresario has been a vital part of that history himself. The story goes that he bought his second motorcycle, a 1952 Triumph Thunderbird, from George Chuvalo, before George became the greatest heavyweight boxer Canada has yet produced.
Hodgson went on to a career as a dealer, racer, magazine publisher and promoter who’s probably best known for his annual International Motorcycle SUPERSHOW in Toronto.
Five years ago, under the umbrella of the Heritage Museum, and with the support of the Motorcycle and Moped Industry Council, Hodgson established the Canadian Motorcycle Hall of Fame, beginning operations by inducting a group of 12 in 2006.
The motorcycle history of this country had not been well-documented or especially well-tended before Hodgson took the reins. Indeed, luminaries from its sport environment were either honoured or forgotten by Canada’s Motorsport Hall of Fame, which annually recognizes elite individuals from a variety of disciplines. Motorcycling is just a small part of motosport, and representation in that Hall was a hit and miss thing for many remarkable competitive riders.
“There is no animosity,” between the two Halls, says Canadian International Motorcycle Heritage Museum Foundation vice-president Dave Lloyd, who along with Hodgson is one of the driving forces behind the Hall’s creation. “It’s just a matter of pure logistics.” Meaning that with only one or two entries per year in the general Motorsport Hall, Canada’s motorcycling history was in danger of slipping away unnoticed if action was not taken. Though the Hall has not yet penetrated the consciousness of every single riding Canadian—indeed 2010 inductee Blair Morgan admitted not even hearing about it till his nomination—it is gaining momentum.For MMIC president Bob Ramsay the Hall is about “embracing the history” and promoting it to motorcyclists.
Events such as the annual Hall of Fame banquet, staged this year in Burnaby, BC, go a long way toward formalizing both the intent and the existence of the Hall. Dave Lloyd says that coming out with an annual slate of inductees is a complex process, and there’s no doubt that’s true. But that process was made a little less complex for 2010 as the induction committee focused on western nominees. The committee, incidentally, includes Lloyd, former Canadian Vintage Motorcycle Group newsletter editor Vada Seeds, Quebec dealer Ray Gref, and BC dealer Thom Tyre.Being critical of that western bias in the 2010 honour list would be easy. It’s an obvious attempt to garner western support and attention to the Hall at a time when the west is fast becoming the dominant power in the motorcycle industry. But the committee members and organizers of the 2010 induction banquet are quite open about that.
“In the formative years we tried to be inclusive,” said CMIHF chair John Cooper during his opening remarks at the Nov. 6 induction banquet, which was staged in a glittering Delta Hotel conference room, complete with a multimedia presentation and the voice of Canadian pro roadracing, Pat Gonsalves, as host. “We tried to be inclusive, but there was much ground to be made up.”
Too many years of names and great deeds have gone neglected or even forgotten. The Hall is now in a tough position where it must attempt to retrieve Canadian motorcycling’s 100-year past without sacrificing the present or future. “You can’t have just a slate of old people,” says Lloyd. “You have to have some like the Blair Morgans too.” Old names and old faces might well be stirring if you’re old enough to remember them yourself, but a younger generation has its icons too. Honouring only names from the dimly-lit past risks the alienation of younger riders.
So, with a full century to recount, and with a mandate to play a vital role in the current era, the Hall has its work cut out. If it showed a western bias this year, so be it. Next year, when the event returns to Toronto, and the year after when it’s staged in Quebec, the focus will be elsewhere. But for the event that was the 2010 version, it was a glamorous night: women in fabulous dresses, men in dark suits. That in itself caused confusion because just about anyone at the Canadian Motorcycle Hall of Fame induction award banquet in November was more accustomed to seeing the person across the table from him or her through a visor or in boots and jeans.The evening included poignant moments, none more so than the introduction of Vern Amor who was helped on stage by several able-bodied men. The former Victoria-area motocross competitor broke 27 bones and gathered 1,000 trophies during a career that saw him become one of the early adapters of two-stroke motorcycles and the first Bultaco dealer in Canada. But time and a stroke in 2000 have robbed the man of his vitality. Accepting his place in the Hall was clearly a challenge for Mr. Amor.
Also inducted were:
Phil Funnell of Vancouver—a bantamweight dynamo and former dealer who practically invented the term “adventure touring.”
Ross Pederson of Medicine Hat—the greatest M/Xer ever produced domestically. Tom Walther—the Surrey roadracer who showed such promise but died too young.
Dave Wildman—The Vancouver dealer who once campaigned a James 250 at Brands Hatch
Bill McLean—Another great dealer and roadracer who left too soon.
Don James—The Harley Canada heavyweight who’s still at the top of his career.
Blair Morgan—The Saskatchewan boy who hit the sport of MX and Snocross like a prairie storm until a career ending accident in 2008.
Bob St. Goddard—Who basically brought CMA clubs and competitions to Manitoba.
Also honoured were the Greater Vancouver and Victoria Motorcycle clubs, two BC-based motorcycle clubs with histories nearly as old as the Stanley Cup.
In addition, Terry Rea of Vancouver was presented with the Bar and Hedy Hodgson Award, while two recipients were named to the Historical category: Joseph Baribeau of Manitoba and Palmer Rutledge of BC.The night was memorable.
