American Motorcycle Dealer AMD 231 October 2018 | Page 18
AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame
announces Class of 2018
The AMA is to welcome six new
inductees into its Motorcycle Hall of
Fame.
The ceremony will officially induct four-
time AMA National Enduro Champion
Terry Cunningham, stunt rider Gary
Davis, flat track and road racing tuner
Skip Eaken, MotoGP World Champion
Nicky Hayden, flat track racer Clifford
“Corky” Keener, and pioneering
motorcyclist Mary McGee.
The induction ceremony is part of the
2018 AMA Legends & Champions
Weekend, December 7-9, which also
includes the 2018 AMA Championship
Banquet at the Hilton Columbus/Polaris
on December 8, and an open house and
formal instalment of Hall of Fame honors
at the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in
Pickerington, Ohio, on December 9.
Terry Cunningham is a champion off-
road rider (a four-time AMA Grand
National Enduro Champion) who played
a significant role in the growth of off-
road racing in the United States in the
1980s. His efforts anchored the success
of the Husqvarna Motorcycle Company
throughout the decade.
His other awards included six
International Six Days Enduro gold
medals and a silver medal. He also was
a member of the American 1982 ISDE
team that finished second overall
against the best off-road riders in the
world.
Gary Davis, from Auburn, California,
has spent more than 30 years in show
business. He performed, coordinated
and directed stunts in more than 280
films, 250 television episodes and 190
commercials. His longtime contributions
have showcased the thrills of
motorcycling to millions through the
reach of Hollywood.
Davis’ motorcycle career began as an
AMA professional dirt-track racer in
1969, riding alongside notables such as
Hall of Famers Kenny Roberts and Gary
Scott. He began exhibition motorcycle
jumping in 197. In 1972, he entered the
Guinness World Records for clearing 21
cars, bettering Knievel’s 19-car mark.
After three years of jumping and more
than 300 public jumps, he began doing
stunt work.
Skip Eaken was a motorcycle racing
tuner from Lodi, Ohio, who began
building competitive and reliable flat
track racers in the 1970s. He notched his
first Grand National victory in 1983 with
Ted Boody riding an Eaken-prepped
Harley-Davidson.
Eaken (who died in 2012) is best known
as the mechanic who worked on AMA
Motorcycle Hall of Famer Bubba
Shobert’s factory Honda motorcycles in
the 1980s, when Shobert won three
AMA Grand National Championships,
collecting an AMA Superbike title and
28 Grand National flat track wins.
Known as “The Kentucky Kid,” Nicky
Hayden, of Owensboro, Kentucky, was a
force on the American motorcycle racing
scene before taking his talent to the
world stage, ultimately winning
motorcycle racing’s grandest
championship, the FIM MotoGP title in
2006.
Born in 1981, Hayden raced flat track
and road raced Yamaha YSR50s and
then Honda RS125s as a youngster. He
turned pro at the age of 16. As a
professional, Hayden competed in the
AMA Grand National Championship,
the pro flat track series, as well as in
AMA Pro Road Racing.
He signed with American Honda in 1999
to race the AMA 600 Supersport class,
winning the 600 cc championship that
same year. Honda moved Hayden to the
factory AMA Superbike team in 2000,
and in 2002 he captured the AMA
Superbike Championship. At age 21,
Hayden became the youngest champion
in the history of AMA Superbike racing.
Hayden then moved to the Repsol
Honda MotoGP effort for 2003, earning
his first MotoGP win at Mazda Raceway
Laguna Seca in Monterey, California, in
2005. He won there again in 2006 while
on his way to winning the MotoGP
World Championship. Hayden moved to
the factory Ducati team in 2009,
returning to Honda in 2014. He began
racing in the FIM World Superbike series
for Honda in 2016.
Tragically, Hayden was hit by a car while
training on a bicycle in Italy on May 17,
2017. He succumbed to his injuries five
days later, on May 22.
Clifford “Corky” Keener was a
professional flat track racer during the
1970s. Known by the nickname “Mr
Dirt,” he worked as an electrician for
General Motors Corp. while he was
getting his racing career started. He
eventually became a factory Harley-
Davidson rider and won five AMA Grand
National races during his career. He
raced during a talent-filled era that often
had him banging bars with the likes of
AMA Motorcycle Hall of Famers Kenny
Roberts and Jay Springsteen.
Mary McGee was among the first
women to race motorcycles in
motocross and road racing events in the
United States. She started her off-road
career by riding a 1962 250 cc Honda
Scrambler in an AMA District 37 enduro.
She began riding Baja events in 1967
and, in 1975, rode solo in the Baja 500.
During the 1970s, she worked for
Motorcyclist magazine and joined
editors Jody Nichols, Brad Zimmerman
and Rich Cox for a 24-hour road race in
Las Vegas, in which the team changed
riders every hour on a 650 cc Suzuki.
In more recent years, she has returned
to competing in select vintage races,
while speaking out in support of women
racers and recreational riders getting
started in motorcycling.
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