The Dud Perkins Lifetime Achievement Award was established by the American Motorcyclist Association in January 1970. Among several AMA awards established for "significant contributions to American motorcycling", [1] the Dud Perkins Award holds the top honor for "the highest level of service" to motorcyclists. [2] It is named for the first awardee, Motorcycle Hall of Fame inductee Dudley "Dud" Perkins.
The Loudon Classic, originally named the Laconia Classic, is an annual motorcycle road racing competition held during the Laconia Motorcycle Week at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire. Founded in 1934 when it was originally sanctioned by the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA), the race is one of the oldest motorcycle competitions in the United States. The competition changed locations over the years, starting as a dirt track race before evolving into a road race. From the late 1930s until the early 2000s, the Loudon Classic was one of the most prestigious races in American motorcycle racing, second only to the Daytona 200.
The American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) is an American nonprofit organization of more than 200,000 motorcyclists that organizes numerous motorcycling activities and campaigns for motorcyclists' legal rights. Its mission statement is "to promote the motorcycling lifestyle and protect the future of motorcycling." The organization was founded in 1924 and as of October 2016 had more than 1,100 chartered clubs.
A motorcycle club is a group of individuals whose primary interest and activities involve motorcycles. A motorcycle group can range as clubbed groups of different bikes or bikers who own same model of vehicle like the Harley Owners Group.
Mert Lawwill is an American professional motorcycle racer, race team owner and mountain bike designer. He competed in the AMA Grand National Championship from 1962 to 1977. Lawwill is notable for winning the 1969 AMA Grand National Championship as a member of the Harley-Davidson factory racing team. After his motorcycle racing career, Lawwill became one of the top motorcycle racing frame designers and builders. Lawwill then used his experience as a motorcycle frame builder to become an innovative mountain bike designer, developing one of the first bicycle suspensions. He also developed prosthetic limbs for amputees. Lawwill was inducted in the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame in 1997 and the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1998.
Jay Springsteen is an American former professional motorcycle dirt track racer.
Marty Tripes is an American former professional motocross racer. He competed in the AMA Motocross Championships from 1972 to 1980. He was one of the leading American motocross and supercross racers during the 1970s. Tripes rose to national prominence in 1972 as a teenage prodigy when, he defeated some of the best riders in the world to win the first-ever stadium supercross race in the United States.
Dick Mann was an American professional motorcycle racer. He was a two-time winner of the A.M.A. Grand National Championship. Mann was inducted in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1993, and the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1998. He was one of the few riders to ride motocross and Observed Trials as well as dirt flat tracks, TT and road racing.
Bessie Stringfield was an American motorcyclist who was the first African-American woman to ride across the United States solo, and was one of the few civilian motorcycle dispatch riders for the US Army during World War II. Credited with breaking down barriers for both women and Jamaican-American motorcyclists, Stringfield was inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame. The award bestowed by the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) for "Superior Achievement by a Female Motorcyclist" is named in her honor.
American Flat Track is an American motorcycle racing series. The racing series, founded and sanctioned by the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) in 1954, originally encompassed five distinct forms of competitions including mile dirt track races, half-mile, short-track, TT steeplechase and road races. The championship was the premier motorcycle racing series in the United States from the 1950s up until the late 1970s.
J&P Cycles, Inc. was founded by John and Jill Parham in 1979. It sells motorcycle components, apparel, and gear for the American V-twin motorcycle rider. Owned by Motorcycle Aftermarket Group (MAG), the company has retail outlets in Ormond Beach, Florida, Anamosa, Iowa, and Sturgis, South Dakota, and Pigeon Forge,Tennessee.
Dudley B. Perkins was an American champion motorcycle hillclimb competitor and Harley-Davidson motorcycle dealer. The American Motorcyclist Association's highest award, the AMA Dud Perkins Lifetime Achievement Award, was named after him in 1970, and he was its first recipient.
Dave Nicoll is an English former professional Grand Prix motocross racer and currently the FIM's world championship Clerk of the Course.
Craig Vetter is an American entrepreneur and motorcycle designer. His work was acknowledged when in 1999 he was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame.
J.C. (Clarence) "Pappy" Hoel was a motorcycle racer, dealer, businessman, and founder of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. In 1983, he received the American Motorcyclist Association's (AMA) Dud Perkins Award for outstanding contributions to motorcycling. Both J.C. "Pappy" Hoel and his wife Pearl were inducted to the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1998.
A dud is an ammunition round or explosive that fails to fire or detonate, respectively.
Andy Goldfine, is an American businessperson, founder of Aerostich, and founder of Ride To Work nonprofit to support motorcycle commuting through its annual Ride To Work Day. In 2013, he was awarded the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) Dud Perkins Lifetime Achievement Award for his "generous and tireless support of motorcycling" with his business and nonprofit activities, and contributions as an AMA board member. In 2016, he was named Motorcyclist of the Year by Motorcyclist magazine.
The Harley-Davidson KR or KR750 was a 45.125 cu in (739.47 cc) displacement V-twin engine racing motorcycle made by Harley-Davidson from 1953 through 1969 for flat track racing. It was also used in road racing in the KRTT faired version. When the KR was first introduced, it dominated motorcycle racing in the United States. In 1970 it was replaced by the long-lived and US race-winning Harley-Davidson XR-750.
Gloria Tramontin Struck is an American motorcyclist who was one of the early members of the Motor Maids women's motorcycle club, which she joined in 1946, at age 21. She is both a Sturgis Hall of Fame and Motorcycle Hall of Fame inductee.
Jim Rice is an American former professional motorcycle racer who is an inductee of both the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame and the TrailBlazers Hall of Fame. During his career in the late 1960s and early 1970s he won 12 national races and finished in the top 10 of the championship three times. All but one of his victories were on BSA machines. Footage of Rice's crash in qualifying for the 1970 Sacramento Mile was used in Bruce Brown's film On Any Sunday.