The John Penton GNCC was held on Sunday-May 21 at Millfield,Ohio. The event was bigger than ever. KTM was there with their "big rig"-complete with a large canopied hospitality area-done right with tables and chairs,free water or Red Bull and a very special treat at this event-Mr. John Penton himself was there signing autographs and handing out posters of himself racing a steel tanker Penton-back in the day...
Below are some photos of the awesome display-including(of course)some Pentons! Jack Penton had asked if we could bring a steel tank Penton to the race that would let folks see a bike similar to the one in the poster of his dad that he gives out. He said there had never been one there and thought it would be a neat attraction. More than honored, we delivered our 1970 100cc Bershire. It was really neat to watch the peoples' reactions to the bikes as they stood in line to get John Penton's autograph.They would be looking over the ol' steel tanker and notice the Penton and KTM logos on the seat and tank-it was like watching a whole new generation of racers "start to get the picture" of why this was THE JOHN PENTON GNCC. To really cap off the story, Jack had his 1977 Penton GS6 that he rode in six-days on display-and yes-it is KTM orange-like the brand new 2006 KTM sitting along side of these Pentons. Like I said, my favorite part was watching and listening to the reactions of so many people, and especially exposing the young racers to "our story." Of course, everyone loved talking to John Penton and getting his autograph-he was the true crowd pleaser. We did manage to get some POG membership apps out on the tables too! Hope you enjoy the photos. Gary & Toni
(http://home.frognet.net/~kknudson/GNCC%201.JPG)
(http://home.frognet.net/~kknudson/GNCC%202.JPG)
(http://home.frognet.net/~kknudson/GNCC%203.JPG)
Gary and Toni,
Thanks for the great report and pictures for those of us that were not able to attended.
Ron Carbaugh
Gary, thanks for the Pictures, very nice. It sounded like it was a great time, I am constantly amazed at how few people really do not know the roots of KTM sportcycles. Some even believe JP was nothing more than a business guy that hopped on the change to put his name on a bike. Like Sears does with its appliances.. And the bike Magazines of the day did not help much either....I wonder how much Mr. Penton really influenced the sport not only here in America but around the world. And what influence did he have with the Fab Four from Japan? I am thinking that with out Him, Honda and Yamaha, etc would not have come out with their "enduro" street legal dirtbikes... the influence may have been indirect but still I wonder if it was not really there.
Thom Green,Still crazy after all these years!
76' 250 MC5 (orginal owner)
75' GS400 (project bike)
72'sixday (project bike)
I read an old magazine test on the '76 Penton/KTM 250 and it said the USA was not even the largest market for KTM at the time--Italy was. Hard to believe, but likely France and Australia were also big KTM markets at the time and likely not much connection from those folks to the JP story.
I'm pretty sure the Yamaha IT line and for sure the Kawasaki KDX's evolved as a result of Penton racing enduros and sales success of the <200cc market.