Ed Youngblood has passed away.

[Paul Danik]

It is with great sadness that I report that Ed Youngblood has passed away. Ed was an incredible person in so many ways. May you rest in peace, Ed. This link will take you to a very nice piece that tells much about ED.
https://riderfiles.wordpress.com/2024/03/12/ed-youngblood-former-ama-president-dies-at-80/?fbclid=IwAR11BHtY5csvAHvuNQ7nJZYmvUWjy9NfHP2AZ6nLK9vh8-CjIMG8myezA5M

[Daniel P. McEntee]

   This is sad news indeed. I got back into vintage dirt bikes and Pentons again through an article Ed wrote for the BMW Owners News magazine. I was working as a maintenance mechanic at a large commercial printing plant at the time, and was walking down the aisle along side one of the presses. The crews would lean the plates for the next job, which was the next issue of the BMW Owners News, against the units that they would mount to and while walking by the word "Penton" caught my eye. it was an article Ed had written on his then new book about John Penton and in the article. He also mentioned the Penton Owners group and the ISDTRR event that was coming up. Then a chance meeting with Dave Mungenast at a local race track and he encouraged me to get my '75 Husky back  pout and running and the path was set to attend the ISDTRR at Cass AR that year. Ed was a very influential man in the motorcycle industry and I'm glad I got to meet him on a couple of occasions.

   With Deepest sympathies to his family and close friends,
     Dan McEntee

[ALB]

Sad news about Ed that put a bit of a damper on my vacation in Florida. 
I had e-mail Ed about my upcoming vacation on March 8th and he was excited to hear that my girlfriend Sue and I were interested in in seeing him. Our intention was to visit him on Thursday March 14th.
I e-mailed him on Thursday March 8th to find our what his current phone number was because the number that I had was disconnected. He did not e-mail me back with his current phone number until the next day Friday which was too late for me to receive since We left early Friday morning for our trip and I did not have access to my work computer. However I did get 2 phone numbers from Paul Danik at the POG meeting on Thursday evening. One of those phone numbers was also disconnected, but the other one was a good one.
On Friday I received a recorded message from Ed asking that I call him in that there was a change with our upcoming meeting with him. I tried calling and had to leave a message. I also left a text message as I was getting a little nervous about not being able to contact him and I wanted to make sure that our visit with him would still be available.
On Sunday we visited the Dayton Beach Daytona 200 monument. When I saw that there was a plaque with Ed's photo I was excited to be able to tell Ed, on Thursday, that I saw his photo on that monument. On Monday there was still no reply from Ed and I called and left more messages for him to contact me. On Tuesday evening while we were at the Magic Kingdom, I checked my phone for messages and that is when I received the message from his girlfriend, Debbie, that Ed had passed away on Sunday. I called Paul Danik to let him know on Wednesday morning.
On Thursday morning I called Debbie to express my condolences to her. Since we had no plans for that day, We made arrangements to visit Debbie and spent a couple of hours to find out more about her and Ed and share my memories of Ed and express my appreciation for the good that he provided to the Penton Owners Group with the writing of the John Penton book and how that book in time led to the making of the John Penton movie.
Both Ed and Debbie were blessed with their 12 year relationship. She told me that they were both opposites that enriched each other. Both experienced Joy and Happiness during those 12 years. I was disappointed to have come so close to visiting Ed but grateful for visiting Debbie in that even though we could not see Ed, Sue could sense him being around us and I knew that me sharing my stories was being heard by him.

At the POG meeting on March 8th, during my newsletter report, I mentioned that I had not come up with an idea for a centerfold for the newsletter. The centerfold for the next newsletter will be some photo of Ed on one half and his eulogy and facts about Ed and his connection with the Penton Owners Group on the other half. It is uncanny that I did not have a centerfold photo lined up.  This has allowed a proper space to pay honor to Ed. I owe it to him in that he not only shared his 1973 ISDT experience, but allowed us to print it and share it with our POG members last year. A story that needed to be told that Ed was willing to take with him to his grave until I asked him for it.

The next POG meeting will be held at the AMA Hall of Fame museum in Pickerington Ohio on Saturday April 13th at 1 pm. On the agenda for that meeting, under "ask the experts" will be dedicated to Ed Youngblood. BTW that museum was Ed's child and I am determined to help guide the POG to do whatever it can to making sure that it continues on to keep it's doors open and expand.

Mark your calendars to attend that meeting, especially if you have never been there. It is worth the trip.