51 years ago today, October 18, 1970........

[Paul Danik]

A little story from "back in the day" titled Did John Penton Ever Sleep, or, Exciting Times at The Nity-Nite Motel on a Saturday night long, long ago !

 

     Fifty-one years ago today, on October 18th 1970, John and Ted Penton promoted an Inter Am Moto cross at Dick Klamfoth's Honda Hills under the name Mid-States International.  This event was part of the Inter-Am schedule of events that had many of the top European riders traveling the country racing at many of the top venues of that era.  In looking back, and thinking of what all John Penton had on his plate at this time, one has to wonder if he ever had time to sleep at his room at the Nity-Nite Motel just outside of Zanesville, Ohio that weekend, but more on that later.  

   My mentor in all things motorcycling, Bob "Augie" Augustine and I had attended an Inter-Am event at New Philadelphia, Ohio in 1968 as spectators, and what an event it was.   When I learned of the Honda Hills event, I was excited to ride in the 125 Support Class and see what it was like to be on the other side of the snow fence at such a prestigious event. I sent a letter of intent to ride to the Mid-States International address and received a reply from none other than Ted Penton. In with Ted's reply was a schedule for the race weekend and a list of local motels, I called the Nity-Nite Motel and booked a room for myself and good friend Gary Lamperski.

   I signed up for the Saturday morning John DeSoto MX school and most certainly got my six bucks worth. A decent amount of time was spent on how to get a good start which would come in handy on Sunday when over 50 riders would be lining up for the 125cc class.  

   Gary and I hit the local burger joint for dinner on Saturday night and then headed back to our room at the Nity-Nite Motel.  To our surprise when we arrived at the hotel the parking lot was full of folks and we wondered what all the commotion was, a fire, robbery, possibly a fight of some sort. No, it wasn't any of those issues, it was The Man Himself John Penton holding court in the hotel parking lot telling the assembled crowd what all he had seen in Europe on his most recent trip with all of the enthusiasm that he could muster and the crowd was loving it. Turned out that John was staying in the room next to ours at the old Nity-Nite.  

    Sunday morning came fast and before I knew it John Penton was leading the 125cc class riders on a sighting lap of the MX track. The start was a rubber band start and I lined up right next to the mechanism that held the rubber band in the center of the starting area and focused on the part that would twist and let the rubber band fly. As soon as I saw movement in the mechanism, I was off and to my surprise I had the lead off the line, a short-lived lead I must say. About half way through the long sweeping downhill first turn I became the meat in a Penton sandwich, with Jack passing me on the right and his brother Jeff passing on the left. Eventually Jeff was out of the event and later I asked Jack what happened and he said his ignition soured. The track was a long one, and it included a ski jump in the back field as well as a steep shale hill to climb. We rode three motos and I am thinking they were 30 minutes long, but my memory is a bit fuzzy about that point.  

    About all I remember about the International Class was that I had gotten Torsten Hallman to sign my Mr. Moto-Cross book in the morning and he was involved in a pile up at the start of his first race. I have a tattered copy of Cycle News with a write up from that event and it states that Ake Johnsson won that day. My Cycle News is in bad shape and maybe someone can find that issue on line and post that article.  

    John Penton was not only the creator our beloved Penton Sportcycle, he promoted incredible events such as this Inter-Am along with his Brother Ted and track owner Dick Klamforth. And if that wasn't enough, if you were lucky enough to have been part of the crowd in the parking lot of the Nity-Nite Motel 51 years ago you would have been on the receiving end of John Penton's infectious and enthusiastic personality. He sure gave it his all ! Thank you John Penton.

[skiracer]

Thanks for sharing Paul!  Another great story.....

1976 250 MC5 Original Owner
1976 Penton 175 XC