March 2013 Homepage Photo

[Admin]

Any guesses on who is in this photo, or where and when it was taken?

http://www.pentonusa.org/default.htm

[Jon Dixon]

Dick Burlson - Italy

[Mike Rosso]

That looks like Doug Wiford (but maybe it is DB?) and that was at what was first a leather factory in Mattighofen and later became the KTM Parts department?? I think???

[Mike Rosso]

A couple of red Italian helmets there, maybe Italy but it sure looks like the old KTM parts building..

[johnborn]

That is Doug Wilford.I have no idea where.

[Mike Rosso]

The back of some of the old KTM parts books and KTM owner's manuals had photos of WERK I and WERK II and that looks like the WERK II photo....still guessing:)

[Mike Rosso]

Maybe not the building I was thinking of but the old main assembly plant WERK I has some similar achitecture to the photo.....the pole with the KTM logo on top has to mean something?

[paul a. busick]

Doug Wilford outside the KTM works.  Looks like big things are happening-readying for a six day event?
Your most obedient and humble servant,
Amherst Paul

[rob w]

DW wearing wooden clogs

[SouthRider]

Those clogs were apparently the hot ticket that year. Don Burgess came home with a pair too. He said that just about everyone who was on the Penton tour that year bought a pair.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

"We the willing, led by the unknowing, are doing the impossible, for the ungrateful. We have done so much, for so long, with so little, that we are now qualified to do almost anything, with nothing."

1972 Penton Berkshire 100
1983 Husqvarna 250 XC
2011 Jayco 31.5 RLDS
2009 Chevy 2500 HD Duramax

[Paul Danik]

Jerry West deserves the credit for taking the home page photo. The Kodak date stamped on the back is Sept. of 1972.

I think that is was not by accident that Jerry included the person on the extreme left in the photo, any guesses on who he is?

The comment about the Penton tour by Southrider might hit at the core of this photo. The late Richard Sanders often spoke at length about being on that tour, and of traveling on a Penton Jackpiner around the countryside, even spending a few nights in city parks sleeping on park benches as he traveled.  Possibly the machines in the photo belong to the tour group, and the pole with KTM on the top indicated where they should meet and park, just a thought...

Paul

[SouthRider]

I don't know anything else about the picture or people - but those tours almost deserve another thread. I never made one - but heard fantastic things about them.

They were organized & led by John - who apparently became the personal tour guide throughout much of Europe over a several year span. They would arrive in the host country well in advance of the 6-days, and spend the extra time after bike prep touring prior to the event.

I remember a story about a tour bus breaking down in the remote wilderness of Checko. John got out, diagnosed a problem with the 2 speed rear axle, crawled under the bus, and repaired it on the spot with what they had with them. Other than that it would have been a 2-3 day wait for repairs.

Other stories included climbing huge mountains to go see castles (because John thought it looked cool and wanted to see it up close).

These tours were for dealers, riders spouses, and others who wanted to attend 6 day. They also became an economical way for club team riders and others who weren't sponsored to attend. Provisions were made to "rent" a bike from KTM for the event.

Many of the tour participants became "support riders" who rode the 6 day course a day early to give scouting reports, and shadowed the actual team riders in case they crashed or had bike trouble. These support riders were "true heroes" of our early six day teams who paid their own way over and volunteered to keep our fledgling teams going.

Paul - wasn't Larry Maiers also involved as well as Doug Wilford?

_____________________________________________________________________________________

"We the willing, led by the unknowing, are doing the impossible, for the ungrateful. We have done so much, for so long, with so little, that we are now qualified to do almost anything, with nothing."

1972 Penton Berkshire 100
1983 Husqvarna 250 XC
2011 Jayco 31.5 RLDS
2009 Chevy 2500 HD Duramax

[Paul Danik]

Larry was the Trophy Team manager in 1974 when we rode in Camerino, Italy. By that time Doug was no longer riding Pentons but he did visit our work are while we were preparing our machines, I can still picture him riding down the stone lane and visiting as we did our machine prep...

I will bet a cup of coffee that the person pictured in the extreme left side of the home page photo is Dick Mann. The following year, 1973, Dick rode the ISDT Qualifiers on an OSSA in the hopes of riding the Dalton event, if he just would have ridden a Penton

In the 1974 event there was a section of trail that was just off a two lane road, it went up hill and quite rocky. About 75 yards up that trail was a small group of folks who started to yell and cheer as I approached, and surely for many others as well, that group was John and Donna Penton along with Dick Mann and I think a fellow named Paul Hunt who was with Dick, put I am really pulling at cobwebs remembering that it was Paul Hunt. Anyhow, talk about a "goose bump moment."  

In the 1974 ISDT movie that section of trail is actually shown and in the film you can see that group of folks, in thinking about this Matt Weisman must have been in the woods filming and I didn't see him. The road section is also visible as you can see a rider slowing to turn right onto the trail. In this part of the film you will see Jack riding up through the rocks and he bobbles just a bit as the rider ahead of him kicked some lose rocks onto the trail, and obviously he was just trying to put them back where they belonged.

Paul

[Dale Fisher]

From Pres. Paul



Dale Fisher
Penton Owners Group - Memberships
Facebook - Cheney Twinshock Racing Group - Administrator

'70 Six-Day 125 - V2017
'71 Six-Day 125 (Dave Fisher's) - V5553
'72 Mudlark - W257
'73 Jackpiner - 175 21159727
'74 Berkshire 100 - 40171056
And some silly other bikes...

[Paul Danik]

Thanks for posting the picture Dale..

Team Manager Larry Maiers kneels in front of Joe Barker, Carl Cranke, Jack Penton, Paul Danik, Dane Leimbach and Tom Penton. The photo was taken by Jerry West, he was getting some Trophy Team photos before we headed to Camerino, Italy, 1974.

The photo was taken on the sidewalk in front of the Penton Imports building on West Erie Avenue, the converted indoor roller rink. We did a bit of a recreation of that photo during the POG 40/10 celebration as we toured the locations in those chartered buses.
http://www.pentonusa.org/GalleryServerPro/default.aspx?moid=4835&hr=1

There is a bit of a story with this picture, Jack is standing behind Larry Maiers because he didn't bring his new ISDT boots to the photo session, his boots didn't have the plates on the front and Jack was, as they say, " in the dog house " with his Dad that day...probably not the first time:D We were having a bit of a laugh at Jack's expense when Jerry snapped this photo.

Paul