Buck Murphy - the Man, the Myth

[tooclose racing]

Roczen/Dungey's 1-2 for KTM at Anaheim 1 was big enough news for Racer X to go back 40 years and recognize another famous "KTM" rider:

http://www.racerxonline.com/2014/01/07/450-words-history-made-in-anaheim

[tomale]

How about Carl Cranke?
Was Buck, a KTM rider? I thought he was a Can Am factory rider?

Thom Green,Still crazy after all these years!
76' 250 MC5 (orginal owner)
74' 1/2 440 maico
70' 400 maico (project)
72' cr125 Husky (project)
93' RMx 250 suzuki
Honda TL 125
2004 Suzuki DL1000

[Daniel P. McEntee]

That link just opens up a bunch of Verizon Wireless commercials for me.
  I got to see the final, pretty entertaining. Should be a very competitive year for SuperCross, with no one clear dominant rider in my view. That makes for good racing.
   Type at you later,
   Dan McEntee

[tomale]

I found the article about Buck Murphy,  does it bother anyone else that they called a Penton a renamed  KTM ?  As if a Penton is nothing more than a KTM with different decals As if John Penton had almost nothing to do with the design or manufacturing of this great bike.

Thom Green,Still crazy after all these years!
76' 250 MC5 (orginal owner)
74' 1/2 440 maico
70' 400 maico (project)
72' cr125 Husky (project)
93' RMx 250 suzuki
Honda TL 125
2004 Suzuki DL1000

[tooclose racing]

I fixed the link - el stupido! (Sorry)

But...Mr. Greene - you broach a subject that has always interested me: who was (more) responsible for development of the 250 as a motocross bike - Penton Sportcycles here in the US or the KTM factory and it's GP racing efforts in Europe? Moisseev's first 250 GP championship was also in 1974, but they must have been developing it much earlier, right?

I always presumed that Carl (and the rest of the Penton development team) were more focused on making the 250 a great XC and enduro bike.

[tomale]

As I understand, the development of the 175-400 motor came as a result of a KTM engineer. But with out  the knowledge to utilize such a motor for off road use any future use was stalled. In 67' John Penton began a relationship with KTM to build bikes for the US market, his idea was to build a bike that could be ridden in a number of off-road disciplines, Including MX .  Up to that point KTM only built scooters and light weight motorcycles designed for basic transportation.  John change history by giving them the tools necessary to build their first true off road motorcycle. The agreement was that they would be sold in the US through a distribution system built by JP and in Europe by KTM it has been a racing machine from the get go and they use that to foster their sales. During the 10 years that Pentons were produced, John made many trips to Austria to discuss a number of product upgrades to make it the best motorcycle possible. These changes were a result of his families on going efforts.  I think it is safe to say it is a Penton motorcycle with KTM decals, the fact that it is produced at the KTM factory is a stroke of genius on Johns part. It allowed him to produce a great motorcycle with little overhead and it allowed KTM to enter a market that was exploding with possibility. The gamble worked and the KTM of today is due in large part to the efforts and financial backing of John Penton and his amazing family.


Thom Green,Still crazy after all these years!
76' 250 MC5 (orginal owner)
74' 1/2 440 maico
70' 400 maico (project)
72' cr125 Husky (project)
93' RMx 250 suzuki
Honda TL 125
2004 Suzuki DL1000

[454MRW]

It is a shame that the reporter or editor of Racer X does not acknowledge, or possibly even understand the incredible impact of John Pentons influence, evidently. Mike

Michael R. Winter
I enjoy rebuilding and appreciating Pentons!
1974 250 HS Pentons-1980 KTM 175-400'S
1975 Can Am 175 TNT & 77 250 Black Widow
1979 Husqvarna OR390
1976-78 RM & 77-79 PE Suzuki's
1974 CR250M 07 CR125R 79 CR250R

[Jack Penton]

So far this tread has some truth some fiction.  

KTM is 60 years old and from 1953 until 1989 it was owned by the Trunkenpolz family. KTM was purchased from bank ownership by the current owners who revived the company and built it into the largest motorcycle manufacture in Europe. It is currently a 3/4 of a billion dollar company.

To say that Ken Roczen, Ryan Dungy and Jason Anderson were on the Anaheim I Supercross podium last Saturday because of John Penton/Penton Imports needs to be put into perspective. The contribution by Penton was made over forty years ago to a company that went bankrupt. You may be thinking but, but, but......  The John Penton movie will provide a much better view of the amazing relationships that were forged to initiate and develop the Penton/KTM sport motorcycle over that first ten year period of and the residual impact on the KTM we know today.

It is not reasonable to accuse Davey Coombs of being unknowledgeable about the sport of American motocross. He is, in my opinion, the foremost authority in this area of history. Please do not be offended by his description of the Penton motorcycle. I interpret Davey description of the Penton motorcycle as a way for the unfamiliar reader to quickly understand that there was a relationship between KTM and Penton Imports. It is the POG and Penton friends' responsibility to tell the "rest of story". The book and the movie are the perfect tools for this purpose.

Todd Huffman of Pipeline Digital, the movie producer, and I are working on the movie screenings and we will need Movie Captains to host the John Penton Story in your home towns. Stay tuned and I will share how you can help. Until then please go to https://gathr.us/films/penton , hit the NOTIFY button and sign up to get movie updates from me and Todd.

Thanks guys I love your enthusiasm and passion and I hope we cross trails in 2014.

Jack Penton

[seanguthrie]

Great Info Jack.  

On the movie premier I know there are plenty here in Indy to help out.  We just had a premier of the film Why we ride.  It was a sell out show on the south side of Indianapolis where my local Ton Up Chapter had a great turnout.  We have a big finger on the pulse of the vintage moto community in Indy.  If you guys need help at all feel free to give us a ring.  I filled out the info on the site too.

74 250 Hare scramble
73 CMF 6day
68 6day V213

[Big Mac]

Check Buck's comment posted after the RacerX article (referencing photo in the article and comments about his not hanging on with his knees):

 Bucko85 wrote:
1:41pm January 9, 2014
 
To RG807,
You try hanging on to one of those things with your knees and you wind up in the stands. We hung onto the bars real good and let er dance. Less than 4 inches of travel was a little tough to point straight sometimes. Check out how wide the bars are. That was our leverage. We got 2nd O.A. at Daytona and won the first moto the next weekend at Houston. Broke at LA Colleseum And wound up 3rd in Supercross Series for 1974. I don't know what it pays for third today, but it payed 0 dollars then. We did it for free bikes and loved it.
To Davey C
Thanks for the picture, and kind words. That Penton (KTM) was built by Carl Cranke and was the fastest 250 on the planet at the time. Just ask Pierre. Never got beat to the corner.

Thanks for making an old guy's day

Buck Murphy


We used to see Buck regularly at our local vintage races, and he'd hang out with Jim and Ron Pomeroy when they came out. Somewhere I have a pic I took of Buck next to my yellow-tank Harescrambler. Great guy with a big smile and great stories. Still lives in Longview, WA the last I heard.

[gooddirt]

You know there was a " ButterFly  Effect"   that got them on the Podium.

[tooclose racing]

Thanks Mac for posting Buck's GREAT comment (I missed it)and thanks to Jack Penton for his two cents.  Great history note about Buck's bike/engine being built by Carl Cranke.  And Jack got it right - Davey Coombs is just speaking to the current audience.  It's still a great "connect the dots" article on his part.

Still curious about the development of Moisseev's bikes and motors and what kind of hand Penton team may have had in them - at least with his 74 winning GP bikes.  I think it's probably safe to speculate that his later bikes were a "factory" KTM (as in European side of the pond) effort.

[Big Mac]

If someone's got Buck's ear, it would be great to have him post his actual story on here. But about 10 years ago, he told me how he became a very early Supercross star (best I can recollect)...

He said he was local-racing regularly and had flat-tracked a lot at Castle Rock (WA) with his local hotshoe friend Jim Pomeroy. Jim and others were making a road trip down to SoCal to race a big event at Saddleback--maybe it was with the amateurs during the Inter-Am that year. Buck said he threw his bike in and went along, I think he said he was riding a hopped up Yamaha DT-1.

During practice Buck said he was really flying and having fun, but his DT-1 broke and he was sidelined. Carl Cranke had been there watching the action...He came up and told Buck he was impressed with his riding, and asked if he wanted to try out his hot-rod Penton in the race since his Yamaha was down. Buck gladly agreed, went out and was immediately out front with the fastest guys of the day, finishing in the top few of his class.

Carl and the West Coast Penton distributor were so impressed that Buck got "sponsored" and was offered support to go back to Florida and ride the winter series. He went home, packed a bag and was off to a racing career. Daytona followed the last winter race, and Buck's Year 1 Supercross fame came that Spring.

Ahh, the good old days--where you could go from an unknown with a broken bike to factory MX racer in 1 day.