POG 50th. Anniversary event Amherst, Ohio

[Paul Danik]

Greetings,

On March 10th 1968, a team of 6 Penton riders led by John Penton rode the Stone Mountain National Enduro on 6 of the first ten serial production Pentons to be built, with John Penton riding V-001. The first 10 serial production Pentons had arrived by air freight to Cleveland, Ohio just days before.

On March 10th, 2018, fifty years to the day of that first outing of the Penton Sportcycle, the Penton Owners Group will be hosting a celebration in Amherst, Ohio of that monumental day in Penton history, as well as celebrating the Golden Anniversary of the Penton Sportcycle.

The green light to host this event inside the beautiful facility on the KTM campus only came a few days ago. Jack Penton and I were able to tour the building with Robert Pierce before the POG meeting on Thursday evening, it is beautiful and very spacious. There is more than enough space to display motorcycles and memorabilia as well as host the days events inside, out of the weather.

The Penton Owners Group can not thank Robert Pierce and KTM enough for all of their unending support and enthusiasm.

Lots of exciting and interesting plans are in the works, but we wanted to get the word out ASAP so that folks could start to plan on attending. Below are some of the main facts about the event.

Date. Saturday March 10, 2018

Location. KTM Campus, Amherst, Ohio

Facility. Large and beautiful KTM building.

Time. All Day. Mid morning till early evening.

Who knows, the day could conclude with a pizza party and a movie...

More details will be announced in a timely manner, please spread the word. Watch your POG newsletter for more details as well. POG membership is not required to attend any of the POG events, but if there is a year when you will want to surely be a member this Golden Anniversary year is it, and you can rest assured your support is greatly appreciated.

http://www.pentonusa.org/join/join.asp

Hope to see you there.
Paul

[skiracer]

Wow!  Sounds like a really cool event!  Glad to see KTM helping out...

1976 MC 5 Original Owner
1976 Penton 175 XC
1985 20' Hi Point trailer

[Kevin Grimes]

Paul,
I think I have a trophy for that race. Got it from Leroy Winters family, It is labeled "First Team" Stone Mountain Enduro 1968.
Could that be the same race?
Kevin

[Paul Danik]

Kevin,

   That is simply incredible...

   Given the results that they attained individually, it sure looks like they certainly could have won the Team competition.

The individual results from that first outing of the Penton as taken from the John Penton book; Tom Penton was Bantamweight class champion, Al Born won his class, and Leroy Winters and John Penton finished second and third respectively in the A Lightweight class.

Any chance of having that prestigious trophy at the gathering in March  ? Hopefully you will be attending.

We have lined up V-001 to be on display and hope to possibly have a couple more of the first six machines on display as well.

I have tried to find the results from that event with no success, possibly they are out there somewhere and will turn up.

Thanks Kevin for that exciting news...

Paul

[johnborn]

I have my dad's trophy from that race.Paul , I will check my dad's scrapbook for those results and let you know .I would be surprised if he doesn't have them.

[Kevin Grimes]

Paul,
 Yes, I would like to attend the event in March and would bring the trophy. I'll snap a picture and send it to you.
Kevin

[johnborn]

I do have the results from stone mountain enduro and will get a copy to Paul.

[Kip Kern]

Paul

Do you want bikes for display?  I can bring a 71 ST, 72 CMF and 76 CMF if needed.  Would be cool to have every year and model there!

[Paul Danik]

Kip,

   YES, the more machines on display the better. We have been provided tons of room by Robert Pierce and KTM...lets fill it.

Possibly what we can do is line up all the machines in chronological order so that as you walk the line you will be able to see how the bikes evolved. That is how we did the lineup at the POG / KTM display at the Hall of Fame Museum many moons ago and it worked well. We can also group the specialty machines together as well, like the Wassels and such.

Below is a link to the photos from the POG/KTM event held at the Motorcycle Hall of Fame on August 21, 2005. If any of you reading this have not looked at the photos, grab yourself a coffee or and take a few minutes to enjoy these great photos from a day that was simply incredible. In the almost 20 years that the POG has been in existence, this day has to rank right near the top of POG memorable events.

http://www.pentonusa.org/GalleryServerPro/default.aspx?aid=8

In closing in my reply to KIP, I would like to urge all of you to make every effort possible to attend this event. Lets collectively work towards putting a smile on a man's face who has done so much for all of us as well as the two wheeled community, John Penton.

John and Donna Penton at the POG Family Night on December 4, 2008. They were laughing at the antics of Pat Leimbach as the "Farmer's wife" entertained all of us.

http://www.pentonusa.org/GalleryServerPro/default.aspx?moid=2463&hr=1

Paul

[skiracer]

What does the group think about hiring someone to video tape the event, put it on a disc, and then offer them for sale to the members that can't make the event?

1976 MC 5 Original Owner
1976 Penton 175 XC
1985 20' Hi Point trailer

[Paul Danik]

Skiracer,

A number of years ago Ted Guthrie expressed an interest in recording the POG happenings as he knew the historic value of capturing those events. Ted was given the green light by the POG board to check out the available cameras and pretty soon he had his choice made and the camera was bought. Ted and his wonderful wife Reb became quite a team in not only recording the events but editing them as well.

This link should take you to the POG Video Gallery where the fruits of Ted and Reb's labors are listed.

http://www.pentonusa.org/videos/default.asp

At the last POG meeting I asked Ted about recording the upcoming event and he seemed anxious to do so... Ted is now the President of the Ohio Valley BSA Owners Club but he still finds the time to help out the Penton Owners Group and attend many of the meetings. One great guy and a busy one at that !

Long answer to your question.... but I wanted to present a little background on the subject.

Thanks for keeping your thinking hat on, it is greatly appreciated. Hopefully you can make the March event, we would love to see you there.

Paul

PS  Here is one of their videos, it is of Doug Wilford telling about the naming of the Penton Sportcycle models.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uozvvUveCGk&feature=related

[SouthRider]

Would still love to see some of the hours of video taken at the 40th event!

Was it destroyed?

_____________________________________________________________________________________

"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

[Kip Kern]

Paul
I can volunteer a 71 non restored MX Steel Tanker, 72 CMF 125cc Enduro restored as original and a 76 GS 400 restored as original.  Just let me know!

[skiracer]

Thanks for the story and info...  Unfortunately, having moved to Florida last year, making the trip isn't going to happen...  If should be something to see!

quote:Originally posted by Paul Danik

Skiracer,

A number of years ago Ted Guthrie expressed an interest in recording the POG happenings as he knew the historic value of capturing those events. Ted was given the green light by the POG board to check out the available cameras and pretty soon he had his choice made and the camera was bought. Ted and his wonderful wife Reb became quite a team in not only recording the events but editing them as well.

This link should take you to the POG Video Gallery where the fruits of Ted and Reb's labors are listed.

http://www.pentonusa.org/videos/default.asp

At the last POG meeting I asked Ted about recording the upcoming event and he seemed anxious to do so... Ted is now the President of the Ohio Valley BSA Owners Club but he still finds the time to help out the Penton Owners Group and attend many of the meetings. One great guy and a busy one at that !

Long answer to your question.... but I wanted to present a little background on the subject.

Thanks for keeping your thinking hat on, it is greatly appreciated. Hopefully you can make the March event, we would love to see you there.

Paul

PS  Here is one of their videos, it is of Doug Wilford telling about the naming of the Penton Sportcycle models.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uozvvUveCGk&feature=related

1976 MC 5 Original Owner
1976 Penton 175 XC
1985 20' Hi Point trailer

[Lew Mayer]

James, that trip should be worth making, if at all possible. The 40th anniversary event would be hard to beat, though.


Lew Mayer