TRAILBLAZERS BANQUET TICKET UPDATE: LIMITED NUMBER OF SEATS BECAME AVAILABLE!

Anyone without a ticket that is still hoping to attend the Trailblazers banquet, a limited number of seats have become available. No guarantees, but if you are not yet on the waiting list send your name today and we may yet be able to get you seated. The 72nd annual banquet will be held Saturday, April 23rd at the Carson Center in Carson, CA. We will have a record number of 750 attendees this year! Email: mctrailblazers01@gmail.com.

KEITH MASHBURN: 2016 DICK HAMMER AWARD RECIPIENT

The 2016 Dick Hammer Award goes annually to the Trailblazers member who best exemplifies the attributes of “Drive, Determination and Desire” that made Dick Hammer famous. Keith Mashburn has all these qualities both as a racer and a human being. He had a successful career first as a racer, then as a fire fighter and presently as a City Councilman in Simi Valley.

In 1964 Keith’s father bought him a 50cc Honda C110 and the youngster learned to ride in the orchards near their home. Eventually, he said he’d like to try racing, and Mashburn Sr. supported his son’s efforts. He rode District 37 scrambles as well as short tracks at El Toro and South Gate on a regular basis. He moved up quickly, and in 1965 began riding a Greeves for Nick Nicholson. In 1966, with coaching from Dave Ekins, Keith rode the Greeves in the Jackass Enduro and won his class.

Keith liked all forms of racing. He even entered into a then, new sport to America called motocross. In 1967, he raced a Bultaco Lobito at a motocross event in Castaic against the likes of Roger DeCoster, Dave Bickers, and Joel Robert. Keith won the event, unofficially becoming the first American to beat the Europeans at motocross in the US. Next, he entered the Hopetown race and won the 100cc and 250cc expert class.

Keith also kept busy in the sportsman class in District 37. Then Yamaha asked Keith to ride a new model, the 250 cc DT-1. In 1968 he would turn 18 and be allowed to get his Pro Novice license. He would race the new DT-1 at Ascot and other AMA Pro Novice events with Dennis Mahan building and tuning the bikes.

Keith, Dennis Mahan and the DT-1 would make history that year. In 1968, Keith won more Novice main events in a single season than had ever been done before. When he moved up to the Amateur class in 1969, Yamaha hadn’t developed the 650cc four-stroke XS-1 yet, so he had to race a 350cc two-stroke twin in Flat Track against the 750cc machines. Still Keith was competitive on the 350 and won a few events on it.

Yamaha soon hired Keith as a regular employee as well as a contracted rider. The successful development of the DT-1 program helped make Yamaha a major player in motorcycling in the US. Keith became a test rider at Yamaha and rode many prototype bikes and prepared detailed reports on them. As the lead test rider, Keith is particularly proud of his work on the XS-1, Yamaha’s first four-stroke bike that he also raced starting in 1970. He won the Yamaha Gold Cup at Ascot in 1971 riding the XS-1.

After he hung up his steel shoe, Keith put all his attention into his next career, as a fire fighter. In 1975 he became a Ventura County Fireman where he worked until his retirement in 2005 after 30 years of service -- rising to the rank of Battalion Chief. He continued to do related work after that in the field of arson investigation.

Racer, hero, fire fighter, public servant, and cameo movie star, Keith has done it all and continues to be an inspiration. The Trailblazers congratulate Keith Mashburn, the 2016 Dick Hammer Award Recipient.