Neil Fergus: 2015 Trailblazers Hall of Fame Inductee

Preparations continue for the 71^st annual Trailblazers banquet. As expected, the banquet is now sold out, although the club encourages emails to get into the waiting list in the event of cancellations – which we do always get. To get on the list, send a note to: mctrailblazers01@gmail.com.

Continuing with our previews of this year’s honorees at the banquet, here is a profile on off-road legend Neil Fergus.

Neil Fergus was born in San Francisco, California in 1931. His family soon moved to Sierra Madre, California and it was there that Neil began his love of motorcycling.

Neil bought his first motorcycle at age 16. He rode mostly off road in any vacant lot he could find. Soon he was taking the bike out to the Mojave Desert to ride, and began entering desert races.

Neil was drafted into the Army in the early 50’s. Since he was an accomplished motorcycle rider, he became a motorcycle “MP” in charge of Convoy Escorts. He loved this type of duty because it gave him the opportunity to ride every day.

Upon his discharge, he took a job as a Pasadena motorcycle police officer. Although he rode a motorcycle five days a week, he still wanted more saddle time. So every weekend he went to the Mojave Desert and raced his beautifully prepped 200cc Dot in District 37 desert races and Enduros.

In 1960, Neil partnered with Jack Gray to open Honda of Pasadena. This was an era when “Made in Japan” meant the product was probably junk. Neil began to race a Honda 250cc scrambler in desert races to help prove the quality of the motorcycles he was selling. To improve his chances, Neil continually modified the Honda.  It took some time, but he made it a winner in the desert.

In 1963, he earned the #2 plate in AMA District 37. Then in 1964, Neil was the first person in AMA District 37 history to win "High Point Man of the Year" on a 250cc bike and was awarded the #1 plate.

In 1965 Neil partnered with Gary Griffin to open the Fergus & Griffin Motorcycle Service Center in Monrovia. Neil continued to race, defending his #1 plate riding a Bultaco. He was becoming legendary as not only a rider, but also a tuner, frame and suspension expert.

In 1967 Yamaha asked Neil to help create a street legal dirt bike, the concept we now know as Enduro or Dual Sport. The first prototypes were brought to Neil because he was known as a guy who could make a bike work off road. The bike Neil helped create was the Yamaha DT-1.

In 1968 Neil offered a fast young rider named Larry Bergquist a Bultaco sponsorship. Bergquist promptly went out and grabbed the District 37 desert 250cc #1 plate. This began a collaboration between Neil and Larry that would last for several more years. With Fergus as the builder/tuner and Bergquist as the rider, the team had many wins in District 37 desert racing as well as major events like Baja and the Mint 400.

In the early 1970’s Neil secured a position as head of R & D with Mike Harper’s Victor Products. Neil’s job was to develop new accessories for Yamahas just before they were introduced. If you had a Yamaha in the 70’s, and purchased any Genuine Yamaha Accessories such as a compression release, fork brace, high mount front fender, skid plate, or GYT kit, chances are that Neil designed and developed it.

Neil retired from the motorcycle industry in 1980, but still rides and travels 20,000-30,000 miles annually on two wheels. He maintains a fleet of street and dirt bikes, and can usually be found out in the garage getting an old Matchless or Panther ready for a vintage road rally.

The Trailblazers proudly welcomes Neil Fergus to the 2015 Hall of Fame!

Ron Bishop: 2015 Trailblazers Hall of Fame Inductee

2015 BANQUET UPDATE

Tickets for the 71st annual Trailblazers banquet to be held at the Carson Center in Carson, CA on Saturday, April 11, 2015 are SOLD OUT!! Please email us to be placed on the waiting list.

As we have been doing in recent weeks, here is another of our Hall of Fame inductees to be honored this year. The Trailblazers were saddened to hear the news last September that Ron Bishop had passed, but we are moving along just the same to properly credit him for his many great motorcycling accomplishments.

Ron Bishop was born in Woodland, Washington, in 1943. His family moved to Southern California when he was 10 and settled in Escondido. Escondido was a hub of motorcycling activity and it wasn’t long before little Ron was blazing around on a Cushman Eagle scooter, which he naturally took off-road. He rapidly moved from the scooter to a Mustang and eventually to his first real motorcycle, a Zundapp 250cc Super Sabre.

In 1960, at age 17, he started racing TTs and scrambles aboard the Zundapp, but waiting around between races was excruciating for the energetic teen. Soon he discovered there was no waiting around when he entered enduros, hare scrambles and long-distance desert races, just hours of wide-open racing.

Ron began an off-road racing career that took him all over the world. Bishop rode many of the major off-road races of his era: the Greenhorn Enduro, Barstow to Vegas and the grueling long-distance races such as the Mint 400 and the Baja 1,000. Ron raced the Baja 1,000 starting with the first event in 1967 to a record of forty consecutive years! He was also a front-runner in the Baja 500, the Mexicali 300, and the Tecate Enduro.

Bishop earned a factory Kawasaki ride in 1973. That year he qualified for the ISDT, held in the United States for the first time in the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts. He came back and qualified again for the ISDT in 1975, riding for the factory Rokon squad. That year, the prestigious “Six Days” event was held on the Isle of Man. Bishop always said representing his country in two ISDT appearances was among the most memorable episodes of his racing career.

During his years of off-road racing, Bishop became a self-taught electrical engineer and began developing more powerful lighting for his motorcycles. He was the first to figure out how to power halogen lights on his bikes.

In the early 1980s, Bishop opened his own motorcycle shop, dealing exclusively in off-road motorcycles. Through his shop, Bishop worked with many of the leading off-road and motocross riders of the greater San Diego area.

Ron Bishop was inducted into the AMA Hall of Fame in 2001 for his many accomplishments in off-road racing. In September 2014, he passed away due to natural causes, not long after his seventieth birthday.

The Trailblazers welcome Ron Bishop to the 2015 Hall of Fame.

Mel Dinesen: 2015 Trailblazers Posthumous Hall of Fame Inductee

Mel Dinesen, who passed away in 2006 at the age of 93, had been a motorcycle dealer in Bakersfield, CA. dating back to 1950 where he sold Indian into the 1980s with Yamaha, Hodaka and other brands.

He first made headlines as a race tuner in 1960 when 16-year old Eddie Mulder won the famed Big Bear Grand Prix on one of his Royal Enfields. Dinesen went on to sponsor numerous riders from central and southern California in dirt track racing and roadracing with Ron Pierce, a young Bakersfield rider. Ron won numerous AFM and AMA races for Mel which earned him a spot on the Yamaha factory team beginning in 1968.

Trailblazers President Don Emde took over the saddles of Mel Dinesen’s race bikes in 1969. That summer Emde won the AMA Novice National race at Indianapolis, Indiana as well as winning the overall AFM #1 plate. In 1970 Emde won the 100-mile 250cc National race at Talladega, Alabama, and in 1972, history was made when he won the Daytona 200 on the Mel Dinesen-sponsored and tuned 350cc Yamaha. It was the first time that a two-stroke had ever won the 200, as well as a first for Yamaha. It was also the smallest engine size to ever win the event, beating private and factory entered machines up to 750cc. All this was achieved on a motorcycle that was privately entered and tuned by a motorcycle dealer.

The Trailblazers remember Mel Dinesen and welcome him into our Hall of Fame.

Chris Carter: 2015 Trailblazers Hall of Fame Inductee

Chris Carter was born in Palo Alto, California on April 23, 1951. His life on two wheels began, like many others, with a Schwinn Stingray bicycle which he used for his paper route. Every day he’d pedal by some neighborhood kids riding dirt bikes in a vacant lot. After hanging around long enough the boys let him have a turn and Chris was hooked on dirt bike riding.

Saving his money allowed Chris to buy his own bike in 1965, a Honda Scrambler, which he used to trail ride around the open lands of his northern California home. Soon the paper route was replaced by a job as a “Gunk brush” at a local dealership, A & A Motors. At the time future great riders like Kenny Roberts, Jim Odom and Mark Brelsford were launching their careers out of the same shop. Still a teenager, Chris used to cut school on Fridays to drive these riders’ bikes down south so they could race Friday nights at Ascot.

Soon the Honda Scrambler was replaced by a Greeves and Chris began racing in local off-road and motocross events. By 1970 he was racing in the Trans-Am Series on a pre-production Yamaha DT2MX which had been supplied to A&A. Traveling with Gary Jones, Chris got to see a lot of the country and hone his riding skills. Soon Yamaha hired Chris as a test rider for their off-road development program. Next Chris qualified for the International Six Day Trials (ISDT), an event he would compete in until 1977. He won a Gold Medal in Austria in 1976 and won the final motocross special test.

By this time he was working at Rocky Cycle where he would eventually become the West Coast Sales Manager. In 1984 a Taiwan-based cable company asked Chris if he would be interested in representing its brand in the United States. He decided that if he were ever to start his own business, this was his opportunity. Chris suggested he become their exclusive distributor rather than agent. They agreed, and Motion Pro was born. Cables were a problem for most dealers back then with multiple part numbers for the same cable, discontinued part numbers, poor packaging, etc. Chris redesigned the whole business making the packaging and identification of his product easier for distributors and dealers to inventory, use and determine correct application, even color coding them red for Honda, green for Kawasaki, and so on. This was just the beginning of the many innovations in products, parts, specialty tools, etc. that have made Motion Pro one of the most successful aftermarket companies in the world today, celebrating more than 30 years in business.

But Chris’s involvement with the sport and the industry goes far beyond his business. He simply loves motorcycles and everything about the sport, the people, and the whole culture. He still rides and tests new products, and gives back in every phase of motorcycling. For example, Motion Pro is the official tool sponsor for the American World Trophy and Junior World Trophy Teams. Motion Pro supports virtually every professional Dirt Track racer in the USA, and also works with Supercross, Road Racing, Motocross and off-road racing teams.

Chris is a historian of the sport, sponsoring a book on Honda’s Dirt Track history, as well as collecting many important vintage motorcycles once ridden by Hall-of-Famers like Don Emde, Bubba Shobert, and Preston Petty. He also serves on the AMA Hall of Fame Museum Board of Directors and supports many charitable and nonprofit organizations like the Blue Ribbon Coalition, the California Off-Road Vehicle Association, CRISTA Camps, the Trail Preservation Alliance, and Riders for Health, Oasis for Kids and many more.

Truly, Chris Carter is an inspiration to the sport and the industry he loves. The TrailBlazers proudly welcomes Chris Carter to the 2015 Hall of Fame!

Lucile Flanders Award

Because of his lifetime dedication to the sport, industry, culture, and history of almost every aspect of motorcycling Chris Carter is also receiving the inaugural “Lucile Flanders Award,” named after the late-Lucile Flanders, matriarch of the Flanders Company for many years after the passing of her husband Earl Flanders. Lucile’s involvement in the motorcycle industry and also the Trailblazers dated back to the early days of motorcycling. She was a great supporter of the sport throughout her life. The TrailBlazers proudly honor Chris with this award for his outstanding efforts as a rider, sponsor, businessman, historian, and philanthropist.

Thad Wolff: 2015 TrailBlazers Hall of Fame Inductee

Mark you calendars! Tickets go on sale on the Trailblazers website January 1st! Most of you will recall how quickly the seats sold out last year. If you don’t want to get left out this time, set your alarm clocks New Year’s Eve and order as soon as possible on or after January 1st. The website is at: www.trailblazersmc.com and the form will be easy to find on the Home Page to order either individual tickets ($70 each), or a full table of ten for $700.00. CLICK HERE TO ORDER TICKETS!!

Note: if you are ordering multiple tickets, including a full table, it works best if you have the names of all those attending, and their email addresses. Included with every ticket is a Trailblazers membership -- which includes being added to the email list to receive our email blasts and bulletins. Until we get a name and email address we will not be able to add them.

At the banquet, we will as usual be honoring some deserving Trailblazers members. In addition to the new inductee Walt Axthelm that we posted recently, another inductee will be Thad Wolff.  

 Thad Wolff: 2015 TrailBlazers Hall of Fame Inductee

Thad Wolff was born in Los Angeles in 1959 and has lived in nearby Thousand Oaks his whole life. One day, a neighbor’s father offered to take Thad to a motorcycle race nearby and the event changed his life. The race was the Trans-Am and Thad climbed a tree to watch Torsten Hallman, Joel Robert and, Roger DeCoster dominate the American riders.

From that moment Thad wanted a motorcycle of his own. His hard-working family believed in earning things yourself, so Thad mowed lawns, washed windows and delivered newspapers until he had enough to purchase a Mini-Trail 50 in 1969.

Other bikes would follow for occasional trips to the desert and a chance to ride local Motocross every now and then. Even though he was only able to race a hand full of times, he still won a few junior Motocross events. When Thad turned 15-1/2 he got his drivers license and a street legal bike, a Honda SL100. Then, an article in Cycle Magazine inspired Thad to try Roadracing. He purchased a used Yamaha RD350 and went to Ontario Motor Speedway where he lined up against more than 50 other bikes in the production class. From that moment his full focus went to Roadracing and success came fast. In 1979 Thad won the 410 Production Class Championship in the California AFM Championship.

As his Roadracing career started to take off, another life-changing moment happened when Thad got a phone call from Cycle Magazine editor Phil Shilling. Shilling needed a rider for a magazine photo shoot and Thad had the skills to wheelie a Kawasaki 175 through the river at Indian Dunes. This was his chance to ride and get paid, so Thad accepted the additional role of photo model when he wasn’t racing.

With some modest sponsorship Thad went AMA Roadracing and won the Novice Championship in 1980. In 1981 he jumped from Novice 250cc Champion to Expert status and took a Superbike and Formula 1 support ride with the Yoshimura Suzuki Team as the number rider 2 behind Wes Cooley. He scored two F1 podiums that year in Superbike and F1 racing against Wes Cooley, Freddie Spencer, Eddie Lawson and Wayne Rainey.

All the while he was racing for Yoshimura Suzuki, Thad’s photo riding in the magazines got noticed by Honda, who hired him to ride their bikes for a series of television commercials and other advertising. Some might’ve called it a conflict, but Thad was able juggle and separate his racing life and his advertising life well enough that both companies were happy with his work.

In 1982, Thad finished 8th in the Daytona 200 riding a 500cc Suzuki RG500 two-stroke. Then, in 1983 the 1000cc Superbikes were replaced with 750s and Thad decided to concentrate on Formula 1. In the Daytona 200 he had fourth place wrapped up behind Roberts, Lawson and Spencer, but with just a few laps to go the big pink Suzuki F1 four-stroke he was riding blew sky high.

Later that season a crippling crash made Thad rethink his pro racing career. When he healed up, he decided to focus on his advertising career. Thad's last professional races were in the ABC wide world of sports Carlsbad Superbikers event with a best finish of seventh in 1982 on a Wheelsmith Maico.

With his SAG card in his wallet working for all four Japanese manufactures, he has been in over fifty TV commercials and countless brochures and ads, and more than one hundred magazine covers to his credit.


Now in his mid-50’s Thad’s passion for motorcycles continues. He has raced actively in the AHRMA Vintage series and won two National championships. He also built his own BSA Rocket Twin in 2010 to win the Premier Expert class at the Catalina Grand Prix off-road race. Thad is also an electric motorcycle pioneer and holds a world record, for travelling coast to coast on an electric motorcycle in 84.5 hours.

For the last 10 years Thad has been involved with Dan Gurney’s All American Racers testing and promoting the innovative Alligator motorcycles. He gives back to the Roadrace community by teaching the New Racer Program at Willow Springs Raceway and is also the west coast Chairman of the Daytona 200 monument founded by Dick Klamfoth. His greatest passion is as a member of the Antique Motorcycle Club of America, personally collecting, restoring and riding many classic and antique bikes to help preserve motorcycling’s past.

The TrailBlazers proudly welcome Thad Wollf to the 2015 Hall of Fame.

Walt Axthelm: 2015 TrailBlazers Hall of Fame Inductee

SAVE THE DATE! The 71st Trailblazers banquet will be held at the Carson Center in Carson, CA on Saturday, April 11th. Tickets will go on sale online at www.trailblazersmc.com beginning January 1st. The banquet sold out quickly last year, so don’t get left out.

As always, there will some notable motorcyclists being honored and in the coming weeks and months we will be featuring them here. Our first honoree is Walt Axthelm.

Walt Axthelm: 2015 TrailBlazers Hall of Fame Inductee

Walt Axthelm was born in Upland, Pennsylvania, in 1933. His family moved to Southern California when he was 14 years old and Walt soon got a junior motor license and his first motorbike, a Schwinn-bicycle-framed Whizzer. His first races were against his buddies who had Whizzers and scooters of their own. He loved to ride and in the afternoons he would go down to the L.A. riverbed and practice until dark. When Walt was 17 he began racing his first true motorcycle, a rigid-framed Royal Enfield.

One of his first races was the 1951 Big Bear Grand Prix. It was a wet year and the mud built up so thick under the rear fender it locked up Walt’s rear wheel. So, he removed the fender and finished the 180-mile race.

He continued to ride Scrambles and other off-road events and quickly became one of the leading off-road racers in Southern California. His first sponsored ride came in 1954 when he was backed by Louie Thomas’ BSA shop in Los Angeles. Riding a BSA Gold Star Scrambler in 1955, Walt earned the District 37 number 1 plate.

For off-road racers like Walt, the Catalina Grand Prix was the high point of the racing season on the West Coast. In 1956, Axthelm won Saturday’s featured 50-mile race and then scored second to Chuck Minert in Sunday’s 100-mile final. No one was allowed to practice on the once-a-year Catalina course, but Walt was a smart racer. He volunteered to be on the hay bale crew so he could drive around the course (setting hay bales) and at the same time plan his races for the weekend.

By the early 1960s, Walt moved from riding the big four-strokes to the lighter, more nimble two-strokes. He began riding Jawas and CZs and that led to an opportunity to compete in the ISDT. The U.S. Jawa importer helped set up the trip to Austria for Axthelm. He was only the third American to ever compete in the Six Days. Walt went back to the ISDT with the American team several times in the 1960’s, pioneering the way for the successful USA teams of the present.

Walt was also one of the pioneering motocross riders in Southern California in the 1960s. He’d had direct exposure to European motocross, having ridden on some of the tracks as a guest of Jawa when he went over to Europe. As a result he became one of the early proponents of motocross racing in the USA and participated in many of the earliest motocross events in America, including the Inter-Am races put on by Edison Dye.

As his career progressed, Axthelm specialized in the long-distance off-road races of the late 1960’s and 1970’s, such as the Baja 1000, the Parker 400, and the Tecate GP. Walt also raced and tested some of Suzuki’s early TM250 off-road prototypes. He later worked with R&D for Kawasaki, racing for the factory in desert races.

By 1980, Axthelm was in his late-40s and decided to retire from off-road racing and focus on his engineering career.  He had done enough for the sport to be inducted in the AMA Hall of Fame in 2001.

But his career on two-wheels wasn’t over. After gaining a lot of weight in his job as a contract engineer for Boeing, Walt bought a mountain bike to “get back in shape.” The racer inside Walt was still alive and the skills he’d earned with thousands of hours of off-road racing transferred well to mountain bike racing. He soon became one of the nation’s top senior mountain bike racers. In 2007, he won the overall cycling jersey in the National Senior Games. In 2014 he won the overall jersey in the Huntsman World Senior Games in the 80-84 age division.

Walt’s now retired and lives in Durango, Colorado and trains almost daily for his bicycling competitions.

The TrailBlazers welcome Walt Axthelm to the 2015 Hall of Fame.