DON BROWN MEMORIAL
**PLEASE VIEW THE FULL BIOS IN THE NEWS SECTION!!!
Sonny Angel
82-year old Sonny Angel has been a motorcycle dealer at the same location in the San Diego area for 55 years. Walk around his store and you won’t find many Japanese or American motorcycles. His specialty through the years has been brands like Norton, Moto Guzzi and Ducati… no surprise when you know his history.
Chuck Basney
If you raced motorcycles anywhere in the country in the 1950s, chances were good you would have to beat Chuck Basney if you wanted to take home the winner’s purse. Chuck was the Pacific Coast Champion in 1951, ’52, ’53, ’54 and ’55. He also would have received the 1956 award on October 26th of that year had he not been tragically killed in a crash that night at Gardena Speedway.
Don Brymer
One personal trait that served Don Brymer well in his life was not just a willingness to try new things, he was driven to experiment with new methods and ways of doing things. For a time he operated two Yamaha rental shops in Southern California, but in 1964, he came thought up a totally new way for motorcycle dealers to get their machines from the factories to sell.
Bill and Annie Brokaw
Bill Brokaw grew up in a family that owned a motorcycle dealership in Iowa. Later, his father accepted a position as editor of Motorcyclist Magazine and they moved to the Los Angeles area. For Bill, it was a dream come true to be able to ride and race events throughout the Southwest. During the 1950s Southern California had all sorts of motorcycle events and activities to suit any and all likes.
Bryon Farnsworth
We all know the story about how Steve McQueen had to race off-road races under the name Harvey Mushman so that the producers in Hollywood wouldn’t know about his unconventional form of weekend recreation. Well, a few years before McQueen came up with Mushman, Bryon Farnsworth was racing and winning in District 37 under the name of “Clutch Cargo.”
Al Gunter
Al Gunter was not only one of the greatest motorcycle racers of his era, perhaps ever, but he was also ahead of his time as an innovator of motorcycle products. Gunter was born in Houston, Texas where he began his motorcycle racing career. His first AMA National win came not too far from there in Shreveport, Louisiana in 1952 riding a BSA, the brand he is most often associated with. He also finished 5th at Daytona year.
Don Spargur
District 37 produced many great TT and Scrambles riders in the early 1960s… Eddie Mulder, Skip Van Leeuwen, Jim Hunter to name a few. That list is incomplete, however, without Don Spargur. Like Hunter, Spargur rode primarily BSA Gold Stars at Perris, Prado Park and all the other TT tracks of Southern California.
Larry Wilburn
Larry Wilburn’s oldest motorcycling memories are of riding his 350cc Velocette out in the desert with his friend “Wild Bill” Hannah, the father of future Supercross legend Bob Hannah. Larry went through a few other motorcycles in his efforts to keep up with Hannah until finally settling on a Triumph, the brand he would stick with the rest of his racing years.
DAN GURNEY
2010 Dick Hammer Award Recipient
Dan Gurney has had a legendary career in auto racing, both as a driver, team owner and builder. He scored four career wins in Formula One racing and was the first driver to win races in Formula One (1962), NASCAR (1963) and Indy Car (1967). He and co-driver A.J. Foyt were also the winners of the 24 Hours of LeMans in 1967. As a builder, Dan saw numerous racing drivers succeed in his Gurney Eagles.
Basically, we’re a group of fun-loving motorcycling enthusiasts and racers whose mission is to keep the spirit of motorcycling alive in Southern California by gathering annually for a get-together banquet and, occasionally, other functions as the spirit dictates.
A.F. Van Order founded the TrailBlazers in 1936. As a Los Angeles area motorcycling enthusiast, he would round up a number of fellow riders from that era and they’d have their sessions of bench racing. By 1940 it was time to get more serious (and formal) and the first of many annual banquets was scheduled. It was a “Stag” event – men only. Pioneer motorcyclist Paul “Dare Devil” Derkum was elected the 1st president of the TrailBlazers at the 1940 banquet.
World War II put a damper on such activities, as most of the members had gone off to fight for Uncle Sam. The cadence was restored following the war, with Van Order at the helm. When “Van” passed away, others continued the tradition, including publisher Floyd Clymer. After Floyd’s death in 1970, however, the annual gatherings were in limbo for several years.
Spear-headed by Max Bubeck and Earl Flanders, the banquets were reactivated in the mid-1970s, and ladies were more than welcome to attend. Eventually, motorcycle editor and publisher Bill Bagnall took the helm and presided over the TrailBlazers for many years. Bagnall later turned over the leadership duties, which have been carried on since by Don Emde, Walt Fulton Jr. and current President Keith Mashburn. Bill passed away in 2006.
A wide variety of motorcycling enthusiasts and celebrities have attended past TrailBlazers banquets. Early day legends such as Jim Davis, Cannonball Baker, Jack Milne, Ed Kretz, Floyd Emde, Ben Campanale and others were regulars, as were Hollywood stars such as Lee Marvin, Steve McQueen and Keenan Wynn.
To spice up the evening’s festivities, themes were added such as “Big Bear,” “Daytona,” “Catalina,” “Motorcycle Clubs,” “Famous Tuners,” and “Off-Road Competition.” More recently we have added the “TrailBlazers Hall of Fame” and the “Dick Hammer Award,” which is a beautiful “Mach Warrior” sculpture given for “Desire, Drive, Determination and accomplishments in the motorcycle world.” Over time, the popularity of these get-togethers has swelled, with our present day always sold-out banquets drawing nearly 500 attendees.
In recent years, the TrailBlazers became affiliated with the Motorcycle Industry Council, the industry’s major trade organization.
