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The Trailblazers Motorcycle Club has announced Steve Scott as the fifth of its 2012 Hall of Fame inductees. He joins previously announced inductees Jim McMurren, Eddie Lawson, Bob Sirkegian Sr. and Dan Rouit to be honored at its 68th annual banquet on Saturday, April 14th.

He started riding motorcycles in 1957 on dirt roads in the Santa Monica mountains. Some of his first bikes included Whizzer, Powell and Cushman scooters, a 125cc James, 125cc and 165cc Harley-Davidson Hummers, an old Tiger Cub with plunger suspension and a Honda 50cc C110. In 1963 he bought a 1961 Tiger Cub that he raced at Acton, Spencer Park and El Toro Speedway. That same year he also got into the motorcycle business, working at Honda of Santa Monica.

In 1964 he purchased a used 200cc Bultaco Sherpa S to race ACA Short Tracks at El Toro and earned the #1 plate there for 1964 & ’65. He also rode Ascot 1/2-mile and TTs as an AMA Class C Novice. “It was a good year, and very educational,” said Steve, “I got to eat a lot of dust by the likes of Gene Romero, Malcolm Smith, Jimmy Nicholson, Chuck Palmgren, Paul Conserriere, Glen Hayes, Sonny Nutter and many others.” Steve joined the Dirt Diggers Motorcycle Club that year and in Amateur racing earned the District 37 #2 lightweight plate. His success on the Bultaco got the attention of Doug and Wally Yerkes from Bultaco Western. Not only did they support his racing efforts, but they gave him a job too.

In an age of lightweight racing dominated by Triumph Cubs and Harley Sprints, Steve changed the landscape dramatically in 1965 when he got one of the first 250cc yellow Bultaco Metisse race bikes and earned the #1 District 37 plate. A lot of weeks he would race 5 times or more a week in Scrambles, Short Tracks and TTs at Ascot and El Cajon Speedway. El Cajon had an AMA Class C lightweight and heavyweight championship and Steve ended up high point lightweight rider for the year (Trailblazers Hall of Famer Jack Simmons was high point heavyweight class rider). Steve also went on the road for Bultaco Western that year setting up dealers and doing some racing in Oklahoma and also up at the Sidewinders TT in Portland, Oregon where he finished 1st place in the 250cc class.

In 1966 he decided to stay closer to home and with a lot of help from Bultaco Western, opened Steve’s Bultaco in North Hollywood. Motocross was just getting started in America and Steve raced some of the first events held here, including the Dirt Diggers first race at Hopetown. World MX Champion Torsten Hallman was there, which made it an international event. Steve got the hole shot and lead the race for a while, ultimately finishing 2nd to Hallman and first American rider.

By 1967 Steve had his Class C Expert Competition license and raced Ascot TTs on Larry Wilburn’s 650 Triumph and Larry rode his Bultaco. “I got the better part of that deal!” Steve remembers. In the 1968 Elsinore 100-mile Grand Prix, Steve got 1st overall on a new Bultaco 360cc El Bandito and also raced in a few Speedway races. He sold Steve’s Bultaco in 1969 and went to Spain to race Motocross for Bultaco. But after a couple of months came down with Hepatitis and returned to the United States to recoup.

In 1972 he started manufacturing aftermarket Bultaco parts such as engine gaskets, clutch springs, fork springs and tools, etc…parts that were sometimes hard to find at Bultaco dealers. That year he also raced the Pikes Peak Hillclimb for the first time. On a rainy and cold day, Steve started the race from the last row on a 250cc Bultaco Astro and about halfway up got the lead and held it to the finish. He was protested, but found to be legal and declared the 250cc class winner. He went on to win the 250cc class the next five years in a row.

In 1976 he sold his house and moved to Woodland Park, CO, which is at the base of Pikes Peak. He opened a motorcycle distributing company selling his line of parts and accessories and other motorcycle products to dealers in Colorado and throughout the USA.

Steve won his sixth 250cc pro race at Pikes Peak in 1979, then his long-running string of success at Pikes Peak had a dry spell for a few years with various mechanical problems. But at the 1985 Pikes Peak Hillclimb, American Honda donated 15 new 350cc XRs to be raced in a Jolly Rancher Celebrity Challenge by some previous winners and other invited riders, including Malcolm Smith. Despite the legendary competition that day, Steve took home the winner’s trophy.

Showing his versatility, Steve got into roadracing in the mid-1980s. In 1985 he rode a couple of 6 Hour roadraces with teammate Chuck Lee. “We made a good team,” said Steve. “Chuck was fast and I was ‘fast enough’ at Aspen and we finished 2nd overall in the Superbike class.” Then they scored an overall victory at Pueblo International Raceway at round #12 of the US Endurance Championship. Steve recalled, “Chuck got the holeshot and about 2 hours into the race it started raining. We lapped the field many times, being dirt trackers we liked it sideways!”

Later in the year Steve got invited to the Superbikers race at Carlsbad. His first ride in that all-new type of event did not go great. He rode Rob Muzzy’s 465 Yamaha short tracker and finished 16th in the main. But in 1993 he returned to Carlsbad for another try. He rode a CR500 Honda in the 500 pro class and finished 3rd in his last competitive event to date.

The Trailblazers congratulates Steve Scott for a lifetime of motorcycling excellence. The 68th annual Trailblazers banquet will be held on Saturday, April 14th at the Carson Center in Carson, CA. The evening’s dinner and awards presentations will follow the Tom Cates Memorial Bike Show which will begin at 3:00 pm. Tickets will go on sale in January online at:www.trailblazersmc.com.

The Trailblazers Motorcycle Club has announced Steve Scott as the fifth of its 2012 Hall of Fame inductees. He joins previously announced inductees Jim McMurren, Eddie Lawson, Bob Sirkegian Sr. and Dan Rouit to be honored at its 68th annual banquet on Saturday, April 14th.

He started riding motorcycles in 1957 on dirt roads in the Santa Monica mountains. Some of his first bikes included Whizzer, Powell and Cushman scooters, a 125cc James, 125cc and 165cc Harley-Davidson Hummers, an old Tiger Cub with plunger suspension and a Honda 50cc C110. In 1963 he bought a 1961 Tiger Cub that he raced at Acton, Spencer Park and El Toro Speedway. That same year he also got into the motorcycle business, working at Honda of Santa Monica.

In 1964 he purchased a used 200cc Bultaco Sherpa S to race ACA Short Tracks at El Toro and earned the #1 plate there for 1964 & ’65. He also rode Ascot 1/2-mile and TTs as an AMA Class C Novice. “It was a good year, and very educational,” said Steve, “I got to eat a lot of dust by the likes of Gene Romero, Malcolm Smith, Jimmy Nicholson, Chuck Palmgren, Paul Conserriere, Glen Hayes, Sonny Nutter and many others.” Steve joined the Dirt Diggers Motorcycle Club that year and in Amateur racing earned the District 37 #2 lightweight plate. His success on the Bultaco got the attention of Doug and Wally Yerkes from Bultaco Western. Not only did they support his racing efforts, but they gave him a job too.

In an age of lightweight racing dominated by Triumph Cubs and Harley Sprints, Steve changed the landscape dramatically in 1965 when he got one of the first 250cc yellow Bultaco Metisse race bikes and earned the #1 District 37 plate. A lot of weeks he would race 5 times or more a week in Scrambles, Short Tracks and TTs at Ascot and El Cajon Speedway. El Cajon had an AMA Class C lightweight and heavyweight championship and Steve ended up high point lightweight rider for the year (Trailblazers Hall of Famer Jack Simmons was high point heavyweight class rider). Steve also went on the road for Bultaco Western that year setting up dealers and doing some racing in Oklahoma and also up at the Sidewinders TT in Portland, Oregon where he finished 1st place in the 250cc class.

In 1966 he decided to stay closer to home and with a lot of help from Bultaco Western, opened Steve’s Bultaco in North Hollywood. Motocross was just getting started in America and Steve raced some of the first events held here, including the Dirt Diggers first race at Hopetown. World MX Champion Torsten Hallman was there, which made it an international event. Steve got the hole shot and lead the race for a while, ultimately finishing 2nd to Hallman and first American rider.

By 1967 Steve had his Class C Expert Competition license and raced Ascot TTs on Larry Wilburn’s 650 Triumph and Larry rode his Bultaco. “I got the better part of that deal!” Steve remembers. In the 1968 Elsinore 100-mile Grand Prix, Steve got 1st overall on a new Bultaco 360cc El Bandito and also raced in a few Speedway races. He sold Steve’s Bultaco in 1969 and went to Spain to race Motocross for Bultaco. But after a couple of months came down with Hepatitis and returned to the United States to recoup.

In 1972 he started manufacturing aftermarket Bultaco parts such as engine gaskets, clutch springs, fork springs and tools, etc…parts that were sometimes hard to find at Bultaco dealers. That year he also raced the Pikes Peak Hillclimb for the first time. On a rainy and cold day, Steve started the race from the last row on a 250cc Bultaco Astro and about halfway up got the lead and held it to the finish. He was protested, but found to be legal and declared the 250cc class winner. He went on to win the 250cc class the next five years in a row.

In 1976 he sold his house and moved to Woodland Park, CO, which is at the base of Pikes Peak. He opened a motorcycle distributing company selling his line of parts and accessories and other motorcycle products to dealers in Colorado and throughout the USA.

Steve won his sixth 250cc pro race at Pikes Peak in 1979, then his long-running string of success at Pikes Peak had a dry spell for a few years with various mechanical problems. But at the 1985 Pikes Peak Hillclimb, American Honda donated 15 new 350cc XRs to be raced in a Jolly Rancher Celebrity Challenge by some previous winners and other invited riders, including Malcolm Smith. Despite the legendary competition that day, Steve took home the winner’s trophy.

Showing his versatility, Steve got into roadracing in the mid-1980s. In 1985 he rode a couple of 6 Hour roadraces with teammate Chuck Lee. “We made a good team,” said Steve. “Chuck was fast and I was ‘fast enough’ at Aspen and we finished 2nd overall in the Superbike class.” Then they scored an overall victory at Pueblo International Raceway at round #12 of the US Endurance Championship. Steve recalled, “Chuck got the holeshot and about 2 hours into the race it started raining. We lapped the field many times, being dirt trackers we liked it sideways!”

Later in the year Steve got invited to the Superbikers race at Carlsbad. His first ride in that all-new type of event did not go great. He rode Rob Muzzy’s 465 Yamaha short tracker and finished 16th in the main. But in 1993 he returned to Carlsbad for another try. He rode a CR500 Honda in the 500 pro class and finished 3rd in his last competitive event to date.

The Trailblazers congratulates Steve Scott for a lifetime of motorcycling excellence. The 68th annual Trailblazers banquet will be held on Saturday, April 14th at the Carson Center in Carson, CA. The evening’s dinner and awards presentations will follow the Tom Cates Memorial Bike Show which will begin at 3:00 pm. Tickets will go on sale in January online at:www.trailblazersmc.com.

The Trailblazers M.C. have announced that Dan Rouit will be among its Class of 2012 Hall of Fame inductees to be honored at the 68th annual banquet on April 14, 2012 in Carson, CA. Rouit became a motorcycle rider and enthusiast at an early age and as a teenager was a very active racer competing in both amateur and pro flattrack events. He excelled in Short Track racing and won many events in AMA District 35.

In 1978, Dan experienced a life-changing injury when he suffered a broken neck from a fall while hiking in the nearby mountains. Knowing his racing days were over, Dan and his dad began talking about starting a museum for flat track racing. In 1991 he fulfilled his dream when he and his soon-to-be-wife Kathy pooled their resources and had a building constructed to display historic motorcycles as well as posters, banners, trophies, helmets, programs and photographs. Soon the building was so full you could not walk between the motorcycles. Dan wanted to expand the museum but had limited resources.

Thanks to the generosity of his cousin Joe, a 30 by 60 foot building was added and the Dan Rouit Flattrack Museum had taken shape for motorcycle enthusiasts to come enjoy. But that was not the end of the expansion. In November of 2009, Dan’s need for yet another expansion became a reality with the addition of another 30 by 60 feet of display space. Today the museum holds over 90 flat track motorcycles and is still growing. While the museum has visitors throughout the year, their highlight event is the annual Open House. This past May, Dan and Kathy celebrated with a gala 20th anniversary gathering.

Congratulations to Dan Rouit for his election to the Trailblazers Hall of Fame. His work to give a home to the legendary machines raced by some of the biggest names in motorcycle racing history – many who are also Trailblazers Hall of Famers – is especially noteworthy to the club.

Tickets for the 68th annual Trailblazers banquet will go on sale after the first of the year on the club’s website at: www.trailblazersmc.com.

Contact info:

Dan and Kathy Rouit

Dan Rouit Flattrack Museum

309 West Rialto Street

Clovis, CA 93612-4331

The Trailblazers M.C. has named the third of its Hall of Fame inductees to be honored at its 68th annual banquet to be held in Carson, CA. on April 14, 2012. Joining the two previously named inductees—Jim McMurren and Eddie Lawson—Bob Sirkegian Sr. will be one of the two Posthumous awards in the next Hall of Fame class.

Sirkegian was born May 19, 1898 in Fresno, CA. He began riding in 1912 and was soon racing dirt track and board track racing. He also eventually became an Indian Motocycle dealer in Fresno. He was initially one of eleven board trackers riding for Indian, and later also rode for Harley-Davidson, Super X and many other factories. His AMA Life Member number was 31.

In 1921 he moved to San Diego to open another Indian dealership, while continuing his racing on board tracks and dirt oval tracks throughout the USA until 1929. He also became the first USA distributor for J.A.P. Speedway Motorcycles and began promoting weekly Class A Speedway races at Balboa Stadium in San Diego. In 1924 he took on Guy Urquhart as his partner at the motorcycle dealership.

In 1938 he sold his half of the partnership to Urquhart, married and moved to Nutley, NJ. At the request of the Indian factory he opened the largest Indian dealership on the east coast. Still a J.A.P. distributor he was now promoting Speedway racing 3 times a week on the east coast. This led to the creation of a West Coast-East Coast Match Race Series, which included legendary Speedway star Sprouts Elder, one of Bob’s friends from his hometown of Fresno.

In 1946, Sirkegian sold his east coast motorcycle dealership and moved back to the Los Angeles area where he and his younger brother Al opened up another Indian dealership known as Sirkegian Bros. They sold Indian, Mustang, Cushman and Evinrude Outboards, and later added Triumph and Ariel Motorcycles.

Upon Bob’s return to the west coast he became reacquainted with A.F. Van Order, Floyd Clymer and others in the Trailblazers and began attending the annual banquets, as well as providing some financial support when asked in order the keep banquets going.

In 1948 Bob built a a TT track called Sirkegian Stadium and promoted races there, as well as at another track called Mint Canyon which was located on another of his brothers’ property. In 1950 Sirkegian began promoting motorcycle road races and drag races at the Santa Ana Blimp Base

In 1951 and ’54, Sirkegian Bros. was the second highest selling dealer for Triumph and Ariel motorcycles in the Western USA. In 1952 and ’53, they were the highest selling Triumph and Ariel dealer in the Western USA. In ’53, Bob bought out his brother Al and became sole owner of the dealership. He also bought out Hollywood Motors, which sold BSA,

In 1955 Bob started selling BMW, NSU and BSA in his Los Angeles store after closing the Hollywood store. Then in 1957 he moved the business to Monrovia selling BMW, NSU, BSA and Harley-Davidson.

Bob Sirkegian Sr passed away at home on May 31, 1960, leaving his wife Ruby and two sons, Bob Junior and Douglas.

For more information log onto www.trailblazersmc.com.

The Trailblazers M.C. have named Eddie Lawson as the second of the 2012 Hall of Fame inductees to be honored at the 68th annual banquet next April. Additional inductees will be announced in the near future.

Eddie Lawson will go down in history as one the greatest motorcycle road racers of all time. Lawson won the 500cc World Championship four times during the 1980s. When he retired from GP racing in the early 1990s, he ranked third on the all-time 500cc Grand Prix wins list with 31 victories. In addition to his international accomplishments, Lawson was equally successful on the domestic front. The Californian won the AMA Superbike Series twice (1981 and 1982) and the AMA 250 Grand Prix Series in 1980 and 1981. When inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1999, Lawson was the only rider to ever win the AMA Superbike and 250GP titles during his career. Lawson also won the Daytona 200, the first time during the prime of his racing career in 1986, then again in 1993 when he returned to the event after retiring from full-time motorcycle racing.

Lawson was born in Upland, California, on March 11, 1958. He grew up around motorcycles. Both his father and grandfather raced. Some of Lawson’s earliest memories are of going out to the desert races with his father. Lawson started riding an 80cc Yamaha when was 7 years old, having to hold the nearly full-sized bike up on his tiptoes when he came to a stop. By the time he was 12, Lawson was racing the local Southern California dirt track circuit. "We rode mainly at tracks like Corona and Ascot. I didn’t do very well for the first couple of years," admitted Lawson. "I just sort of rode around cautiously trying to not fall off my little 90cc Kawasaki Green Streak." It didn’t take Lawson long to get over his timidity. He quickly became one of the fastest young amateurs in Southern California during the early 1970s heyday of dirt track competition. Besides dirt track racing, Lawson also began to hit the local road races after his grandfather bought him a 50cc Italjet. He later graduated to a Yamaha RD350. This road racing experience would later prove to be very valuable for Lawson.

Lawson obtained his AMA expert license in 1978. He was riding Shell Thuett Yamahas, which were very fast for Yamaha dirt trackers, but was no match for the Harley-Davidsons that dominated dirt track racing. Lawson did manage to do decently on TT tracks. His best finish of his rookie expert season was fifth in the TT national at Santa Fe Speedway near Chicago. By 1979, it was becoming clear that Lawson was fighting an uphill battle on the dirt tracks, while just the opposite was happening at the road races. At 20, Lawson was already considered one of the top road racers in West Coast club racing. In 1979, he proved that he was a force to be reckoned with when he finished second to a young Freddie Spencer in the AMA 250 Grand Prix national at Sears Point Raceway in Sonoma, California. Lawson finished the season as the second-ranked rider behind Spencer in the AMA 250 GP series. While doing a made-for-television Superbikes event late in 1979, Lawson was invited to a Superbike tryout at Willow Springs Raceway by Kawasaki. Lawson set fast time in the tryout and was offered the ride. "It was really pretty fun to ride those old 1000cc Superbikes," Lawson recalls. "They were pretty heavy and had a lot of power and with the wide handlebars you could actually ride them a lot like a flat tracker, power-sliding out of the corners and everything." It did not take long for Lawson to get used to racing Superbikes. Lawson won his first Superbike national at Talladega, Alabama, in April of 1980. That season saw some epic battles between Lawson, Freddie Spencer and Wes Cooley. The season ended with Cooley winning the title in a controversial manner, with protests and counter-protests being filed between the Kawasaki and Suzuki Superbike teams. Cooley had to wait two months after the season to finally be awarded the championship. The same season, Lawson dominated the AMA 250 Grand Prix Series.

The Superbike controversy at the end of 1980 just made Lawson more determined. He came back in 1981 and won the title after another great year of battling Honda and its top rider, Freddie Spencer. The Lawson/Spencer rivalry would go down as one of the best in the history of Superbike racing. During this period, AMA Superbike racing really came into prominence and started to replace the Formula One class in importance. Lawson again won the 250GP title in ’81. Lawson’s ’80 and ’81 championships marked the only times that Kawasaki would win the AMA 250 Grand Prix titles. Lawson's last full season of racing in the U.S. was 1982. Again, Lawson and Kawasaki held off a serious challenge from Honda, that year with Mike Baldwin, who finished second in the series. Lawson accepted an offer from Yamaha to contest the 500cc World Championship for the 1983 season. Before he left for world championship battles, Lawson donned his steel shoe one last time and competed in the Houston Astrodome TT AMA Grand National, where he finished sixth. Lawson spent his first GP season learning the tracks and how to live outside of the U.S. for the first time in his life. Lawson looks back on the ’83 season as the most trying of his career. "I was away from home for the first time, I wasn’t having that much success and at times I wondered what I had gotten myself into," Lawson recalls. The 1984 season changed all that. Lawson began winning and getting used to his surroundings. He won the 1984 world championship. It would mark the first of four world titles Lawson would go on to win (1984, ’86, ’88 and ’89). By the time Lawson retired from GP racing after the 1992 season, he had won a total of 31 world championship races, which placed him third all-time in the 500cc class.

Lawson won the prestigious Suzuka Eight Hour race in Japan in 1990 with teammate Tadahiko Taira. After retiring from full-time motorcycle racing, Lawson came back to race in the Daytona 200 in 1993. He won in a spectacular last-lap duel with Scott Russell, marking a triumphant return and his second Daytona 200 victory. He raced at Daytona one more time in 1994 and finished third. Lawson continued racing in Indy Cars in the mid-1990s after his motorcycle- racing career. His progress through the Indy Car ranks was such that several auto racing publications cited Lawson as the top up-and-coming driver of the circuit. Unfortunately, the team that Lawson drove for was under-funded and was forced to field uncompetitive machinery and Lawson eventually left the sport. When inducted in 1999, Lawson was enjoying retirement living in Lake Havasu, Arizona, spending a lot of time on the lake and racing shifter go-karts with friend and fellow Hall of Fame member Wayne Rainey for fun.

Story courtesy of AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame.