Below is my thoughts of the induction of
my
grand father Orie Steele into the
National Motorcycle Hall of Fame
October 9, 2007
By John Orie Clauss
It was quite a weekend (October 8 and 9 , 2007). It has taken me a while
to sit and process thoughts about the weekend and what I needed to say. It
was fun, exciting, tiring, but above all it was the end of a 10 year quest.
In December of 1996 I received a scanner as a Christmas gift from my
in-laws. I had also gotten more pictures related to my grandfather. So I
started scanning the images into the computer and then I needed something to
do with them. So I started a Geocities free website. From there things sort
of exploded. I spent a lot of time cruising various motorcycle related
websites and gathering information and making friends with people. I was
sent articles and pictures of my grandfather from people all over the
country.
In 1997 the American Motorcycle Heritage Foundation created the Hall of Fame
in the soon to be built Hall of Fame museum outside of Pickerington, OH.
There are other Hall of Fame's but this one has the clout of the AMA behind
it. This is THE ONE. So I thought "My grandfather should be in there. Joe
Petrali is in there, he used to beat him all the time." So I nominated him
formally for induction. And for years nothing happened. Finally I wrote a
nice two page synopsis of his career and accomplishments and submitted that.
There were some other people involved as well, working behind the scenes. It
seemed that the Foundation had moved away from honoring the pioneers of the
sport and were moving towards the younger, newly retired or not even retired
riders. In January I got to meet Chris Carr, 7 time National Champion and a
Hall of Famer. He gets a vote, so I told him about my grandfather. I didn't
beg, but just asked him to consider. I don't know if it made a difference or
not, but maybe it did.
In April of 2007 I was contacted by the museum and told that he was elected
and would be inducted into the Hall of Fame in October, but wait theres
more. They needed someone to introduce him and accept the medal, and they
wanted that person to be me. They also asked for "stuff" memorabilia from
his career. We made a trip out in August to drop stuff off. That was neat
but not like the experience of this past weekend.
We flew out on Thursday. We being my wife, daughter and my mother. Mom was
my grandfathers child, her two surviving brothers made the trip out as well.
I have always
kept the website as a repository for information for the entire family. Its
the easiest was to share everything I had with anyone who wanted access.
There it is, for free.
Friday night was the "Night of Stars and Legends" reception at the museum.
He I was wondering around with an inductee lanyard with one of the original
pictures of my grandfather I scanned in on it. Its this one:
This picture has gotten a lot of play. It is from an Indian Motorcycle
advertising poster. I got to meet some of the other people being honored,
but mainly just wandered around. I ran into Jerry Hatfield, he is an author
of some note and has written quite a few books about Indian motorcycles and
the men that rode them. We were standing right by the new plaque on the wall
with the same picture on it and my grandfather's name. I had been in contact
with him many times in the past about various things and he gave me
permission to use one of the images from one of his books on my website. He
turned to his wife and said "His grandfather was probably the best
Hillclimber ever." It meant a lot to hear it form a man of his stature.
Saturday I needed to do an Autograph session. What a second, I am NOBODY who
wants my signature? Well, they did. So I was sitting at a table with Pat
Hennan on my left and Mike Keidrowski on my right. Pat is the first American
to win a Motorcycle GP race in Europe, and Mike Keidrowski was a 4 time
motocross champion. We were all chatting like friends, no pretension in this
crowd of motorcyclist. Everyone there shared the same love, and it showed. I
signed and chatted and had a blast. Then I needed to get ready for the
induction ceremony that night.
To say I was nervous would be a great understatement, I was terrified. I am
used to teaching and talking to small groups, but this was a whole different
deal. There were at least 500 people there and there were two big screens
which would have my mug up on them. Gulp. Before the event I got to chat
with Mitch Boehm, he is an editor with Motorcyclist magazine. I have been
reading his stuff for years. We chatted and he told me not to worry it would
be fine. It helped. He was seated at the table in front of mine and on the
way by he shook my hand.
I got up to the stage and read my
speech, here it is:
It is with great honor
that I introduce to you, my grandfather, Orie Steele, to the Motorcycle Hall
of Fame. His career started in 1913, riding Indians. His entire career was
spent riding Indian motorcycles and winning many events. The beginning of
his career he spent racing endurance. One notable win of this time period
was the 1914 Yonkers endurance run, a 500 mile race with his father, John
Steele in the side car. Imagine riding 500 miles on 1914 roads with your
father sitting next to you. Endurance is a good word for it, although Hell
might be just as good.
There was a break in his
racing career during the late teens due to his military service, which
appropriately involved motorcycles. His return from service saw the boom in
his winning ways. His career was spent mostly on the East Coast. Hills in
Rochester, Mt. Beacon, and Fond du Lac in Wisconsin, were his most fertile
grounds. However in 1923 he made a trip to the West. He ran on California's
most prominent hill, Capistrano, against all the locals and the odds and he
won. I think the quote from Western Motorcyclist and Bicyclist put it best,
". Steele has an entirely different style of hillclimbing from others, but
it is a finished style that commands admiration from all. His performance
for his first time on Capistrano was marvelous and raised the enthusiasm of
his Indian worshipers to the bursting point."
Harry Sucher in his book
The Iron Redskin had this to say about my grandfather's style. "His
hell-for-leather style was seldom imitated by others, as it required
singular courage to perform. Steele would start his engine, rev it full
throttle and drop the clutch, at the same time throwing himself well forward
over the handlebars." This is pretty much the same style which is used by
today's hillclimbers. In the process of gathering information I have found
over 100 events in which my grandfather scored a first, second, or third. I
have only counted wins in which we have found a paper record of. There are
many more 1st places on that list than others. I started my website about my
grandfather 10 years ago. The idea at its inception was that it would be a
family repository of information about my grandfather. But websites, being
public draw attention from others with similar interests. Soon I was
receiving e-mails from around the country, and the world. Many people have
sent me articles and contributed to the storehouse of information, without
their help I do not know if this would have been possible. Please watch the
video:
[AMA Video was shown at
this time. It used many of my images that I had lent them]
My grandfather passed
away over 40 years ago, on his behalf and the rest of the family I thank you
very much for this great honor.
The speech went well, I didn't sound nervous and I guess in the end I really
wasn't. I did get a little choked up with the very last part. I never meant
the man, but he has meant a lot to me over the course of my life.
Motorcycles have defined who I am as a person for the most part, and a large
past of that was his legacy. They handed me a beautiful medal that bears his
name and boom, my quest was realized, what now?
Here is one of me giving the speech:
The rest of the night is a blur. Amazing stuff. Hope you enjoyed the story.
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