Be safe out there-the life you save may be your ownBe safe out there-the life you save may be your own

THUNDER ROADS COLORADO - AUGUST 07 - 15THUNDER ROADS MAGAZINE 14

When about nine racers and 200 spectators turned out for the Jack-pine Gypsies’ first annual racing event in 1938, the Gypsies knew they had started something great.

They just didn’t know it would get to be quite so big!

Started with an idea to increase business in the Sturgis area by staging a motorcycle racing event, the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally began as motorcycle racers flocked to the Black Hills to compete for $750 in prize money, and have some fun at a carnival and dance at the community hall. They camped in local businessman and fellow biker J.C. (Pappy) and Pearl Hoel’s back yard, and spent the weekend doing all things motorcycles.

Even then, the Jackpine Gypsies knew they had a winner as a head-

line in the next year’s paper on Aug. 3, 1939 read “Speed demons to thrill motor fans,” and the next year’s three-day event drew riders from 10 different states and two Canadian provinces. The races in 1939 were dubbed as one of the greatest celebrations in the Black Hills, with future predictions pointing to further growth.

1940s

In just two short years of hosting the races, the Jackpine Gypsies knew they would need to continue to come up with different events to continue drawing people to the area. The 1940s started off with a bang, as the first weekend in August drew spectators to watch a burning wall crash, jumping exhibits, and various motorcycle stunts. Spectators watched in excitement as the racers they had come to know intimately through camping with them at the Hoel home wowed the crowd. Some rode Indians, others rode Harley Davidson’s, but all were motorcycle enthusiasts who were happy to be in the Black Hills. For awhile it seemed that the event would continue to draw people

to town to party with the Gypsies and enjoy the races, but everything changed just two short months after Pearl Harbor in December of 1941, when the event came to a halt.

“The reason it stopped during the war was very practical,” said Interim Sturgis Motorcycle Rally Director Pepper Massey, who is the former director of the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum and a Rally historian. “Most of the people who were racing, when you talk to the old guys, they were all overseas fighting.”

But after World War II ended, the bikers came back with even more enthusiasm than before. The war had left much devastation around the world, and bikers were looking for opportunities to play hard. Once again, they looked to the races in Sturgis. That year, according to archives from the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum, the net return on the Rally was at a whopping $2,000, which was significantly higher than the first year’s $544.

“The Motor Classic is shown to be a real community booster and created purely for the benefit of the community,” an article in the Black Hills Press stated about the event. Indeed it was, as just a few short years later in 1949, city officials had to block off Main Street to accom-modate the hundreds of bikers who had roared into the Black Hills for the races.

1950s

As bikers continued to enjoy and appreciate the many freedoms of riding, more people began to hop on bikes and head to the Hills for the growing Black Hills Motor Classic, as it was dubbed at this time. In August of 1950, 388 bikers rode to Sturgis for the annual races. “You will get the thrill of seeing hundreds of motorcycles assembling to start the nationally known Gypsy tour and one of the fastest race events in the country,” one reporter from the Sturgis Tribune wrote in anticipa-tion of the Rally.

But the 50s brought more than just additional bikers to the races. It also drew some unlikely participants, as Dot Robinson, founder of the

Motor Maids of America and a pioneer lady rider, announced that her group would be attending in 1952.

The increased interest drew even more events, as in 1953 the Ameri-can Motorcyclists Association brought the five-mile AMA National Race back to Sturgis, and one block of Main Street was closed for fancy riding exhibitions. As word spread across the country, more and more racers rode to the Black Hills to compete, until in 1957 riders from every state in the country were in Sturgis for the weekend, and the Black Hills Motor Classic was rated as one of the biggest 10 races in the country. In 1959, about 60 racers competed and 545 spectators registered at the Gypsy headquarters.

1960s

By the 60s, the crowd for the Black Hills Motor Classic had grown ex-ponentially to more than 700 bikers, who had long since moved their party from the Hoel’s backyard to the Sturgis City Park. By 1963, the once weekend event was extended to four days in order to accom-modate the masses, and to capitalize on the event that had become a boon for the small Black Hills town. Still considered a family event, bikers paid $1 a day to camp at the city park and the Chamber of Commerce hosted a free feed for the bikers every year.

After 25 years, a comprehensive count of racers and spectators put the crowd at about 1,500 in 1965, and by 1969 the motels in town were booked solid while spaces in the park quickly filled up. The Chamber fed 2,000 bikers that year, and forecasters called for even more growth in the coming years.

1970s

But the growing crowds at the city park and the rapidly growing events soon got out of hand, as the 70s saw the advent of wild parties as-sociated with the Rally.

“The 60s and 70s were a tumultuous time in the country,” Massey said. “There was a lot of change and a lot of angst. You could feel some of that during the Rally. People were a little different, it was a little edgier.”

The 70s were also when prices started to go up, as the Gypsies discovered their net profit in 1971 was only about 60 cents, including $10,628 in receipts and $10,627 in disbursements. At that time, the board raised the ticket prices to $3, up significantly from the original 50 cents.

As the crowd began to swell to more than 5,000 in 1973, museum archives reveal that city officials were hesitant to compare 1974 with previous years because the crowds were nearly impossible to count.

By 1976 18,000 bikers rode into town only to be temporarily stormed out as golf ball sized hailstones pummeled the Northern Black Hills. But the races went on, as racers competed for $81,000 that year.

While Outlaw motorcycle clubs had become somewhat of a problem in previous years, by 1978 the Meade County Sheriff reported very little trouble as arrests were down by 70 percent from 1977. However, bikers still partied hard in the city park, as burnouts and burning outhouses became the norm, and law enforcement officials began to steer clear of the park during the Rally due to the large volume of people and wild activity.

Information compiled from archives at the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum and Hall of Fame and from interviews with local Sturgis historians. To learn more about the history of the Rally or motorcycling, visit the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum and Hall of Fame, 999 Main St., Sturgis, S.D.

Wendy Pitlick Reporter Black Hills Pioneer/Buffalo Chip Gazette315 Seaton Cr., Spearfish, SD 577831-800-676-2761, 605-642-2762, wendy@bhpioneer.com

Racing RootsSturgis Motorcycle Rally Grows From Humble Beginnings To Major Biker Party PART 1BY WENDY PITLICK

Pepper Massey, Sturgis Historian

In 1938, nine racers and about 200 spectators showed up for the first annual Black Hills Motor Classic.

By 1955, the Black Hills Motor Classic had more than 100 percent growth, and all forecasters predicted the family racing affair would continue to draw more spectators from all over the country.

By the 1960s, the Rally had outgrown Pappy and Pearl Hoel’s backyard, and bikers began to set up camp at the Sturgis City Park, where the Chamber of Commerce hosted a free feed for all participants.

As the Black Hills Motor Classic began to draw more and more people, the city of Sturgis opted to close Main Street for bike parking. However, a newspaper article from the 1950s reported that bikers were instructed to “park their bikes and not interrupt the festivities with unnecessary motor noise.

By the 1970s, the Black Hills Motor Classic had become the premier destination for motorcycle racers and fans.

Be safe out there-the life you save may be your own

THUNDER ROADS MAGAZINE 10 THUNDER ROADS COLORADO - SEPTEMBER 07 - 11

continued on next page

1980sBy the early 1980s the bikers’ days in the Sturgis City Park were nearing an end as city officials had grown weary of the smell of burning outhouses. In 1982 city officials put the kibosh on camping in the park, and such venues as the Buffalo Chip Campground and Glencoe Camp Resort were born. Located outside the city limits, the campgrounds offered a place where bikers could spread out, enjoy live entertainment, and party without worrying about the constraints of being in town. Spreading out proved to be beneficial to everyone, as law enforcement officials reported that the bikers behaved well, despite the crowd of 30,000. Bikers were happy too as liquor store sales showed record totals for the week with Harley Davidson’s introduction of the Harley beer. Approximately 1,059 cases were sold that year.

According to Massey, the 1980s also saw a movement nationwide that would directly result in a boom at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. Dubbed as the RUB movement (Rich Urban Bikers), wealthy public figures such as Malcolm Forbes, Jay Leno, and Ben Nighthorse Campbell, a U.S. Senator from Colorado, had made it public that they were motorcycle lovers.

“Prior to that, and some of this still exists today, the image of the Harley rider has always been the rough and tough biker. Sort of the bad boy image. The 80s saw people of wealth and intelligence riding. That made the public think it was OK, that maybe it wasn’t that bad,” Massey said. In addition to changing the image, the 80s saw Harley Davidson introducing the Sportster 883, billed as a woman’s Harley, opening the doors for more riders. This all combined to increase the crowds at Sturgis even more as in 1985, 48,000 bikers from 50 states and 10 countries showed up for the celebration.

1990sBy 1990 numbers at the Rally were anybody’s guess as the 50th anniversary started with a bang. City officials were blindsided as they estimated more than 350,000 bikers had come to town to celebrate, over 200 percent more than previous years. In the mid-80s, the Rally had grown from about 70,000 to more than 100,000, so city officials expected growth. But the huge influx of people who came out in droves was completely unprecedented as city crews scrambled to contain the crowds, and law enforcement was significantly overwhelmed.

After the 50th anniversary, the same bikers continued to come every year and the numbers at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally would forever be estimated in the hundreds of thousands, with at least 300,000 to 400,000 expected every year. 1991 saw Rally headlines, as it was the first year no bikers or residents died during the event that had become

less of a family affair and more of an adult party atmosphere.

2000sBy August of 2000, much of that changed as city officials began to work hard to reconstruct the face of the event that had become the state’s largest tourist attraction. Bringing in hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue each year through at least 700-800 transient vendors, city and state officials began to take control of the economic treasure that was the Rally. By the 60th anniversary, the city had Rally organization down pat, and while more than 650,000 bikers showed up that year, officials reported that it ran smoother than ever before.

“You could feel the difference,” Massey said in comparing the 50th anniversary to the 60th. “It was huge, but it was calmer.”

Larger coffers and more selection industry wide had something to do with the significant increase in numbers as the custom motorcycle industry began to take off and after market products began to become the most sought-after items in the industry. For the first time in the history of motorcycling, the general population of bikers could afford higher-priced, custom motorcycles, and the industry took full advantage of that on the streets of Sturgis.

With the increase in dollars spent on the motorcycle industry, came an increase in Rally sponsorships and crowds, and by 2001 the city of Sturgis decided to create its own Rally department. The department would work with the hundreds of vendors who applied for transient merchant licenses within the city limits every year, and would solicit sponsorships from such companies as Jack Daniel’s, Snap On, Harley Davidson, and other well-known names throughout the industry. It was a corporate event, but the bikers who continued to come for the party didn’t seem to care as they paid inflated prices and planned their vacations around the Rally that had once again become a family event.

Racing RootsSturgis Motorcycle Rally Grows From Humble Beginnings To Major Biker Party PART 2 WENDY PITLICK

When hundreds of thousands of bikers started showing up for the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, city and state officials began to take notice and made significant efforts to welcome the visitors, as this banner strewn across Main Street illustrates.