Buck, Earl
Name/Title
Buck, EarlTags
Specialty CompetitionDescription
- Two-time AMA Class A Hillclimb National Champion, first in 1940 and then again, 18 years later in 1958, demonstrating remarkable longevity in this physically demanding sport - A legendary hillclimber who remained competitive well into his 50s, finishing on the AMA Class A podium at the notoriously difficult Mt. Garfield Hillclimb in Muskegon, Mich., at age 54, in 1965 - Longtime owner and operator of a British motorcycle dealership in the Detroit suburb of Hazel Park, Mich. Few motorcycle racers embodied the idea of “old man strong” quite like two-time AMA Class A Hillclimb National Champion Earl Buck, who remained a fierce and feared competitor in this especially demanding sport for more than three decades. Riding fire-breathing, alcohol- and nitro-fueled machines heavily modified with extended frames and fat rear tires wrapped with steel chains and paddles for additional traction, “Slant Artists” like Buck raced fearlessly up impossibly steep, near-vertical grades. Sometimes they summitted successfully. Other times, they failed — often spectacularly — occasionally even being run over by their own machines as they tumbled back down the hill. Buck was one of the best and bravest of all the AMA hillclimbers, and he raced successfully for longer than nearly anyone else. Born on May 4, 1911, Earl S. Buck grew up in Michigan, which in the 1930s had become a national hotbed of hillclimbing competition. Hillclimbing requires a unique blend of bravery, balance and brute horsepower, and Buck possessed plenty of all three. He won his first AMA National Class A championship in 1940, and he remained a top competitor on the national circuit for the better part of the next three decades, even if he only won the national championship one more time, in 1958. When Buck wasn’t busy summiting the steepest slopes in the nation — including his home climb at Mt. Garfield, a near-vertical and constantly shifting sand dune along the shores of Lake Michigan near Muskegon — he owned and operated a motorcycle dealership in the Detroit suburb of Hazel Park, where he sold Ariel, BSA and other British motorcycle brands. Buck remained a resident of Hazel Park until his death on Feb. 5, 1988.Category
Class of 1998