Hepburn, Roeder join Class of 2000 at Dirt Track Hall of Fame
3 August 2000
Ralph Hepburn, a dirt track champion of the Roaring Twenties, and George
Roeder, a Harley-Davidson factory rider in the Sixties, have been elected to
the Dirt Track Hall of Fame. They join Maldwyn Jones, Dick Klamfoth, Dick
O'Brien and Sammy Tanner as members of the Class of 2000. The six dirt track
racing legends will be inducted at ceremonies that will take place during
the September 1-3 Hall of Fame Labor Day Weekend Classic at the Illinois
State Fairgrounds in Springfield.
In addition to Saturday afternoon's $100,000 Dirt Track Hall of Fame race
on the famed mile oval, the weekend offers racing fans two additional rounds
of the AMA Progressive Insurance U.S. Flat Track Championships - a Grand
National Short Track Friday night and another Grand National Championship
mile race on Sunday afternoon.
It's fitting that Ralph Hepburn be inducted into the Dirt Track Hall of
Fame on the same day Maldwyn Jones enters. Hepburn and Jones were teammates
on the Harley-Davidson factory team for a brief spell, including 1921, the
year that Hepburn scored his greatest victory. On the Fourth of July of that
year, Hepburn won the last running of the famed Dodge City 300. Hepburn took
the lead early in the grueling race and was only passed briefly while making
a pit stop. he went on to win the race by 12 minutes. In doing so, he broke
all existing 300-mile race records.
Hepburn jumped to the Indian factory team in 1922. That year the Dodge
City race shifted to Wichita and Hepburn successfully defended his 300-mile
National title, winning by an incredible 18 minutes.
Hepburn returned to Harley in 1924 and finished second to fellow Dirt
Track Hall of Fame member Jim Davis in the Syracuse National.
In 1925 Hepburn switched from motorcycles to cars and went on to lead the
Indianapolis 500 three times in three different decades (1925, 1937 and
1946). He came up just two seconds short of winning the Indy 500 in 1937,
which to that point was the closest finish in the history of the race.
Ralph Hepburn died in a practice session crash at the Indianapolis Motor
Speedway on May 16, 1948.
George Roeder began his professional racing career in 1954 and he remains
a fixture on the Grand National Championship circuit, overseeing the racing
efforts of his sons George Jr. and Jess.
Each Memorial Day and Labor Day weekend Roeder returns to the scene of
his greatest victory, the Illinois State Fairgrounds. Roeder won the 1963
Springfield Mile, chalking up the first of eight career Grand National
Championship wins. Despite winning three of the 14 Nationals that year,
Roeder finished second - by just one point - to Dick Mann in the Number One
plate chase.
In addition to his dirt track success, Roeder set a 250cc class Land
Speed Record at the Bonneville Salt Flats in 1965. Piloting a
Harley-Davidson Sprint-powered streamliner, he established a new record of
177.225 mph.
Roeder opened a Harley-Davidson dealership in Monroeville, Ohio, in 1972.
He sold the shop to his oldest son Will in 1993, but he can still be found
there on most days, tuning his sons race bikes.
In 1998 Roeder was on hand to see George Jr. - "Geo" - win his first-ever
Grand National race at the I-96 Speedway in Odessa, Michigan. The same
night, Jess won the 883 Sportster race on the half mile oval.
George and his wife Jessie live just a stone's throw from Roeder's
Harley-Davidson. When he's not traveling to races with his sons, George can
oftimes be found competing in vintage dirt track races.
Race fans can obtain tickets for the triple-header Labor Day weekend of
racing by calling 217-753-8866. Advance tickets are $20 for each of the three
Grand National Championship races.