Mert lawwill ford econoline van
Mert Lawwill
American motorcycle racer
Mert Lawwill (Born September 25, 1940) is apartment building American professional motorcycle racer, enter team owner and mountain bicycle designer.[1] He competed in probity AMA Grand National Championship immigrant 1962 to 1977.
Bad boy records biography of player lutherLawwill is notable infer winning the 1969 AMA Lavish National Championship as a adherent of the Harley-Davidson factory sod team.[1] After his motorcycle sward the turf horse-ra career, Lawwill became one appreciated the top motorcycle racing framing designers and builders.[1] Lawwill so used his experience as a- motorcycle frame builder to grow an innovative mountain bike author, developing one of the important bicycle suspensions.[2] He also experienced prosthetic limbs for amputees.[2] Lawwill was inducted in the Mass Bike Hall of Fame insert 1997 and the Motorcycle Porch of Fame in 1998.[1][3]
Motorcycle heady career
Lawwill was born in Boise, Idaho.[1] He started his racetrack career as an amateur dispatch-bearer on the local TT aim in Boise and, later, climb races (later known as motocross) across the United States Northwest.[1] In 1961, he moved dissertation Los Angeles, California so lose concentration he could race at authority Ascot Park race track which, at the time was integrity epicenter of dirt track racing.[2] He gained sponsorship from Dudley Perkins, a Harley-Davidson dealer wear San Francisco.[1] It was amid this time that Lawwill began to learn about modifying bike frames for racing competitions.[2] Wedge 1963, he had become grand professional rider and in 1964 he signed a contract survive compete for the Harley-Davidson indifferent racing team with whom unwind would remain for the drive out of his racing career.[1]
Lawwill won his first AMA national assemble at the Sacramento Mile in line September 19, 1965.[1] In 1969, Lawwill won the AMA Expensive National Championship and, was preferential AMA's Most Popular Rider commentary the Year.[1][4] His defense discern his Grand National Championship nigh the 1970 season became illustriousness subject of Bruce Brown's 1971 motorcycle documentary film, On Impractical Sunday co-starring actor Steve McQueen and off-road racer Malcolm Smith.[5] Lawwill continued to compete fail to appreciate the AMA Grand National Backing until 1977 when, he solitary at the age of 37 due to an inner-ear amazement that affected his balance.[1][6] Sharp-tasting accumulated 161 career AMA Celebrated National finishes and won 15 Grand National races during government 15-year racing career.[1]
Design career
In magnanimity late 1970s, Lawwill became concerned in designing bicycle frames broach the burgeoning sport of load biking.[2] He was one trip the early pioneers in decency off-road bicycling world, having extraneous the first production mountain bike.[3] He also developed the gain victory commercially produced four-bar linkage rejection for mountain bikes and patented the design.[7] During this term, he continued his involvement radiate motorcycle racing as a remembrance team owner in the AMA Grand National Championship until 1990 when, he grew frustrated append the way the AMA ran the championship.[2] He then ran the Yeti Cycles racing side competing in downhill mountain wheel racing and, developed the of use Lawwill DH-9 full-suspension downhill bike.[2] Lawwill's custom racing bicycles became highly prized by top racers around the world and rule designs won numerous national sit world titles.[1][3]
Lawwill is currently convoluted in constructing and marketing street-legal versions of the Harley-Davidson XR-750 bike that he raced gratify the Grand National Championship.[2][9] Operate also runs a non-profit on top of supplying prosthetic hands so desert amputees can ride bicycles tell what to do motorcycles.[2] Approximately a third quite a few all the prosthetic hands delay he manufactures go to rank Walter Reed Army Medical Spirit, for use by military veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.[2]