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CN III ARCHIVES BY LARRY LAWRENCE I ndian Motorcycle factory racer Baxter "Red" Potter's career was so short that he never be- came one of the iconic motorcy- cle racing stars of the golden age of the sport in the 1910s. But, as I was researching other racers of his era, I came across Potter's moving story and felt compelled to help revive the memory of this rider from a bygone era. It turns out the baby-faced Pot- ter was one of the most beloved riders of his time. He was a friendly guy who, from his youth, loved motorcycles and the he- roes who raced them. He eventu- ally made it as a factory rider for the most prestigious racing team in the country. Not only that, but Springfield, Massachusetts, was Red's hometown, so he was a homeboy for Indian and worked at the factory. At the height of his fame, Potter suddenly de- cided to retire from competition. Sadly, not long after he hung up his racing leathers, Potter was involved in a street-riding acci- dent. At first, his injuries weren't thought to be serious, but Potter then passed away after catching pneumonia in the hospital. He was just 25 years old. P116 INDIAN'S HOMEBOY "RED" POTTER ings. And besides, as persistent as Red was, they probably couldn't have kept him from watching, even if they wanted to. To little Red, everyone on Indian's racing team was a towering hero. No doubt during his youth, Red got to watch early Indian factory riders like Fred Huyck, Jake DeRosier and Charles Gustafson do countless laps around the test track on Oscar Hedstrom's latest creations. As he got older and into high- school age, motorcycles consumed Red's thoughts, so much so that he began skipping school to be around the racing team. His parents decided that if the 14-year-old Red wasn't going to attend school regu- larly, then he needed to get a job. Red was interested in anything that moved fast when he was a boy. Fortunately for him, growing up in Springfield, not far from the Indian fac- tory, meant that young Red had a lot of op- portunities to watch early-generation In- dian machines being tested on the streets of his hometown. Red's eyes opened wide anytime an Indian test rider rode past. His dream was to be on one of those beautiful red machines when he got older. As a schoolboy, Red would hurry out the door as soon as the final school bell rang and head for the nearby stadium, hoping to watch Indian riders put their prototype test-racing machines through their paces on the track. Having spectators eyeing its brand-new racing rigs was not something Indian team personnel generally approved. But little Red had become somewhat of a fix- ture, and team bosses knew there wasn't much harm in letting a little schoolboy watch the proceed- Baxter "Red" Potter's factory racing career might've been short, but it was long on memories.