Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127570
eOBITUARY m Bell, Tony ~ 1940-1993 ~ L 0\ arry Kirk "Tony" Bell was born September 19, 1940, in ~ Abilene, Texas, He attendN ed Abilene High School, and in ~ 1957 won the national automo~ tive styling award sponsored ~ by the Fisher Body Craftsman's Guild. In 1959, he went on to the University of Texas, where he contributed many cartoons and much artwork to the Texas Ranger magazine as well as the short-lived Bacchanal magazine. Also noteworthy were his painstakinhg fossil illustrations for the UT Geology Department's Ba1cones Paleontology Laboratory. Bell received his Bachelor of Fine Arts (with honors) in 1963, after which he spent a year in Nigeria as an art instructor with the Peace Corps. Bell lived from 1965 to 1970 in Venice, California, where he designed and helped build resta urants for Trinken Enterprises, Inc., including the famous Oar House in Santa Monica. During this period he also painted watercolors under commissions from Standard Oil and U.S. Borax. He was considered among the top 10 watercolorists in California. Bell returned to Austin in 1970 and was co-creator (with Gilbert Shelton and the late Joe E. Brown, Jr.) of the superhero Wonder Warthog. Bell, Shelton and Brown were also instrumental in founding Underground City Hall, which later became Oat Willie's. Bell did many posters for Austin rock bands, festivals, and musical establishments. During one lean period, he even painted a mural in a Mexican restaurant, for which he received his pay in food and beer. In 1971, Bell married Elna Claire Jordan of Mason, Texas. The next year, he began the comic strip Motocross Cat for Cycle News. More than 700 Motocross Cat strips were published through 1992. Always a fan of joyful sounas and good times, Bell bought a black-powder cannon in 1972 and founded the South Austin Highly Irregulars, a gunnery crew that won numerous cannoneering contests. Bell published The Great Sta te of Texas, a collection of cartoons depicting the more humorous aspects of life in the Lone Star State, in 1978. In 1982, he served as consultant to the Camp Mabry Chapter, Military Order of World Wars, in the creation of the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial in Waterloo Park. Bell returned to tea'ching in 1985, to conduct a UT extension course in cartooning. In 1986, he founded Austin Precision Models, a firm specializing in architectural and other highly detailed models to be used as evidence in court cases. He was proud that no trial in which his models were used ever resulted in a verdict adverse to his clients. In 1988, Bell was commissioned by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas ... < 22 to construct an exacting model of the Alamo for the Daughters of the Texas Revolution. The model, noted for its realistic depiction of the time of the famous battle, is viewed by thousands of visitors to the historical shrine in Austin every year. Also in 1988, Bell was commissioned by the McDonald Observatory in Utah to build a scale model of its spectrographic telescope. The Smithsonian Institution commissioned Bell in 1992 to build precise scale models of a U.S. Liberty Ship and a German submarine for its traveling exhibition commemorating World War II. Bel! and his wife discovered the country of Belize in 1988, and a strong bond between the couple and the island of Caye <:aulker developed. They built a vacation home there in 1991, and spent as much time at the "Caye Caulker Mansion" as possible. It was while in Belize making improvements to the house that Bell suffered the stroke that resulted in his death on March 18. Bell was cremated in Belize in the East Indian style - open pit, 40 hours and two truckloads of wood. Claire Bell brought her husband's remains back to Texas and says she will put them in all the places he loved. Over 600 people attended what Claire called "Tony's memorial wingding" on Saturday, April 3. A Tony Bell Retrospective will be held at Butch Hancock's Lubbock or Leave It Art Gallery in Austin from May 1 to May 20. The exhibit will feature Bell's paintings, watercolors, sculpture, models, "posters and, of course, classic cartoons, including Motocross Cat. Godspeed, Tony. Ql"