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/128386
Years after its demise, Hodakareturnshorne STORY AND PHoTos BY ClAY lJoHr ust about this time each year for the past seven years, scores of enthusiasts, collectors, competitors and fans of the Hodaka motorcycle have been gathering in the northeastern Oregon town of Athena, population 1400, to pay tribute to the marque, which put this tiny town on the map over 40 years ago. Nestled amid tens of thousands of acres of wheat fields surrounded y the Blue Mountain range, it was in Athena that the Pacific Basin Trading Company (Pabatco) distributed thousands of the small-bore motorcycles during a run that lasted from 1964 through 1979, so it is only fitting that Hodaka fans return each year to celebrate the brand's history. What started out in 1999 as a small-scale reunion with around 50 or so former Pabatco executives and Hodaka enthusiasts and an idea from the current "Mr. Hodaka" Paul Stannard (of Strictly Hodaka) has in the past few years grown into a full-scale national event, drawing Hodaka faithful from all across the country. A quick scan of Athena's city park revealed several out-of-state license plates that included New York, New Jersey, Florida, Missouri, Texas, Pennsylvania, North Dakota and a couple dozen other states mainly scattered throughout the West. After a few small reunions in Corvallis, Portland and Athena back in 1999, Stannard, who along with his wife, Patti, owns the New Jersey-based Strictly Hodaka parts and restoration business, had an idea: Why not go full circle and bring everybody back to where it all began, in Athena? This was a year or so after the former Hodaka R&D man himself, Harry Taylor, had called Stannard in a parts search for a Hodaka Dirt Squirt that belonged to his son, Brett, who had passed away. That machine, as Stannard would later find out, was the original prototype of the 80cc machine that debuted in 1976. Stannard was stunned during that 1998 phone conversation. Could this be the Harry Taylor of Pabatco fame? As it turned out, it was that same Taylor, the one that 30 years earlier had won the 100cc Sportsman class at Daytona on Hodaka's "100 mph 100(cc)." Stannard and Taylor hit it off instantly; Taylor himself was both intrigued and impressed that Stannard would care so much for the Hodaka motorcycle that he would start a business solely based on his passion for Hodakas, the same passion shared by Taylor and the other original Pabatco staffers - including Ed Chesnut, Chuck Swanson and Marv Foster, all of whom still call Oregon home some 27 years after Hodaka's demise. Athena bustles with activity during the three-day Hodaka Days celebration. Its population swells to three times its normal rate during the event, which this year included how-to seminars, a swap meet, a trials riding school taught by Expert-ranked trials rider Jay Lael, and even a motocross school, taught by none other than the first American ever to win a World Championship Motocross Grand Prix, Jim Pomeroy himself. Pomeroy, an avid Hodaka fan, was also this year's parade Grand Marshall, marking the second time that the Yakima, Washington, resident has had the honor. 52 JULY 13, 2005 • CYCLE NEWS