VOLUME 57 ISSUE 46 NOVEMBER 17, 2020 P51
2001 AMA HoF Inductee
Babe DeMay Passes
C
yriel "Babe" DeMay, an AMA Grand
National competitor who raced from the
early 1950s to the late 1960s before becoming
a leading tuner and team owner on the AMA
Grand National circuit, died October 26 at his
home in Rossville, Tennessee. He was 88.
Mr. DeMay won the flat track national at
Lincoln, Illinois, in 1966 and was a Harley-Da-
vidson-supported rider for most of the 1960s.
He was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall
of Fame in 2001.
He was the owner of DeMay's and Mem-
phis Shade's Motorcycle Race Team and also
retired from Dial Soap Co. in Illinois and The
International Corp.
Mr. DeMay's first exposure to motorcycling
was through his older brother, who owned a
1948 Indian Chief. At 13, Mr. DeMay got his
own bike—a Whizzer—for a paper route. He
then got a Cushman, but didn't like the fact
that he couldn't jump curbs with it.
He started motorcycle racing in 1952, com-
peting on an Indian Warrior. The following year,
future fellow Hall of Famer Bill Tuman men-
tored Mr. DeMay, who finished the year among
the top novices in the nation.
In 1960, Harley-Davidson racing chief Dick
O'Brien gave Mr. DeMay a factory-built KR to
race. He rode for Harley-Davidson until 1969,
when he retired from racing and started help-
ing Harley build racing engines.
Mr. DeMay's work at Harley-Davidson in the
early 1970s put a series of young champions
on fast machines, including Garth Brow and
Dave Sehl and future Hall of Famers Mark
Brelsford, Corky Keener and Rex Beauchamp.
Read Mr. DeMay's complete biography at
motorcyclemuseum.org/halloffame/detail.
aspx?RacerID=156. CN
Cyriel "Babe" DeMay,
an AMA Grand National
competitor in the late
1950s and early '60s,
passed away at the age of
88. PHOTO: COURTESY AMA
