Flat Track Hall Of Famer Passes
B
ill Tuman, a member of Indian
Motorcycle's famous racing
team dubbed the "Indian Wreck-
ing Crew" and winner of five
AMA Grand Nationals during a
professional racing career that
spanned from 1947 to 1955,
passed away. He was 99.
The Indian Wrecking Crew
was a group of top racers in the
late 1940s and early '50s that
included Tuman, Bobby Hill and
Ernie Beckman.
Known as the "Rockford
Rocket," the Illinois resident
rarely ventured outside the
Midwest to race. So, one of his
most surprising victories was
at an AMA Grand National on
the mile dirt oval in San Mateo,
Calif., on June 22, 1952. Tuman
beat all of the top riders from the
West Coast on one of their own
tracks, something that rarely
happened in those days.
Tuman didn't begin racing
until he was 25. While living in
San Francisco after World War
II, he got a job building racing
bikes at the famous Hap Jones
race shop. After watching the
legendary Sam Arena win a race,
Tuman became hooked on the
sport. His first competition bike
was a souped-up Indian Army
surplus bike.
Tuman turned pro in 1947 and
entered his first professional
race in Daytona Beach, Florida.
He earned podium finishes in
1948 and 1949, before taking his
first national win in Des Moines,
Iowa, on September 17, 1950.
A month later Tuman took his
second national win in Reading,
Pennsylvania. In March 1951 at
the annual AMA Awards Banquet
in Daytona Beach, Florida, he
was voted the AMA's Most Popu-
lar Rider of 1950.
Tuman's best season came in
1953 when he won the legend-
ary Independence Day weekend
event at Dodge City, Kansas, a
200 miler over a two-mile dirt
oval, on a Norton.
Tuman was inducted into the
AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in
1998. He also was inducted into
the AMA District 17 Hall of Fame.
His full biography can be read
here. CN
IN
THE
WIND
P38
Bill Tuman, a member
of Indian Motorcycle's
famous racing team
dubbed the "Indian
Wrecking Crew," passed
away at the age of 99.
PHOTO: COURTESY AMA
