Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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VOLUME 58 ISSUE 23 JUNE 8, 2021 P125 Even though he gave up flat-track racing, Pennell still competed for years in off-road enduros. "I moved the clutch over to the right side of the handlebar, along with the front brake, and propped my left hand on the bar and rode," Pennell said matter-of-factly. "Ev- ery once in a while, my left arm would fall off and I would have to stop and put it back on the bar." Pennell became AMA district referee Joe Gee's assistant in the early 1950s. Under Gee, Pennell served about every function as an AMA race official from timing and scoring to referee to starter. Pen- nell also worked with Davis, who became the AMA chief starter after his racing career. Pennell cites Da- vis and Indy 500 starter Pat Vidan as major influences in his career. "I was smart enough to copy some of the things they did," he said. Pennell's day job was as an administrator at the Columbus Police Department. His job was perfect in that he had 30 days of vacation per year. He used most of that vacation time traveling to the races all across the country, working everything from flat track to road racing to motocross. Former AMA race announcer Bob Applegate remembers Duke as nothing if not meticulous. "I'm a self-confessed neat freak and very organized," Applegate said. "It gives me strength know- ing my stuff is all clean, operation- al, and ready to be used for what it was made. Duke made me look like a small-time kid in this area. Sometimes when I would help Duke with his postrace teardown, I found myself being told how to drain and wipe down the outside of a hose before coiling it up and just how to coil it up so it would be perfect for storing in its special compartment 'til next use. "He kept logs and record books of everything, and his shirts were always impeccably clean, pressed, and adorned with the appropriate patches or custom embroidering of the time, or event. He always had the coolest embroidered stuff, custom-made for him. He turned me on to the world of containers and the Zen of containerizing. No loose stuff rolling around in this guy's rig. No hunting for the bag of [whatever]. Duke had custom bags, boxes, sleeves and contain- ers for everything, all marked or clearly labeled, all weather-proof and, of course, well made." That attention to detail carried over to the track. Gordon Lunde was assisting Duke at Daytona one year when Gordy got an unusual request. "His timing beacons weren't lined up properly at start/finish," Lunde recalled. "He had me run to the top of the banking on the tri-oval to align them during a race! Good thing there were a few big gaps in traffic." The only thing Duke loved even more than racing was his wife, Bee Gee, and he was proud to declare his dedication to her. His Chevy Camero even had personalized license plates that read "Bee Gee." I remember that the first time I saw the plates, I thought the owner of the car was a die-hard fan of the pop group. I had visions of songs from Sat- urday Night Fever playing on a continuous loop on an 8-track tape player inside the car. Bee Gee died in 1990, and Duke retired to Port Orange, Florida, not far at all from Daytona Interna- tional Speedway, a track he loved. Despite having the use of only one arm, Duke was an avid golfer and bowler. He was proud of the fact that he bowled a perfect 300 twice and also made a couple of holes-in- one during his retirement. "People really hate it when I hit a better drive than them on the golf course," Duke said with a smile in a 2005 interview. Duke passed away in Florida on December 2, 2007, leaving behind a reputation as one of motorcycle racing's most colorful personalities and most dedicated workers. "I collected lots of heroes during my days of involvement with motor- sports," Applegate said. "It's a hero- laden industry full of characters larger than life itself. They are the stuff legends, books and movies are made of. I look forward to the 'Duke Pennell Story' and am proud to have been a little part of it." CN This Archives edition is reprinted from the January 9, 2008 issue of Cycle News. CN has hundreds of past Archives editions in our files, too many destined to be archives themselves. So, to prevent that from happening, in the future, we will be revisiting past Archives articles while still planning to keep fresh ones coming down the road. -Editor Subscribe to nearly 50 years of Cycle News Archive issues: www.CycleNews.com/Archives