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1938 as the longest single-day endurance race in the country. One of the club members donated an old World War I helmet. To the helmet, they attached on top an art-deco stylized eagle hood ornament from a 1930s Chevy. The trophy was perpetual, passed from winner to winner of the Derby at the end of the event each year. The Tin Hat Derby became one of the most popular West Coast endurance runs and, at its peak, attracted hundreds of riders. Held in the winter, sometimes riders had to deal with snow at the Saratoga Summit along the route. Boulder Creek was the turnaround point, and riders were given a half-hour break in the town. The Derby ran until the mid- 1950s when the development of state parks and private property in the mountains made it increas- ingly difficult to lay out a route. The Dons were also a sig- nificant contributor to the pro- longed success of the San Jose Mile National. Starting in the 1950s, when the Bay Mead- ows facility decided to run its track exclusively for horses, the Dons stepped up hugely to help promotor Ted Smyth replace Bay Meadows with the San Jose event. The San Jose AMA Grand Nationals became a premier event on the racing calendar. Today, the Dons are keeping the club alive, but club historian Justin Kirsch said it was touch and go for a while. "In the early 2000s, the club was down to just a few members," Kirsch recalls. "We've recovered a bit, but we're facing the same issues that a lot of clubs in the AMA are right now, and that's trying to get young riders involved and finding people who are willing to volunteer and put the time in for club events and things like that." The Dons are mainly a road rid- er club now, with fewer members these days involved in competi- tion. Yet despite the club's ups and downs, the fact remains that they have stayed active for 90 years. "I think the reason we've been able to keep it going is because the members feel like more of a family than anything else," Kirsch says. "Whole families dedicated large chunks of their lives being involved with the club. We gave people who were into bikes a place to come and gather with oth- ers who enjoy motorcycling, and at the same time, we've always welcomed members' families and kids. I think that's the biggest thing when I go back and talk to the fam- ily of past members. They always talk about it as a positive that their dad, grandfather, or uncle had an involvement with the club and that the wives and kids all got involved in the events as well." Kirsch concludes that these days he simply tries to convey to young riders how cool it is to be a part of a club with such rich tradi- tion and history in the Bay Area. "We want to continue to try to give back to the community, ride together, go forward, and hope- fully, in another 10 years, we'll be stronger than ever when we celebrate our 100th anniversary." I'd like to acknowledge the help of a fine book by Tyler A. Tayrien on the life of San Jose Don co-founder and Motorcycle Hall of Fame member Sam Arena in writing this story. You can buy the book here, Arena: King of the Flat Tracks. CN CN III ARCHIVES P124 Subscribe to nearly 50 years of Cycle News Archive issues: www.CycleNews.com/Archives The Dons was founded in 1932 when Tom Sifton took over this San Jose Harley-Davidson dealership from Fred J. Merlow.