CN
III ARCHIVES
BY LARRY LAWRENCE
I
t took only a single line to understand Trev
Deeley's keen sense of humor. Shortly after
his biographical book "Deeley: Motorcycle
Millionaire" came out, he sent me a copy. The
inscription on the inside cover read, "Larry,
Hope you enjoy the book. P.S. Don't believe
everything you read!"
Deeley had good reason to be a happy-
go-lucky person – he'd taken his love of
motorcycling and turned it into a long and
productive career that made him a wealthy
man.
When it came to motorcycling, Canadian
Deeley did about everything there was to
do. He was a racer, a dealer, an importer,
a sponsor, an AMA official, collector and a
designer, just to name a few roles. Deeley
was one of the most influential figures in
motorcycling for decades in the Pacific
Northwest and earned numerous honors
for his contributions to the sport.
In 1920 Deeley was born in Vancou-
ver, British Columbia, into a motorcy-
cling family. His grandfather and father
had operated a Harley-Davidson dealer-
ship in Vancouver since 1918. As a boy,
Deeley grew up working in the family
business, earning $4.25 a week when he started.
He began riding in his teens and his first bike was
a 250cc Francis Barnett. In 1939, Deeley, at 19,
earned his AMA professional license and began
racing in a wide variety of competitions.
He did well enough to earn AMA National num-
ber 22 and get support from Harley-Davidson. He
was a top rider in the Pacific Northwest throughout
the 1940s and early 1950s. During one particularly
fruitful stretch in the late-1940s, Deeley raced in 24
regional events and won 22 of them.
The biggest problem Deeley faced during his
racing career was geography. Living in British Co-
lumbia meant logging thousands of miles to fol-
low the racing circuit. At the height of his racing
career, Deeley traveled more than 45,000 miles
per season just to get to the races – this in the
pre-interstate highway era. He would drive, sleep
in the car, do the mechanical preparations and
then suit up to race.
His best performances on the National level
came at Daytona (a nearly 7000-mile round trip
from his home) with his best finish on the old
P104
MOTORCYCLE MILLIONAIRE