Cycle News

Cycle News 2014 Issue 09 March 4 2014

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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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

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