VOL. 55 ISSUE 6 FEBRUARY 13, 2018 P113
moved all the way to third by the checkered flag. It
marked his first podium finish at an AMA National.
Gibson liked riding for Johnson Motors, but the
Triumphs did not have the power to compete with
the Harley-Davidsons on the big tracks. When
a call came from Harley-Davidson at the end of
1954 to ask if he would ride for them in '55, it was
any easy choice for Gibson.
He traveled the national circuit, often with his
buddy Jimmy Phillips, and his association with
Harley-Davidson began paying off immediately. At
the 1955 Daytona 200, Gibson finished third. In
all, Gibson scored nine top-10
finishes in the nationals that
season, including runner-up
finishes at the Dodge City,
Kansas, road race and the
Langhorne, Pennsylvania
Mile. He led the Dodge City
race until his bike's motor
seized on the last lap. Gibson
finished fourth in the final
AMA Grand National Series
standings in 1955. It proved
to be his highest champion-
ship ranking.
Gibson reached the zenith of his career in 1956
by winning the Daytona 200. The pace was so
fast in that year's race on the beach course that
over three-quarters of the field dropped out due to
attrition. One by one, the leaders of the race fell
by the wayside with mechanical problems. Late in
the race, Paul Goldsmith took the lead, but with
just two laps to go his bike experienced electrical
problems and he was forced to drop out. Gibson
had been running a fast, but steady race and
inherited the lead. His crew never relayed that
information to their rider.
"They thought if I found out I was leading that I
would get nervous and make a mistake," Gibson
explained. "I took the checkered flag and when
I pulled into the pits I didn't know I'd won. All of a
sudden, I see everyone really excited and jump-
ing up and down. That's when they told me. I
couldn't believe it. I'd just won the Daytona 200.
It was a great day."
Gibson remembers winning $2500 for the
Daytona victory. He said in his best year of rac-
ing he made about $32,000, at a time when the
average yearly salary for Americans was around
$4000. Like most of the racers of the era, he
supplemented his income by racing the Kansas
fair circuit between Midwestern AMA Nationals.
Gibson raced through 1962, when he suffered
serious injuries in a race at
Ascot Park. He fully recov-
ered, but the demands of
family life and the fact that
he was 32 years old helped
Gibson decide that it was
time for him to retire. In all,
Gibson scored a total of 26
top-10 finishes in AMA na-
tional competition, including
eight podium finishes and of
course his Daytona victory.
Even though he left professional racing, Gib-
son stayed involved in motorcycling. He owned
a Yamaha and Triumph dealership in the 1960s.
His son became a top regional motocross racer.
In the early 1970s, Gibson helped revive his
first love, speedway racing. He built a track
in Irwindale, California, and a new generation
of speedway stars, such as Bruce Penhall,
emerged during the 1970s and '80s and brought
America back to prominence in World Champi-
onship competition.
Gibson was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle
Hall of Fame in 2004. CN
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