The Dennis Vol Painting ...... A Family Legend ......

Well I haven't been in here for awhile but wanted to get another story out there of another of my dads racing pics from back in the day. It was actually a 'portrait oil painting' my mom and dad collaborated on in 1967. My dad took the picture at the Elsinore TT scrambles track .... and my mom painted over it after my dad printed it on a canvas type textured paper back in the day.

Anyway ..... it was such a neat shot that ma and pa decided to make it a 20"x24" work of art. And boy did mom do it up with her painting skills on this one !! They did quite a few of these 'portrait oil paintings' back then for the racers and the like, but this one of Dennis Vol hung proudly in all it's glory at the entrance to my dads photo studio in Ontario CA for awhile back then. Just an incredible work of art ... quite the team ma an pa were.

Times being what they were down the road some, my dad sold the painting to an 'unknown gentleman' who wandered into the studio one day for ..... $20.00. And to this day I'm not sure who threw more of a fit when the members of our family found out about it that night when my dad got home !! LOL !! And thus the "Dennis Vol Painting" became a household word, legend, lesson, what have you for the next 40 or so years in our family. The subject was always brought up .... actually still is in our household ......

So fast forward to 2008 or 09 ..... when I started archiving my late fathers motorcycle racing photography. I found the original black and white negative to the picture one day, but of course an image of the finished famous, immortal, priceless painting was now just a long lost fading memory of something very special in my family's history. WAAAAAAAAAAAAAA !!! ;)

But wait ! Upon further digging in my dads negatives ..... was one COLOR COPY Kodak 120 NEGATIVE of the Dennis Vol Painting !! Found in 2009 !! Hadn't seen this image since I was a little kid .....



'Click' on it and it will enlarge a bit. We have no idea what ever became of the one and only Dennis Vol painting ..... but it is great to have a decent copy negative of it and see it again so many years later. So thanks dad for taking the time one day to get a shot of it back then and share it with us again all these years later !!

In closing ..... a couple years prior to the 'color copy negative discovery' I got an e mail from the 'Dennis Vol' who just wanted to say hello to my mom after seeing some of my own photography online. But to this day .... we don't think Dennis ever saw the painting of himself on his Bultaco... and any contact info we had on him is outdated, not active now. Such is life .... keep racing .....

Video I just done up tonight .... :)

Who Knew? The Meyers Manx and Baja Boot.

Geesh .... another event way back in 1967, and another learning experience for myself. My dad was just beginning to shoot the dirt track races in Southern California and my Uncle Bill tells me it was a miserable event ..... raining ... mud ..... they camped out for the weekend. Advertised as some "Jeep Races" .... at Elsinore Raceway, I have no idea why my dad and uncle showed up for this event ... if only because of the excitement of the time. It turns out that this weekend was only a couple weeks detached from the first ever Baja 1000 in 1967. Actually 18 days after the first ever Baja 1000 .... which was called the Mexican 1000 back then.

Anyway .... my dad of course loved shooting pictures, and would usually at least develop the negatives of what he shot. He didn't always 'proof' or print everything he shot, so much of his stuff never got seen in public. Such is the case with a few pictures from this 'Jeep' race in 1967 held at Elsinore Raceway. I came across a few negatives that were never proofed and one in particular got my attention. A great shot of "The Meyers Manx" #10 (pictured above) ..... the Winner of the inaugural Baja 1000. Pretty famous off road vehicle as it turns out all these years later. But whew knew? :) Not I until I started researching this stuff online once again trying to indentify things.

He also got a couple really good pictures of "The Baja Boot" another very famous off road vehicle in it's own right .....



Fun discovering this stuff and learning about it ... I also came across a cool video I posted online of the inaugural Baja 1000 (Mexican 1000) for those interested in checking it out here in 2 parts .... (both cars above are shown in video) 68 total entrants to the very first Baja 1000, my how times have changed and just flown by.

Hopetown 1967

If you are at the very least a student of motorcycle racing in America or the World for that matter, or just interested in motocross, legendary riders, etc... etc... and the phrase "Hopetown 1967" doesn't ring a bell, well you're not going to get any extra credit from me, geesh. :)

Hmmmmmmmmmm ... nevermind, I forgive you, because I too had no idea really how legendary that weekend at Hopetown in 1967 was either, until recently. It comes up in every search on the history of motocross or motorcycle racing in general. And what I can't figure out is where the heck was Malcom Smith? He was listed in the Souvenir Program as #33 from San Bernardino Ca. advertised to be riding on a Husky. Hmmmm again ...

Anyway the Europeans dominated the event on their 2 stroke bikes (Husqvarnas and CZ's) that were generally 50 lbs lighter .... with a suspension system far superior to any bike the Americans were riding at the time. Add to this the fact that they (the Europeans) approached racing as "athletes" and kept themselves in prime physical condition, hired guns at the time .... well we (the Americans) got spanked. So whatever .... but here are a couple more pictures my dad took at the starting line at Hopetown 1967 ......



Olle Pettersson ('D' from Sweeden) and Torsten Hallman ("I" World Champion from Sweeden) on their gorgeous Husqvarnas. Torsten Hallman .... is a name every racer should be familiar with, so let me just say that Olle Pettersson brought the name of Suzuki into the motocross world down the road from when these pics were taken.

My dad didn't shoot too much 'color' film or slides back then ... but he did take at least about 24 slides that day which I have located in his archives. However ... I remember other color pictures as a kid that my dad showed me of the 'mud hole' at Hopetown. So I know there are other pictures (negatives) or maybe 'slides' from this event, or the 1968 race somewhere in his stuff, and I just gotta locate them, but that's another story.

Okay next picture ....




Ake Jonsson ("E" again from Sweeden) foreground, ... and in the background #12 Ed Mulder (Burbank) on a Triumph, and #27 Chuck Minert (Whittier) on a BSA ... Just go to the AMA Motorcycle Hall Of Fame and look these guys up okay ... :)

Last pic for today ... The CZ Team .....



Joel Robert ("B" Belgium) Dave Bickers ("A" England) and Roger DeCoster ("C" Belgum) all three in the foreground nearest the camera, with the Dirt Diggers flagman about to let them loose on the track with the green flag .....

I have an original souvenir program from this legendary Hopetown 1967 event ... listing all the riders registered to ride that weekend in their particular divisions. And I am still wondering if Malcom Smith made the event (he is listed in the program) .... or just didn't race that day after all .... any info greatly appreciated.

Okay that's two blogs involving Hopetown 1967 .... so I'll see what else I can come up with here to write about next time.

Some musings of my dads work .....

For awhile now I've been in the process of archiving my late fathers negatives, and within that subject ... his motorcycle racing photography because they are sooooo intriguing to me. Historically some really awesome stuff that I'd like to share a bit of with any racers, fans, friends, relatives and the like. So lets start with this bit of cool trivia from back in the day that I just recently stumbled upon ....



That's my dad Manuel Burton taking a picture of Joel Robert .... back in 1967 at Hopetown (Corriganville) ...... Bob Hopes Movie Ranch. I took these few quick screen shots while watching the 'Ascot And Hopetown Classics' (by Bruce Brown) online the other night. I had been researching some of my dads pictures from that event to identify the racers, and this 'moment' for some reason looked really familiar to me ..... especially this next capture ....


After further study of this screen shot, the riders positioning, the bikes shadow on the ground, certain terrain markings in a larger image of this (rocks location in the dirt, shading etc ... etc....) And the riders left foot (off the peg) pointing at the photographer ....

Well what I am getting at is that it all matched up with this next picture ......


This is the picture my dad captured at that very moment in time 43 years ago through his own cameras lens. The original negative is from black and white film, but I sepia toned the image to give it that nostalgic look here.

Joel Robert (pictured), from Belgium won the 250cc Motocross World Championship 6 times. And he along with fellow Hall of Famer and Countryman Roger DeCoster were making their debut in America at this race, as was Dave Bickers from England. Reigning World Champion Torsten Hallman, of Sweeden, shared the overall Pro 500 CC victory at this event with DeCoster. All legends in Motocross folklore .... and my dad got pictures of them all that day on their Husqvarnas and CZ's.... every one of them .... and then some. American Hall of Famers Eddie Mulder, and Chuck Minert among others also showed up in my dads negatives from Hopetown in 1967. But personally I think the coolest thing I got a kick out of in researching this race .... was in discovering that little clip of my dad taking this picture from so long ago :)