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Albert "Shrimp" Burns, one of the top dirt and board track racers of the 1910s and early 1920s-- riding for both the Harley-Davidson and Indian factory teams during his career. Burns was the youngest champion of his era, winning his first titles at the impressive age of 15.
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Albert “Shrimp” Burns was known as a gritty and tenacious racer who wouldn’t think twice about racing injured– his fiercely competitive heart made him a legendary crowd favorite. In typical Burns’ style, he once took a hard fall racing in Marysville, CA but was unfettered. Still shook-up he managed to get his bike back in shape and ready for the next race, and hopped back on to won the five mile final, which worked the crowd into a frenzy– all with a fractured collarbone and broken shoulder. In 1920, Burns shocked everyone by switching from Harley-Davidson to Indian. Back in those days, the rivalry between the two companies was so fierce that for a rider to switch from one team to the other was a big deal. Burns felt he wasn’t getting his fair share of the limelight at H-D, and soon proved himself at Indian by taking home the very first national title of the 1920 season– winning the 25-mile national at Ascot Park in Los Angeles. According to reports, the crowd swarmed the track and carried the overwhelmed Burns on their shoulders, cheering until they were hoarse– proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that Burns was one of, if not the, most popular rider of his day.
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On August 14, 1921, Burns tragically lost his life in a racing accident in Toledo, Ohio. Coming out of a turn, Burns ran into the back of Ray Weishaar's bike. The impact sent Burns into the railing and he later died of massive head injuries. Sadly, Burns' fiancée, Genevieve Moritz, had come to Toledo to deliver a birthday gift and stayed to watch the race and witnessed the fatal accident. Motorcycling deeply mourned the loss of Burns. Numerous tributes were written about him for weeks after the accident.
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When he was 18 years old, Ralph Hepburn (below) took an offer to travel with a barn-storming group that rode the motordromes (board tracks) and dirt tracks across the Midwest. In 1916, Hepburn bought an ex-factory Excelsior and started earning podium finishes at the nationals. In June of 1919, Hepburn joined Harley-Davidson’s factory racing team, becoming part of what may have been the greatest factory racing team of all time with legendary teammates–Ray Weishaar, Albert “Shrimp” Burns, Maldwyn Jones, “Red” Parkhurst, Fred Ludlow and Otto Walker, all of whom would become Motorcycle Hall of Fame inductees. He won the M&ATA 200 Mile National Championship at Ascot Park in Los Angeles on June 22, and on July 4, 1921, Hepburn won the Dodge City 300, in perhaps the greatest performance of his career. It was the last running of that classic event and all of the factory teams and riders were on hand. Hepburn took the lead early in the race and went on to win the race by 12 minutes over second-place rider Johnny Seymour. Hepburn broke all existing 300-mile records in that race. The next year he signed with Indian. Hepburn tried his hand at sidecar racing in Milwaukee and went on to win one of the 1922 sidecar national titles. That year he also defended his 300-Mile National title. The race had moved from Dodge City to Wichita and was not backed by the factories. The promoters had to pay appearance money to get the top stars of the day to show up. Still, Hepburn turned in another great ride and won by 18 minutes. In 1923, Hepburn won the Pacific Coast Championship. In 1924, he returned to Harley-Davidson and was runner-up to Jim Davis at the national finals in Syracuse. Also in 1924, Hepburn set a new speed record riding a Harley-Davidson.
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USA 1920. at Dodge City-- Harley Davidson factory team racers Maldwyn Jones, Fred Ludlow, Ralph Hepburn, Jim Davis, Ray Weishaar, Otto Walker, and Walter Higley
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Ralph Hepburn tragically died in qualifying practice for the Indianapolis 500 on May 16, 1948. He led the world-famous race three times in three different decades (1925, 1937 and 1946). Hepburn set the Indianapolis track record in qualifying for the 1946 race, but didn’t start on the front row since he was not a first weekend qualifier. Hepburn came up just two seconds short of winning the Indy 500 in 1937, which at that point was the closest finish in the history of the race. His second-place finish that year was his best-ever result at that race.
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Ralph Hepburn was one of the great motorcycle racers of the 1910s and early 1920s, having won national championships racing for both Harley-Davidson and Indian. Hepburn was a star of the board tracks and dirt ovals, having won some of the seminal dirt track nationals such as Dodge City, Kansas, and Ascot Park in Los Angeles.
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