Lorain County native, motorcycling pioneer John Penton dies

AMHERST — John Penton, American pioneer of off-road motorcycling and racing legend, finished his last race quietly Sunday. When word came that Penton died three weeks after celebrating his 100th birthday, his son Jack Penton posted, fittingly, that "John Penton arrived at the finish line this morning after a long and amazing life." Penton, whose racing career included multiple wins at races considered many of the world's hardest courses, proved in the end that life was a marathon, not a sprint. "He had a wonderful, wonderful life," Jack Penton said. "And we are all celebrating all of his adventures." Penton's life started on the family farm in rural Amherst. His father died young, leaving his mother to raise seven kids alone. His fate was sealed when he and his brothers fixed up an old Harley-Davidson they found in a barn. Young John knew farm life wasn't for him. After a stint in the U.S. Navy and the Merchant Marines in World War II, he started racing in the late 1940s and around the same time he and his four brothers expanded the "little machine shop" had dad had on the farm to supplement the farm income. He added a little coop next to it, to sell motorcycles, British ones. That was the start of Penton Brothers motorcycle shop in 1950. Shortly thereafter, he heard about riding them in the woods, and he started putting different tires on them to accommodate for that. His son says his dad was like other men that survived the war; they took a lot of risks back then — with their hobbies, their goals, their ambitions. Soon Penton was traveling to Michigan for the Jack Pine Enduro, the famous off-road event. Eventually that led to founding the Amherst Meadowlark Motorcycle Club with other enthusiasts in 1954. Then came 1958. Tragedy struck his young family, when his young wife, Katherine died, leaving him to raise their three young sons. In his grief, he turned to challenging himself to find relief, Jack Penton said, while family took in the boys. The year his wife died, John Penton won the Ohio State Enduro, the Stone Mountain Enduro in Georgia, the Alligator Enduro in Florida and several others around the Midwest. He took a solo ride to Mexico and on his way home drove nonstop from California to Ohio, according to the American Motorcycle Association. He won the first of four Jack Pine trophies. The following year, he broke the world speed record driving from New York City to Los Angeles in a little over 52 hours. In St. Louis, a motorcycle club — which included a cop — came out to escort him through the city in record time. In the 1960s he represented the U.S. in the International Six Days Trial Enduro, held in Europe and considered the "Olympics" of the sport, earning gold medals. After his racing days, Penton set about creating a line of bikes for the sport. In 1968 he approached KTM, a moped manufacturer in Austria, with his ideas for a smaller, lighter, sport motorcycle. He received one hand-built bike, then the first run of 10 arrived. Within a week, the family — full of racers who'd grown up on the track — had all of them at races. Then the first full shipment came, 105 bikes. Penton would travel around to friends, dealerships, passing them out in small bunches, telling people, "Here you go, here's five, now you're a Penton dealer" his son recalled. There were four sizes and four colors, all named for famous races, and two that weren't meant for off-roading. And they were pricey — but they were considered the best of the best. The motocross sport started appealing to a younger generation, able to handle the lighter bikes. The Penton family spawned a dynasty of champions. John, along with his sons Jack and Tom, were all inducted into the American Motorcycle Association Hall of Fame, and all three have gold medals from the International Six Days Enduro. Another son, Jeff, and a nephew, Dane Leimbach, also hold several titles for championship racing. Penton long ago sold the rights to the Penton name to KTM, but Penton also created the Hi-Point line of off-road motorcycle boots, accessories and trailers; that was sold in 1988. They sold their dealership in the 1980s. Original Penton bikes, manufactured from 1968 to 1977, are now considered highly collectible. And their fans are highly loyal: Last Christmas the Penton Ownership Group, a 500-plus member club of enthusiasts, employees and some former racers who meet monthly in Amherst, celebrated with Penton at the Grange Hall in Sandstone Village. A Facebook group for Penton Motorcycles enthusiasts has more than 5,000 members. Penton remarried, gaining three stepchildren and another son with his second wife, Donna. In 2014, he got to see a documentary made of his life: "The John Penton Story" was filmed with many interviews done here in Lorain County by producer/director Todd Huffman of Pipeline Digital Media, based on Ed Youngblood's book "John Penton and the Off-Road Revolution." "You know Jack and I joke about it, how John was like the Forrest Gump of dirt bikes," Huffman said. "He just seemed to be at all these pivotal moments. Obviously in developing the Penton motorcycle, finding this little company in Austria, that's now this big off-road dirt bike brand, KTM, then developing all these great Hi-Point products, then he develops Cycle News East as a newspaper and Cycle News West bought it, just everything John had an eye for or thought would be the next big thing, was." The movie was narrated by Grammy award-winner Lyle Lovett, who got his first Penton at 13, and his first job at a Penton dealership in Houston at 14. "I met John Penton when I was 15 years old. He always seemed to know what he was doing. He was a decisive man of action. He was kind, and unafraid of anything," Lovett said this week, after hearing of Penton's passing. "Pentons were synonymous with quality. If you wanted an off-road bike of the highest quality, you wanted a Penton. John Penton's character is what made each one of his motorcycles great, his personal character. His love for his family, his dedication and his hard work, and his ingenuity through experience. He learned about building his kind of motorcycles through his experience because of all those enduros he rode and when it came time to build, he knew exactly what to do." "I've gotten to know Jeff over the years, and to know of how he encouraged each of his sons, and the Penton family not only built one of the best off-road motorcycles in the world but they were among the top racers, the top athletes in the world, and all of that is an extraordinary story," Lovett said. "All of that came John Penton's character." "He was an outstanding man," said Dave Rathbun, Penton's friend for 50 years. Mutual friends connected them when Penton expressed an interest in learning about financial markets, and Rathbun was a commodities broker in Sandusky. "I know nothing about motorcycles. Matter of fact, I've never been on one. To this day. We didn't talk motorcycles. He was the motorcycle man. He was the idol, and the king, of every young kid running a dirt bike. He did wonders — but I had a whole other life with John. We talked about how he was raised on a farm and I was raised on a farm. We hit it off." The two would go to New Orleans for financial symposiums and listen to speakers, he said. Penton was very interested in the gold and silver markets in the 1970s and 1980s. About mid-1980, Penton asked him to run his company. Rathbun said no. A few years later, Penton asked again. This time, Rathbun agreed, becoming president of Hi-Point Imports and Trailers for 10 years until it was sold. "He was a hell of a good friend," he said. "He always wanted to be in the winner's circle, but he always wanted to help people out." A memorial service will be planned at a later date. Contact Rini Jeffers at rinijeffers@gmail.com.