David Lawrence Ekins (born May 20, 1932) is an American
off-road
Off-roading is the activity of driving or riding in a vehicle on unpaved surfaces such as sand, gravel, riverbeds, mud, snow, rocks, and other natural terrain. Types of off-roading range in intensity, from leisure drives with unmodified vehicl ...
motorcycle racer who pioneered the sport of
desert racing
Desert racing is the act of racing through the desert in a two- or four-wheeled off-road vehicle. Races, which generally consist of two or more loops around a course covering up to , can take the form of Hare and Hound or Hare scramble style even ...
in the 1950s.
He was inducted into the
AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame
The AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum is an offshoot of the American Motorcyclist Association, recognizing individuals who have contributed to motorcycle sport, motorcycle construction, or motorcycling in general. It also displays motorcycles ...
in 2001.
Motorcycle racing career
Born in
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
, Ekins followed his brother and fellow Motorcycle Hall of Fame member,
Bud Ekins
James Sherwin "Bud" Ekins (May 11, 1930 – October 6, 2007) was an American professional stuntman in the U.S. film industry. He is considered to be one of the film industry's most accomplished stuntmen with a body of work that includes classi ...
, into motorcycle racing.
He and his brother honed their riding skills by riding the dirt trails in the hills above their
Hollywood, California
Hollywood is a neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. Its name has come to be a shorthand reference for the U.S. film industry and the people associated with it. Many notable film studios, such as Columbia Pictures, ...
home.
Ekins' riding skill earned him sponsored racing motorcycles from factories such as;
Velocette
Velocette is a line of motorcycles made by Veloce Ltd, in Hall Green, Birmingham, England. One of several motorcycle manufacturers in Birmingham, Velocette was a small, family-owned firm, selling almost as many hand-built motorcycles during i ...
,
Zundapp,
Honda
is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan.
Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a product ...
,
Harley-Davidson
Harley-Davidson, Inc. (H-D, or simply Harley) is an American motorcycle manufacturer headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1903, it is one of two major American motorcycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depressi ...
and
Bultaco
Bultaco was a Spanish manufacturer of two-stroke motorcycles from 1958 to 1983.
In May 2014, a new Bultaco was announced.
Origins
The origin of the Bultaco motorcycle company dates from May 1958. Francesc "Paco" Bultó was a director of the ...
.
Ekins became one of the first American riders to use Honda motorcycles in desert races, helping usher in the era of lightweight, smaller-displacement off-road motorcycles.
In the late 1950s, most desert racers preferred heavy, ungainly, British
parallel twin
A straight-twin engine, also known as an inline-twin, vertical-twin, or parallel-twin, is a two-cylinder piston engine whose cylinders are arranged in a line along a common crankshaft.
Straight-twin engines are primarily used in motorcycles; ot ...
cylinder motorcycles. He competed in many of the most prestigious West Coast off-road races aboard motorcycles as small as 100ccs in displacement, often finishing ahead of competitors on larger motorcycles, including an overall victory at the 1967 Greenhorn
Enduro
Enduro is a form of motorcycle sport run on extended cross-country, off-road courses. Enduro consists of many different obstacles and challenges. The main type of enduro event, and the format to which the World Enduro Championship is run, is a ...
aboard a 100cc Zundapp.
In 1962 Ekins and Bill Robertson rode a
Honda CL72 motorcycle almost the entire length of
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
's
Baja California Peninsula in less than 40 hours to set the
Tijuana
Tijuana ( ,["Tijuana"](_blank)
(US) and [< ...]
-to-
La Paz
La Paz (), officially known as Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Spanish pronunciation: ), is the seat of government of the Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bolivia. With an estimated 816,044 residents as of 2020, La Paz is the List of Bolivian cities ...
, Mexico record.
Their speed record provided a challenge for other off-road competitors with both, motorcycles and four wheeled vehicles.
One of these challengers to Ekins' record run was
Ed Pearlman
Ed Pearlman is a co-founder (together with Don Francisco) of the National Off-Road Racing Association (1966), the first exclusively off-road racing organization, and its first president. The inaugurating event of NORRA was "Mexican 1000 Rally", whi ...
, who decided to organize a yearly off-road race that became known as the
Baja 1000
The Baja 1000 is an annual Mexican off-road motorsport race held on the Baja California Peninsula. It is one of the most prestigious off-road races in the world, having attracted competitors from six continents. The race was founded by Ed Pearl ...
.
In 1964 Ekins along with his brother, Bud,
Steve McQueen
Terrence Stephen McQueen (March 24, 1930November 7, 1980) was an American actor. His antihero persona, emphasized during the height of the counterculture of the 1960s, made him a top box-office draw for his films of the late 1950s, 1960s, and 1 ...
and Cliff Coleman were members of the first American team to compete in the
International Six Days Trial.
The International Six Day Trials, a form of off-road motorcycle Olympics, is the oldest annual competition sanctioned by the
FIM
FIM may refer to:
Organizations and companies
* Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme, the International Motorcycling Federation
* Flint Institute of Music, in Michigan, United States
* Fox Interactive Media, now News Corp. Digital Media
* ...
dating back to 1913.
Ekins competed in five ISDT events and earned two gold medals and a bronze medal in the prestigious motorcycle competition.
Ekins founded and launched the Sunline brand of motorcycle parts and accessories.
References
External links
Dave Ekins at the AMA Motorcycle Hall of FameBud and Dave Ekins web site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ekins, Dave
1932 births
Living people
People from Hollywood, Los Angeles
Motorcycle racers from Los Angeles
American motocross riders
Off-road motorcycle racers
Enduro riders
Motorcycle journalists