Josef A. Boyd (October 20, 1948 – May 27, 1998) was an American engineer employed by Honda R&D Americas in Torrance, California. He died in an accident involving another Honda employee, Dirk Vandenberg, while they were evaluating a pre-production version of the
Honda CBR600F4
The Honda CBR600F is a CBR series ' four-cylinder sport bike made by Honda. The first model of the CBR600F was sold from 1987 to 1990 and is known in the US as the Hurricane. In Austria and Mexico, a smaller version, called CBR500F, was offered. ...
motorcycle. At the time of the accident, Mr Boyd was apparently photographing the motorcycle being ridden by Mr Vandenberg at Willow Springs Raceway in Rosamond, California. Vandenberg also died in the accident.
Dedications
Following his death the words, "Dedicated to Super Evaluators Dirk Vandenberg and Josef Boyd", were embossed in raised letters on the inside of the
Honda CBR600F4
The Honda CBR600F is a CBR series ' four-cylinder sport bike made by Honda. The first model of the CBR600F was sold from 1987 to 1990 and is known in the US as the Hurricane. In Austria and Mexico, a smaller version, called CBR500F, was offered. ...
's upper fairing.
Canadian motorcycle racer Miguel Duhamel dedicated his May 30, 1998, AMA Superbike race win at Road Atlanta to Josef Boyd and Dirk Vandenberg.
Valkyrie
Josef A. Boyd, aka GL Joe, was considered the "father" of the
GL1500C Valkyrie F6C motorcycle, which was a "cruiser" derivation of the Honda Goldwing.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boyd, Josef
1948 births
1998 deaths
American automotive engineers
20th-century American engineers
Honda people