Hideo "Pops" Yoshimura (October 7, 1922 – March 29, 1995) was a Japanese

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...

tuner, race team owner, and manufacturer of speciality motorcycle accessories. He is remembered for his ties to the beginnings of

Superbike A sport bike (sports motorcycle, or sports bike) is a motorcycle designed and optimized for speed, acceleration, braking, and cornering on asphalt concrete race tracks and roads. They are mainly designed for performance at the expense of comfor ...

racing and the Yoshimura factory racing team. __TOC__

Motorcycling career

Born in

Fukuoka City is the sixth-largest city in Japan, the second-largest port city after Yokohama, and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since ancie ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, Yoshimura was called into military service during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

where he was trained as an aircraft mechanic. After the war, he began tuning motorcycles for American servicemen stationed in Japan and in 1954, he opened his first shop, with his wife and children helping him. In 1971, he moved his business to

Los Angeles 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' ...

at the beginning of the four-cylinder

superbike A sport bike (sports motorcycle, or sports bike) is a motorcycle designed and optimized for speed, acceleration, braking, and cornering on asphalt concrete race tracks and roads. They are mainly designed for performance at the expense of comfor ...

era. He gained a reputation as an excellent motorcycle tuner. In 1976 the AMA introduced a racing class for production based bikes and Yoshimura established himself by entering fast, reliable

Kawasaki Z1 The Kawasaki Z1 is a four-cylinder, air-cooled, double-overhead camshaft, carbureted, chain-drive motorcycle introduced in 1972 by Kawasaki. Following the introduction of Honda's CB750 in 1968, the Z1 helped popularize the in-line, across-the- ...

bikes. In 1978 he switched to Suzuki bikes and began winning races. Steve McLaughlin won the 1978 Daytona Superbike race while Wes Cooley and Mike Baldwin won the prestigious 1978 Suzuka 8 Hours in Japan. With Wes Cooley as his rider, Yoshimura claimed the

AMA Superbike AMA Superbike Championship is an American motorcycle racing series that has been run every year beginning in 1976. For most of its existence it has been considered the premier motorcycle road racing series in the United States. It is sanctioned ...

national championship in 1979 and 1980. Yoshimura formed a close relationship with Suzuki and eventually his team became the official Suzuki

factory A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. T ...

racing team in the United States. His company experienced success as one of the world's largest performance aftermarket sportbike exhaust manufacturers. Yoshimura died of cancer in 1995. He left a legacy as a master craftsman, tuner and fabricator and was one of the pioneering personalities of superbike racing. In 2000, 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 ...

. His son continues to operate the company which still enjoys success in the AMA superbike class with rider

Mat Mladin Mathew Mladin (born 10 March 1972, in Camden, New South Wales) is a retired Australian professional motorcycle racer who last raced in 2009, riding a Yoshimura Suzuki in the AMA Superbike series. He won the title seven times (no other rider ...

winning six championships in seven years, and

Ben Spies Ben Spies (; born July 11, 1984), is an American former professional motorcycle road racer. He was sometimes nicknamed "Elbows" due to his riding style, in which his elbows protruded outward. Spies won the AMA Superbike Championship for Yoshimur ...

winning the 2006-2008 championships. Yoshimura celebrated its 60th Anniversary event at the 2014 Suzuka 8 Hours race in Japan.

Kevin Schwantz Kevin Schwantz (born June 19, 1964) is an American former professional motorcycle road racer. He was the world champion of the 1993 FIM Road Racing World Championship. Early life Schwantz, whose parents owned a motorcycle shop, learned to ride ...

and Satoshi Tsujimoto raced a "Pops Yoshimura" special race bike for the Yoshimura Legends race team.

References

External links

Pops Yoshimura at the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame

Yoshimura Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yoshimura, Pops 1922 births 1995 deaths Sportspeople from Fukuoka (city) Japanese motorcycle designers 20th-century Japanese businesspeople Mechanics (trade) Motorcycle racing team owners Deaths from cancer in Japan