Motor Maids Inc., J.C. “Pappy” Hoel Lifetime Achievement Award
Founded in 1940, chartered by the AMA in 1941, the Motor Maids are credited with being the first women’s motorcycle organization in the United States, possibly the world. The founding premise of the Motor Maids was to unite women motorcyclist in promoting motorcycle interest, a principle they still live by today.

Since the beginning and throughout their existence, the Motor Maids have been held in high esteem. Impeccably dressed in their traditional royal blue and grey uniforms, parading at a race or riding to an event, their standards are never compromised. Their members include recognized names and some not so recognizable, yet their respect for one another has created a sisterhood that has lasted over six decades.

Their spirit of adventure and belief in themselves, and their abilities, paved the road that so many others now ride. Each mile they rode made it easier for another woman to throw a leg over, each turn they took broke down a wall, each journey they set out on opened a door.
Formed by a visionary, guided by strength and compassion, and held together by friendship, camaraderie and their love of two wheels, this group of pioneers has built a legacy that all riders can admire.

Keith “Bandit” Ball
Biker, freedom fighter, author, publisher, editor, promoter, builder, patriot – Keith Ball has done it all, done it well and, when presented with a new challenge, will astound everyone with the ease in which he tackles it.
In 1971 he was hired to run the first national motorcyclists rights organization, ABATE. Within a few years ABATE grew into the largest grassroots motorcycle organization in the world with 28 chapters and some 50,000 members, and it still remains a viable force in bikers rights today.
Around the same time Keith became associate editor and the first full-time employee of a new motorcycle magazine called Easyriders. He went on to become editor and ultimately editorial director of 14 titles, including familiar titles In The Wind, Biker and VQ. With Keith at the helm, Easyriders became known as the “bikers bible” and boasted a monthly circulation of 550,000.
Next, Keith pursued a long time dream to write, completing three motorcycle adventure novels over the last eight years.
He also owns and operates a biker-oriented website; BikerNet.com, that offers tech material, classifieds, riding tales, event coverage, and legislative info. And in his spare time he builds a couple of bikes a year, always on the cutting edge, always innovative.
Currently Keith oversees three motorcycle magazines, Hot Bike, Hot Rod Bikes and Street Choppers.

Soichiro Honda
Sochiro Honda created a motor vehicle industry when it should have been impossible. The territory was taken, transportation was a mature industry and one man could no longer create such a manufacturing empire. Yet Honda did. He knew his own country men well enough to lead them and he sought in others talents he himself did not have. Work and study brought success, so that when he produced his first post war motor-bicycles, he knew the value of continuous reinvestment in technology. Honda understood that if you made a product no better and no worse than your competitors, the customer had no reason to prefer yours. But reinvestment in technology offered something different – a way to grow ideas into useful new things that people would want.

Honda also changed marketing and manufacturing methods. A product that can be made in easy steps can be made well, and a product that does that, does its job reliably, pleases its users.
The step-through Honda Cub was the first international success for the Honda Motor Company, and it was the model for all the successes that were to follow. Recognize a need, create a unique way to satisfy it, incorporate unusual performance, quality and reliability, then build from an expanding reputation into other areas. This was the pattern that defined Honda.
Marketing targeted the general public with good, clean two-wheeled fun and introduced millions to motorcycling. When the market was saturated, Honda had the vision to see that a similarly trouble-free kind of sports motorcycle could become equally popular. Honda expanded its line, always offering its customers a step up to more sophisticated models.

From Honda’s continuing research and development, a long succession of technological triumphs has resulted – low emissions engines, variable valve timing, the latest lean-burn combustion system and minimalist alloy chassis are only a few.

Michael Lichter
People who know Michael describe both the person and the artist with one word, passion. For over 20 years Michael Lichter has captured his passion for living, riding and being a biker in his photographs. Michael began taking pictures in 1968 and began his love affair with motorcycles in 1976 when he took a ride on a friend’s Knucklehead chopper. He bought his 1971 Shovelhead used in 1977 and is still riding it. In the late 70’s he managed to combine these two loves when he began taking pictures of bikers, submitting his first photos to Easyriders magazine in 1979. He’s often seen shooting photos while riding his trusty Shovelhead, one hand on the handlebars, the other on his camera. To date Michael has published over 800 magazine articles on motorcycles and has shot some 60 magazine covers.

Michael has been photographing Sturgis, his favorite rally, since 1979. His photos have chronicled the history of this great motorcycle Mecca over the past two decades. Many of us have witnessed the changes in the biker lifestyle over the years through Michael’s talented photography.
Michael says it best, “After more than 20 years of participating and photographing the rally, I have seen it change just as I have seen myself change. I was younger and wilder, just as the rally was. We were both naïve and a little less worldly. The town outgrew its geographical boundaries years ago, so that it in no longer a town; it is a phenomenon. It is a feeling inside. It is still a destination, but it has come to represent the journey. It stands for all that motorcycling is, for all that motorcycling can be.”

Motorcycle and commercial assignments have taken Michael across America and abroad to Canada, Europe, Japan, Mexico and New Zealand. He has contributed work to many books on motorcycling including images that were requested by Willie G. Davidson for his 100th anniversary book on Harley-Davidsons.

Jim and Phyllis McClure
The Harley-Davidson legacy of McClure made global waves, making magic with billet aluminum and nitro methane. And that magic made friends and fans of thousands.
Jim’s first career was as a lineman, but not just a lineman, he chose high lines, high power. He had an enthusiasm for motorcycles but that all changed when he took his street Sportster to the dirt drags, and he underwent a life changing experience when he saw asphalt Harley drag racing, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Jim began his professional career in the mid 70’s, during the old iron head era. His championship career began shortly there after when he took nitro Harley drag racing by storm. He won so many championships he stopped keeping track of them. He holds the unbroken record of 19 National and World Top-Fuel Harley-Davidson Championships, with speeds exceeding 216 mph in a quarter mile, winning over 21 events in a row. But no matter how many championships he garnered, or how many record certificates he earned, McClure was always looking for a new challenge. His diligence on and off the tack resulted in innovations that are still in use today. The primary example, his Overkill design, the first truly reliable nitro V-Twin engine.

You have to give Jim a great deal of credit for choosing the right partner in life, his wife Phyllis. They weren’t just husband and wife, they were best friends and teammates who lived together, raced together and loved each other. He loved to race down the track and she loved to wave at the crowd as she ran down to tow him back. On the return trip they both were all smiles. Jim and Phyllis traveled the world promoting the sport that they loved, and all of their friends would agree that separately they were good, but together they were brilliant and unstoppable.

When Jim passed away in 2004 almost every motorcycle publication remembered his remarkable career, but more importantly, they remembered the man, the friend, the husband, the generosity, the smile.

Scott Parker
Called one of the greatest racers of our time, Scott Parker literally decimated all the records during his extraordinary career.

At age 17 Parker became the youngest rider at the time to earn his expert pro license when he turned professional. In 1981 a dream was realized when Harley-Davidson asked Scott to join the factory team and in 1985 he finished third in the AMA Grand Nationals. He really began making a name for himself in 1988 when he won his first AMA Grand National Championship, which he did again in 1989, 1990 and 1991. At the 1991 Indy Mile, Parker surpassed Jay Springsteen as the all-time win leader in the AMA Grand National history with his 41st career victory.

But that would only be the beginning for this racing genius. In 1994 through 1998, Scott Parker became the first rider in history to win five straight AMA Grand National Championships. In those five championship seasons he won an incredible 39 nationals. Before retiring, Scott would go on to win three more Nationals to bring his career total to 94.

The Walker Family
Harold Walker came to Sturgis in 1924 after purchasing the Meade County Bank, and ran the bank until 1962. J.C. “Pappy” Hoel became a customer of the bank and thus began the relationship that lasted through several generations of the Walker family. The tradition of a free feed for rally participants in City Park began in the late 40’s. Then there was the cost of trophies and awards, and as the races were free, the cost of sponsoring and holding the races. These costs were always underwritten by Harold Walker.

Harold’s son Bruce took up the rally banner next. In addition to taking over banking responsibilities, Bruce served as treasurer on the Black Hills Motor Classic Board of Directors for 30 years, always making certain that the Motor Classic was solvent and had sufficient funds to operate effectively. He also worked the races, supervising admissions, overseeing attendance and finances.
Brother Herman, still an avid motorcyclist, also served for many years on the Board of the Black Hills Motor Classic and worked the races during each rally. He and his wife went on to open Hog Heaven Campground, developing it into one of the most beloved gathering spots for visitors to the Rally.