Fifty years after Burt Munro rode his home-built Indian Scout at the Bonneville Salt Flats setting a land speed record for motorcycles under 1000cc, by recoding a ridiculous 184.047 mph average in August of 1967.
So how do you pay homage to a man that has already had a movie made after him starring one of the greatest actors of his generation? Which by the way is The World’s Fastest Indian (2005), starring Anthony Hopkins.
Well, first you decide to take a modern Indian Scout and turn it into a true race bike before asking his great-nephew Lee Munro to ride it. Indian Motorcycles fittingly says the Indian Scout is “A Legend Reborn”, and I can think of no better way of proving that then by adding to their early 2017 Flat Track dominance then by building racer.
For those unfamiliar with Burt Munro, he was a New Zealander who had a dream of taking a 1920 Indian Scout that he built to the Salt Flats in Utah. At the age of 63, with a bad ticker, his dreams finally came to fruition.
Burt went on to set three world records, one in 1962, 1966, and 1967 (the one that still stands). He was inducted into the AMA motorcycle hall of fame in 2006. Indian Motorcycle Marketing Director, Reid Wilson said, “Motorcycling is about shedding boundaries and limitations to go beyond the norm, and there is no better example of that than Burt Munro”.
His great nephew credits him as being a major influence in his choice to become a racer. He said, “My uncle Burt was a significant inspiration for my own racing career, and his appetite for speed is clearly a part of my DNA… What Indian Motorcycle is doing is fantastic, and I couldn’t be prouder to partner with them and pilot my own Scout at Bonneville in honor of my Uncle and the 50th anniversary of his historic record”.
Lee is a great racer in his own right, having won multiple titles and championships in New Zealand.
The honorary race will take place August 13, 2017.