Jerry West

An Interview with Jerry West

by Alan Buehner

Originally published in the Spring 2000 - Issue #6 of Still....Keeping Track

A couple of months ago at one of our monthly meeting, Paul Danik mentioned that I should write an article for this newsletter on Jerry West. Paul stated that Jerry contributed a lot to the sport of motorcycle racing and that this would be a neat way of paying tribute to this not so well known individual.

For those of you who do not know who Jerry West is and what he did, let me tell you. He was not a motorcycle racer, never won a trophy or medal, but his endeavor has been seen by all of us and are the words never written that have recorded the history of champions in the making. He is the person that took the photographs of some of the great ones such as John Penton, Gary Nixon, Leroy Winters, George Roeder, Kenny Roberts, Bart Markel, Roger Reiman, & Dave Mungenast, that have graced the inside pages of many magazines and even a few front covers. It is his photograph of John Penton that is being used on the front cover of the book - “John Penton and the Off-Road Motorcycle Revolution” which was taken at the 1970 six days in Spain.

Jerry was born on July 3, 1924 in Lorain, Ohio and lived most of his life there until his retirement in 1984. Since Jerry and John Penton are almost the same age and lived in the same area it was no coincidence that their two paths would cross. Jerry remembers the first time that he saw John. It was at the local quarries which were the local hang out to go swimming. He remembers how daring John was with his feats of diving off of the cliffs and staying under the water the longest.

Jerry as a small boy always had a desire to be a photographer. One year when his parents went on a train trip and asked him what he wanted them to bring him back as a present, he asked for a camera and they bought one for him. However, since this was in the years of the Great Depression, they could not afford film, Gerry’s career was put on hold.

As Jerry grew up he got to know Ted, Ike, Bill, Pat, & Mary Penton. He would help Ted with his projects and spent time with Ike in the machine shop.

Jerry worked for the Lorain Telephone Company for 36 years before retiring. During this time period he filled positions as an engineering accountant, a manager, head of customer service, and head of the pay phone division. In 1950 he and his wife purchased their first home with a 10 year bank loan that did not leave him enough money to fulfill his dream of taking up photography. He knew that the only way he was ever going to do it was to find some way for it to pay for itself. He went to the library and read books on photography, and purchased a book on where to sell your photographs. One of his first contacts was the publisher Floyd Clymer of Cycle and Hot Rod magazines. None of the magazines had paid staff photographers at the time and all photos were purchased off of free lance photographers such as Jerry. Besides motorcycles, he took photos of cars, horses, scenery, and harness racing and anything else he could find a market for. This was a strange business to be in. Jerry worked his regular job during the week at the telephone company and took his photos at events on the weekends. Thanks to the President of the telephone company who was also a photographer (Jerry did dark room work for him) Jerry was rewarded with special favors such as extra days off to travel to and from race events. At any one time, Jerry would have 12 or more different contracts to film events (he was Harley Davidson’s photographer for 16 years). Jerry never had any formal training, learning instead from his natural instinct and a “good eye”.

He got started in photographing motorcycle events at the Amherst Meadowlarks track. From there, Ted and John Penton introduced him to the Jack Pine enduro. Consequently, he expanded his travels to the Little Burr, road racing, dirt track, TT races, and the salt flats.

His big event every year was Daytona. With all of the variety of races going on in one general area of the country he would make more money shooting photos than some of the finishers of the races who were risking their lives. Besides the national events, he also took photos of many of the amateur races during which he got to see many young riders grow and develop into national and international stars. One example was “little Gary Nixon” who he met at a half mile race in Freeport, Illinois.

Al: “Who is your all time favorite rider and why?”

Jerry: “I loved John Penton, but my favorite was Carrol Reswebber who was very graceful in the way he rode the half mile tracks.“

Al: “What is your most favorite motorcycling photo that you took?”

Jerry: “The one that I took of John Penton and Leroy Winters at Jackpine with the two of them sitting side by side figuring out their scores. John won by 1 point.”

Al: Did you travel with the Penton family or on your own to any events?”

Jerry: “I rode with them 3 or 4 times to Daytona. I remember the first time that John asked me to ride down with him. Harley was paying for my air fare to Daytona and this was an opportunity for me to keep that money. At 10 am we got into the vehicle. John drove over to the front market and picked up a peck of apples that were very obvious that they were picked up off the ground because they were covered with brown spots. He put them in the truck between the front seats and started driving. He made a stop to buy gas and that was the only stop that he made. As John got hungry, he would just reach down and eat the apples as we drove on and on and on. I found those were the best apples I ever ate.”

Al: “What was it like to be involved in recording the Penton era on film?”

Jerry: “Fantastic. The Pentons’ always moved on fast forward and documentation was necessary, from the publicity photos of John’s cross country run to little Jackie throwing his leg over an exceptional large C-Z wearing a brown knit cap for protection. They brought me to Europe to climb the hills of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. To freeze in Del El Eslorial, Spain. To appreciate the pasta of Camerino, Italy. To enjoy the charm of Spindleruv Mlyn in Checo and many, many more. I met and stayed in the home of Mr. & Mrs. Erick Trunkenpolz, the “T” in KTM. I can call Arnaldo Farioli my friend. Actually, I met so many neat people throughout the world, and I owe it all to motorcycling, and photography opened the door.”

Al: “Were you surprised to hear that a Penton Owners Group was being formed?”

Jerry: “ Yes, it never entered my mind.”

Al: “What was it like to see the Penton boys and their cousins grow from local riders to international stars?”

Jerry: “Unbelievable. John was the sponsor of a race in New Philadelphia, Ohio. While talking to and shooting photos of Toresten Hallman (who happened to have a broken wing at the time), the two Penton boys were in front of the pack dressed in matching herring-bone twill coveralls out doing one another. You knew back then they had the desire and ability to be very, very good at going fast. Of course these two were not the only two of the Penton clan that had the ability to twist the wick.”

Al: “What is your favorite type of motorcycle racing?”

Jerry: “ISDT by far. It’s a team sport lasting 6 days over unbelievable terrain, where only the very best can achieve their deserving rewards. One of the funniest things happened in Spain or Italy. The Penton 100cc had a red tank and the 125cc had a green tank. Rough terrain caused tank splitting. The riders were run into a barn, the leaking tank was changed with whatever color tank was available, and they were sent down the trail. At one of the checks the spectators recognized that one of the bikes was using the wrong color tank, therefore cheating, and they complained to the officials. The officials refused to disqualify him telling the protesters that those Americans don’t stand a chance of winning, they bring money to the event, why spoil it?”

The day after I interviewed Jerry, he called me up to tell me about his most memorable moment.

Jerry: “ I attended 7 or 8 Six Days events during which I knew Ted Leimbach very well. After Ted passed away, Mr. & Mrs. Paul Leimbach and brothers Dane & Orrin presented a gold medal to me that Ted won in Austria (Ted Leimbach won 3 ISDTgold medals during his short career) and said that ‘Ted would appreciate it that I should have it’. I had the medal mounted on the wall in my dining room. A few years ago, since I had no one to pass it on to who could appreciate it, I gave it to Orrin Leimbach to give to his mother to present to his namesake.”

It was a pleasure for me to interview Jerry for this article. He is another fine example of the many quality people that John Penton has come in contact with during his life. There was no photo of Jerry to print with this article. Jerry is planning on being at the Mid-Ohio AMA Vintage Days event in July and will be one of the many celebrities on hand for you to meet.