Sunday 21 February 2010

Mert Lawwill

Here is a nice little 'promo' mini mag given away free with the March '99 issue of Classic Racer.
This was exclusive to the USA edition and features a bunch of pictures from the Dan Mahoney archive.
I picked this up during Bike Week and got Mert to Autograph it when we met him at a 'Hall of Fame' Breakfast fundraiser, where he was guest of honour.
The event was kinda like a Sportsmans Dinner with maybe 150 guests in attendance. It started at 7.45am with a fantastic breakfast followed by an 'after-breakfast' lecture/talk from Mert. He talked at length about his racing career, his contributions to the bicycle industry, his patented amputee gadget for motorcycle riders and his friendship with Steve McQueen and the making of 'On any Sunday'. It was a very special morning and something I will remember forever.
In all my life I think I only ever asked for 3 autographs: Mert Lawwill and Evel Knievel, both at Daytona '99 and Tony Alva in '78 at Southport Skatepark.

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