The Legend of Joe Petrali: Harley-Davidson’s Record-Breaking Racer
8 August 2021
In our Hamilton store, you’ve probably seen vintage Harley-Davidson racing images around the showroom, and printed on tees, mugs, and other H-D products. You’d be surprised to know how many of those old pics feature just one rider…Joe Petrali. So, for a quiet read on a Sunday, cruise down through this post about the person often regarded as “the world’s greatest motorcycle racer”. Have a great Sunday!
Joe Petrali, the best motorcycle racer – maybe ever - lived life in full, setting records on board track, dirt track, hillclimbs, and speed records. In addition to setting a one-mile land speed record of 136.183 mph on a specially-built and streamlined Harley-Davidson in March 1937, he won 49 AMA national championship races as a Class A star, a record that stood until Scott Parker won his 50th AMA national in 1992. In his career, Petrali rode for Indian, Excelsior, but mostly for Harley-Davidson.
His first outstanding performance was at the mile-plus-long board track in Altoona, Pennsylvania, at the 1925 AMA 100-mile championship. Indian had promised Petrali a ride for the race, but failed to bring his bike. Stuck on the sidelines, Petrali's big break came when Harley offered him a ride…and he won. Petrali’s average speed of 100.36 mph was a board track record for 100 miles that was NEVER broken.
Harley’s management signed him to a race contract with high hopes, and Petrali delivered.
He won three national titles (the 10-, 25- and 50-mile championships for 61-inch motors) on September 7, 1925 on the boards in Laurel, Maryland, once again setting a new record in the process. Petrali suddenly found himself crowned the national board track champion. This was the start of a decade-long dominance.
Petrali made the 1931 season one to remember for Harley. He won eight of the 16 dirt track and hillclimb AMA nationals that year. The next season Petrali became the only rider in AMA history to win both the dirt track and hillclimb national championship in the same year...and he repeated that feat three more times in 1933, 1935 and 1936! From May to August of 1935, Petrali won every Class A national race – 10 in a row.
While dominating flat track, board track, and hillclimbs, it was now time to tackle world speed records. With Factory help, Petrali built a streamlined Harley Model E Knucklehead with twin carburetors, higher compression, different cams and magneto, plus a high top gear that allowed a theoretical top speed of 160 mph.
On March 13, 1937 at Daytona Beach, the bike went into a serious tank slapper on the first run as Petrali approached 100 mph. He came in and ordered all the aerodynamic bodywork be removed, then went out again and captured the mile speed record at 136.183 mph. That record would hold for 11 years.
Later in life, after retiring from motorcycle racing he went into aviation and worked for Howard Hughes and was flight engineer during the one-and-only flight of the "Spruce Goose," the world’s largest flying boat. As a hobby, he became a crew chief for teams at the Indianapolis 500, and eventually worked for its sanctioning body, the United States Auto Club, verifying economy and speed runs. He was in charge of land speed record certifications at the famous Bonneville Salt Flats during the 1960s, and so would have encountered New Zealand’s famous Burt Munro.
Joe Petrali always proudly showed his AMA membership card that identified him as AMA Life Member #1, fittingly, because he was #1 in so many motorcycling sports.