Indian on Show

Burt Munro’s world famous Indian Scout motorbike, used to set land-speed records in the 196s, was on display at October’s Oildorado Days Rails to Trails Car Show in Taft, California. In 1967, on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, Invercargill-born Munro coaxed his Indian to 183.58mph. That set a record in the category of “streamlined motorcycles under 1,cc.” To qualify, he made a one-way run of 19.7mph, the fastest ever officially recorded speed on an Indian. “At the Salt in 1967 we were going like a bomb,” Munro once said. “Then she got the wobbles just over half way through the run. To slow her down I sat up. The wind tore my goggles off and the blast forced my eyeballs back into my head. I couldn’t see a thing. We were so far off the black line that we missed a steel marker stake by inches. I put her down — a few scratches all round but nothing much else.” Munro died in 1978. He was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 26.