Gene Walker

In 1910, Walker obtained his first motorcycle, an Excelsior. At 17 he worked as a postal delivery person in Birmingham using an Indian motorcycle for delivering mail. Walker entered his first motorcycle race at the 1912 Alabama State Fair and won the five-mile final. In the same year he left his job at the Post Office to go to work for a Birmingham Indian dealer named Bob Stubbs.

In 1914 Walker turned professional and worked in the testing room at the Indian headquarters in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Walker won 19 national championships in his 10 years of professional racing before he died in 1924. On June 7, while practicing alone on a track in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, Walker crashed. He died in Rosenkrans Hospital in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, on June 21.

Walker was inducted to the Motorcycle Hall of Fame

Motorcycle Hall of Fame

The Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum is an offshoot of the American Motorcyclist Association that recognizes individuals who have contributed to motorcycle sport, motorcycle construction and motorcycling in general. It displays motorcycles and riding gear and memoribilia. The museum is located in...

in 1998.

Major milestones

• Year	Location	Achievement
  1915, July 10	FAM meeting Saratoga, New York	1st Five Mile Championship and new record
  1919	USA	Won 6 out of 13 national championship races and set 3 track records
  1920, April 14	Daytona Beach, Florida	Set new motorcycle world speed record
  1920	USA	Named Champion of Champions by Motorcycle and Bicycle Illustrated
  1924, February 17	Los Angeles, California	1st Five Mile Championship

1914 Indian team: 18, Gene Walker; 16, Dave Kinney; 15, Don Johns; 19, Specs Warner; 20, Marty Graves; 17, Red Armstrong. Dave Kinney Collection