Issue link: http://trailridermagazine.uberflip.com/i/1540850
October 2025 19 And that's exactly what he did. The first Penton bikes arrived, and they were so good, right out of the box, that he lost track of them. Every rider he put on them just ran off and started flogging the compe on everywhere they went. Not that the bikes were miraculous or anything, they had their foibles, they were breakable. But they were just a li le be er than anything else at the me, and as the wins piled up, the reputa on grew. "Pen- ton owner" turned into a club that an awful lot of guys wanted to be a member of. Why stop there? There were European boot mak- ers who knew everything about making ski boots, and guys riding the Jackpine really needed an armored boot to protect their legs. So, let's do the same thing — draw up a boot, have somebody in Italy make it, and sell some boots. How about foam air filters, instead of those ro en paper filters that didn't work in the wet, or what about making the p of the shi lever fold back instead of bending every me it touches a damn stump? How about two-stroke oil? Protec ve clothing for racing? Sell it all to the new Penton owners, and for that ma er, start a new accessory company and sell cool stuff to everyone. Take everything we learn about how to make our own bikes be er and put it into a newsle er for all the Penton riders, so they can just get be er, faster, and more successful. John Penton did all this. All this and so much more. He was a tough guy, he was gruff, and he suffered no fools. When he wanted something done, he wanted it now, dammit, if not yesterday! He had a talent for finding people to work for him who could work around his bluster and rage, and for the short ten years they both existed, Penton USA and Hi-Point Racing literally changed the world. He changed me — I was a Penton owner in the '70s. He changed you — and I don't care what you rode — and if you rode a Husky, that was because of John, too. Look it up. He was there; he had his hand in all of it. Once he got away from his businesses, and had the sa sfac on of watching KTM turn into a global phenomenon — and that was all his doing, as well, I'll fight you if you deny it — he actually started to relax and enjoy what he'd done. Hon- estly, I believe he looked around at what he creat- ed, and it humbled him. I remember si ng with him at one of the Penton reunions in Ohio — I was one of the lucky ones...I got into the business, met John and all of his family, lived alongside them for a while, and worked with them when I could. As we were talking, I asked him what he thought about all this fuss everyone was making over him. He looked at me and said, "Paul, this is all about love. Love for the sport, love for the bikes, and more than any- thing, love for each other." He wasn't afraid of any show of emo on at this point in his life, and tears started rolling down his face. "I look across this crowd of people and I feel the love here, and it just fills me up," he said. John had a great run. He lived to be 100 years old and, in the process, changed the world. There is no one else in this sport who can claim a legacy even approaching the legacy of John Penton. The man will be missed, but his "marque" will be with us forever.