Jim Rice (born July 10, 1947) is an

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former professional

motorcycle racer The motorcycle sport of racing (also called moto racing and motorbike racing) includes motorcycle road racing and off-road racing, both either on circuits or open courses, and track racing. Other categories include hill climbs, drag racing and ...

who is an inductee of both the AMA

Motorcycle Hall of Fame The AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum is an offshoot of the American Motorcyclist Association, recognizing individuals who have contributed to motorcycle sport, motorcycle construction, or motorcycling in general. It also displays motorcycles, ...

and the TrailBlazers Hall of Fame. During his career in the late 1960s and early 1970s he won 12 national races and finished in the top 10 of the championship three times. All but one of his victories were on BSA machines. Footage of Rice's crash in qualifying for the 1970 Sacramento Mile was used in Bruce Brown's film

On Any Sunday ''On Any Sunday'' is a 1971 American documentary film about motorcycle sport, directed by Bruce Brown. It was nominated for a 1972 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

Early life

Rice was born on July 10, 1947, in

Wooster, Ohio Wooster ( ) is a city in Wayne County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Located in northeastern Ohio, the city lies approximately south-southwest of Cleveland, southwest of Akron and west of Canton. The population was 27,232 at the ...

. As a teenager Rice started working on and driving drag cars at West Salem's Dragway 42. When he was 16 he moved to

Palo Alto, California Palo Alto ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a charter city in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. Th ...

, and brought a 50 cc

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. This was soon replaced with a 250 cc

scrambler In telecommunications, a scrambler is a device that transposes or inverts signals or otherwise encodes a message at the sender's side to make the message unintelligible at a receiver not equipped with an appropriately set descrambling device. Wher ...

. Rice started taking part in local scrambles on a friend's

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YDS2. After getting a job in a BSA dealer, Rice brought a BSA Spitfire Hornet, which he found far easier to ride in scrambles.

Racing career

Rice began riding in some pro-events in 1966 to gain points towards getting a professional licence. In 1967 he obtained his amateur licence and became the top points scoring rider in AMA District 36 (Northern California). He was also top scorer at Hayward Speedway, who presented him with a 7 feet high trophy in recognition of his achievements. By 1968 he had become one of the top amateur winning several amateur nationals. Having become expert in 1969, he won three national events in his rookie season. The first win was at his home race, the San Jose Half-Mile. 1970 was Rice's most successful season winning six national races and finishing 2nd in the championship. The AMA had decided to award points for races in proportion to the prize fund for 1970. This meant more points were awarded for road races than other races. (The AMA reverted to the previous system of equal points in 1971). Heading into the pre-penultimate round, the Sacramento Mile, Rice was leading the championship from

Gene Romero Gene Romero (May 22, 1947 – May 12, 2019) was an American professional motorcycle racer.

534 points to 521, despite Rice having won 6 events and Romeo one. Rice crashed in practice breaking his nose. Footage of the crash was used in the film ''On any Sunday''. Romero won the race and Rice finished 15th. Winning the race gave Romero a lead of 57 points over Rice. The two remaining races, Gardenia and Oklahoma City, were only worth 26 points each for a win, so Romero was now unbeatable in the Championship. In 1971 Rice was captain of the American BSA racing team and a member of the American team that participated in the 1971 Anglo-American Match Races. He also participated in an AMA road safety campaign that was broadcast on radio and tv stations in America. Rice was elected as a rider's representative on the AMA Competitions Congress in 1971. Rice won two events in 1972, his home race of the San Jose Mile and the Colorado Springs Mile, where he finished the race with a broken shoulder after clipping the inside barrier. He finished 6th in the championship that season.

Harley-Davidson Harley-Davidson, Inc. (H-D, or simply Harley) is an American motorcycle manufacturer headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Founded in 1903, it is one of two major American motorcycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depression along with i ...

offered Rice a ride for 1973 which he accepted. He won at the Columbus Half-mile race, at which many of his childhood friends had attended to see him ride. Rice retired from racing at the end of the 1974 season and was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in September 2001.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rice, Jim 1947 births Living people Sportspeople from Wooster, Ohio Sportspeople from Palo Alto, California American motorcycle racers AMA Grand National Championship riders