Malcolm Smith
Malcolm Smith was born on March 4, 1941, in British Columbia, Canada. At the age of five, he and his parents moved to Southern California, where he would begin riding dirt bikes, and eventually build an empire. Smith began riding a Labretta scooter at age thirteen, but got his first dirt bike, a 1949 Matchless, when he was fifteen years old. He entered his first race that same year, and received second place. He went back and raced a month later and won.
Smith gained a small sponsorship from Nick Nicholson and began racing on Greeves motorcycles. Smith had a passion for the business-side of motorcycling, and helped build engines for K&N. While competing was only for hobby, Edison Dye came to his shop in the mid-60s with a proposition. Dye was beginning to import Sweedish-made Husqvarna motorcycles, and wanted Smith to be their main racer. Although hesitant at first, Smith decided to take the deal because Dye said that he would pay for Smith to race the International Six Day Trials (presently called the International Six Day Enduro), which was a dream come true for Smith. Read the rest of this entry »