The year 1938 was a significant year in the history of Sturgis – the year of the first AMA sanctioned race conducted by the Jackpine Gypsies Motorcycle Club, which is the event widely recognized as the beginning of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. At that time, nine racers took part in the races in Sturgis, and about 200 spectators came to enjoy a weekend of racing and riding.
Indian motorcycles are important to the history of the Sturgis Rally, as well, because the driving force behind getting the Jackpine Gypsies started and making those first races happen was J.C. “Pappy” Hoel, an Indian Motorcycle dealer in Sturgis.
So, when John Paul DeJoria was searching for just the right motorcycle to place in the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum, a 1938 Indian made the most sense. He found this ’38 in Colorado, and had it restored by the Indian master, Mike Tomas of Kiwi Indian Motorcycles.
Indian Motorcycle Company was owned at one time by E. Paul Du Pont during the 1930s and managed by Loring F. “Joe” Hosley who had been the production manager at the Du Pont Motors. The company was on shaky financial ground during much of the early 1930s, despite improvements in design and production. Still, Indian was showing great success in racing by winning most of the prestigious races from 1934 to 1938.
In 1938, one of the main new features of the Chief was its new instrument panel. The shape of the instrument panel continued through 1947, but the gray switch, and red and gray speedometer and ammeter were unique in 1938.
One of the challenges of sidecar units at the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum is getting them into the building. Some of the photos you see here were taken in the parking lot of the museum, while our friends from Competition Distributing in Sturgis removed the sidecar. Once the bike was inside, the sidecar was re-attached.
