International Dealer News IDN 147 February/March 2019 | Page 58

INDUSTRY EXTRA
racing career. “The results really lit a fire for
motorcycle racing, and it became the one thing on
earth to live for,” Hallman said in his 1970 book,
Mr. Moto-cross.
Hallman’s big break came in 1957 when he won
a major junior team race riding a Husqvarna. It was
then that Bror Jauren, manager of Husqvarna’s
racing team, gave Hallman the chance to become
a factory-supported rider.
By the 1960s, Hallman was competing in the
world championships. He would go on to win the
250 cc motocross world title four times. His first,
in 1962, was thanks to a new engine and
gearbox that Husqvarna had said would be the
last throw of the dice. Without Hallman’s 1962
Championship win, a series that BSA had been
dominating, ‘Husky’ may have gone out of
motorcycle production at that stage.
His battles with Belgium’s Joel Robert were
considered some of the best in the history of
the championships. Hallman might have won
even more titles, but he was dividing his time
as a full-time racer with also being a full-time
university student.
Hallman made his first trip to America in 1966
at the request of Edison Dye, who had taken
the first Husqvarna motorcycles to America, and
went on to be the brand’s importer – along the
way “converting” the equally legendary
Malcom Smith away from Greaves, his first race
machines, to becoming an all-conquering
Husqvarna racer.
In addition to bikes, Dye also imported the stars
of European motocross. Dye came up with the
idea to bring the top riders to America to race
after the European Grand Prix season was over.
In 1966, he flew Hallman over for a series of U.S.
races. Hallman won every motocross race he
entered. The following year, Dye brought over
Hallman again, along with other top riders such
as Joel Robert, Roger DeCoster, Dave Bickers, Arne
King, Ake Johnson and, a little later, Lars Larsson.
Hallman’s method of introducing himself and
motocross racing into America was to enter
scrambles and other off-road events throughout
the fall, which he dominated like no other rider had
Torsten Hallman was among the Husqvarna riders from
Europe who pioneered motocross in the United States.
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INTERNATIONAL DEALER NEWS - FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019
done before. One race in particular gave
Hallman a great deal of notoriety – the
Hopetown GP held near Simi Valley, California,
which was then the foremost motocross-style
scrambles race in America.
“The Hopetown race was where I sort of became
famous in America,” Hallman recalled. “The
newspapers wrote quite a lot about me and my
Husky after my success. No one had ever
dreamed that it was possible to ride so fast on a
motorcycle in motocross.”
With his reputation established in America, he
and Malcolm Smith briefly opened a motocross
school in Riverside, California.
For the next several years, Dye continued to bring
the best European stars to America to race, which
led to Dye forming the influential Inter-Am
motocross series, with Hallman as its first star, and
setting motocross racing (and eventually
supercross) on course to be the most popular form
of motorcycle racing in America and triggering its
boom years of the 1970s.
During the late 1960s, Dye and Hallman also
founded a motocross accessory business to provide
motocross riders with imported racing gear that
provided better protection than what was
generally available in the United States at that
time. Initially the supplier was a company in
Sweden that produced hockey gear. It turned out
that much of the protection worn by hockey
players was perfectly suited for the needs of
motocross racers as well.
Besides being a world champion racer, Hallman
also proved to be a world-class businessman. He
became a Husqvarna dealer in Sweden and then
began to sell motocross pants and gloves at the
races to help supplement his income. This
eventually led to the formation of Thor. From the
company’s beginnings out of the trunk of
Hallman’s car, Thor grew to become one of the
leading off-road racing apparel companies in
the world.
Hallman later sold his interest in the company
but remained Sweden’s Thor importer for many
years. The buyer was Fred Fox, of Parts
Unlimited, and now Parts Europe fame. Fox, an
engineer by training, numbered motorcycle
importing among his early career highlights and is
another who did much to promote the growth and
success of motocross (and many other motorcycle
race series) in the United States through the support
Parts Unlimited has given to “supporting the sport”
through series and rider sponsorships.
A back injury slowed Hallman by the end of the
1960s. His results suffered and Husqvarna dropped
him from the factory squad. The fledgling Yamaha
motocross effort quickly picked up, and Hallman and
the factory made the most of the world champion’s
knowledge. With Hallman’s input, Yamaha
developed its championship-winning YZ series of
motocross bikes, the first production motocross
machines to utilise mono-shock rear suspension.
Fast forward to 2019, and Wasserliesch, Germany
based Parts Europe will itself be celebrating its tenth
anniversary this year, and from its state-of-the-art
16,500 sq m European warehouse and headquarters
facility now distributes the Thor Motocross line
throughout Europe and maintains the founder’s,
indeed both founders’ – Hallman and Fox –
dedication to investing in motocross racing.
www.partseurope.eu
www.thormx.com
www.idnmag.com