- William S. Harley and Brothers Arthur, Walter, and William A. Davidson will go into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America Together

- Watch Willie G., Karen and Bill Davidson Discuss Their Thoughts about the Honor in Video Link Below

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Oct. 12, 2021) – The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (MSHFA) held a special press conference last Thursday at the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee to announce that its final inductee (Historic Category) of the Class of 2022 will be the Harley-Davidson founders.

MSHFA President George Levy, along with David Hobbs (MSHFA Class of 2009), announced that William S. Harley and brothers Arthur, Walter, and William A. Davidson will go into the Hall of Fame together as a quartet. They cofounded the Harley-Davidson Motor Company in 1903, the definitive American motorcycle brand, and makers of some of the most celebrated motorcycles in racing history.

Watch last Thursday's livestream broadcast of the MHSFHA announcement below and by clicking here.

The first eight Class of 2022 inductees were announced in a special press conference at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on August 13. Induction is decided by a straight vote among 200 motorsports experts, half of them inductees themselves.

William A. Davidson’s grandson, Willie G. Davidson, great grandson Bill Davidson and great granddaughter Karen Davidson represented the founders at the announcement.

“This is an exciting time for all of us,” Willie G. Davidson said. “We’re proud to share this stage with you and talk about motorcycles.”

“I think they (founders) would be blown away for a lot of reasons,” Bill Davidson said. “Back in their day they were caught up in a transportation transformation. The Wright brothers were 1903, Henry Ford was 1903 and Harley-Davidson was 1903.”

Karen Davidson, Willie G.’s daughter, said the founders would likely be shocked at the popularity of their motorcycles and how they have become part of society.

“In our era, as we have lived through this brand crescendo and as a lifestyle brand, I think the founders would be surprised at what a gravitational pull the product itself has had to create this lifestyle of people participating across the world,” she said.

The three descendants said motorsports was a way for the Harley-Davidson founders to showcase their wares.

“The manufacturers of those early motorcycles were trying to prove durability and longevity and they were doing it through performance,” Willie G. said. “Amongst all those brands – there were like 140 of them back then – everybody was trying to build a better mousetrap. (Motorsports) was an important part of what we were all about.”

“Racing has really been part of our fabric,” Bill Davidson added. “Our first official team was in 1914. We still have a factory team today. It’s rewarding when you think of all of those events and what those events have done to attract our riders and our customers to come and ride their bikes to watch them.”

He noted that in July, Harley-Davidson Screamin' Eagle factory team rider Kyle Wyman won the 2021 MotoAmerica King of the Baggers championship with a superior run at MotoAmerica Superbike Speedfest at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in California.

Over the past century, Harley-Davidson built the bikes that helped turn many previous MSHFA inductees into superstars, including Joe Leonard (MSHFA Class of 1991), Joe Petrali (MSHFA Class of 1992), Jay Springsteen (MSHFA Class of 2005) and Paul Goldsmith (MSHFA Class of 2008). Two more recent inductees, Harley-Davidson riders Scott Parker (MSHFA Class of 2009) and Chris Carr (MSHFA Class of 2020), first and second all-time in AMA Grand National wins, joined the call to share in the moment with the family.

The Harley-Davidson founders will be inducted as part of the MSHFA Class of 2022 during a black-tie ceremony in Daytona Beach on March 7 - 8, 2022.

Joining the Harley-Davidson founders are the designer of the 1965 World Champion Cobra Daytona Coupes, Peter Brock (Sports Cars); the only person in history to win NHRA Top Fuel championships as a driver and crew chief, Dick LaHaie (Drag Racing); “The Henry Ford of race cars,” NASCAR builder Banjo Matthews (Business); and the only woman to receive the Ken W. Purdy Award for Excellence in Automotive Journalism, Denise McCluggage (Media). NASCAR co-founder and championship-winning team owner Raymond Parks (Historic); "The Cat in the Hat" who has masterminded more than 300 NASCAR wins, Jack Roush (Stock Cars); motorcycle racing innovators who have won NHRA drag racing titles, AMA Supersport and Superbike titles, two Daytona 200s and more, Terry Vance & Byron Hines (Motorcycles); and Helio Castroneves (Open Wheel), the reigning and four-time Indianapolis 500 winner who will join other four-time 500 winners A.J. Foyt, Rick Mears and Al Unser Sr. as a fellow inductee.

The MSHFA is housed in Daytona International Speedway's Ticket & Tours Building located in front of the famed 2.5-mile DIS tri-oval. Access to the MSFHA is included with every Speedway tour, which run throughout each day, or as a museum-only ticket. The museum is open daily nearly year-round except major holidays.

For more information about attending the induction ceremony, visit the MSHFA at www.mshf.com or contact George Levy at (248) 895-1704 or glevy@mshf.com. For museum tickets call 1-800-PIT-SHOP.

The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America is on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MotorsportsHOF/ and Instagram and Twitter at @MotorsportsHOF.

About the Davidsons & Harley: William S. Harley and brothers Arthur, Walter, and William A. Davidson were cofounders of the Harley-Davidson Motor Company (1903). The project began two years earlier when Harley and Arthur Davidson started experimenting with gasoline engines in hopes of motorizing bicycles. All four men would play important roles in the company. Harley, the sole college grad, was the company’s chief engineer and treasurer. He was also a racer who served on the AMA Competition Committee for 24 years. Arthur understood marketing and how to energize dealers. He started a school to train H-D mechanics and was an early supporter of the AMA. Walter was the company’s first president and as a rider gave H-D its first race victory (1908). William did most of the hiring and through his relationships with employees continually improved the manufacturing process. Together they changed motorcycling and motorsports history.

About the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America: The MSHFA is the only hall that honors all American motorsports: cars, motorcycles, airplanes, off road and powerboats. Its mission is to celebrate and instill the American motorsports values of leadership, creativity, originality, teamwork and spirit of competition. Founded by Larry G. Ciancio and Ronald A. Watson, it held its first induction in 1989. Watson spent the next 30 years tirelessly building it into the nation’s premier such hall until his passing in 2019. The original museum in Novi, Mich., relocated to Daytona Beach, Fla., in 2016 and greets more than 100,000 guests a year. MSHFA is operated by the nonprofit Motorsports Museum and Hall of Fame of America Foundation, Inc.

Photos by Nick Williams, Vid Monster Productions