June 7, 1924

Motorcycle racer Gene Walker crashed while practicing alone on a track in Pennsylvania and died two weeks later. A native of Birmingham, Walker was one of the world’s most talented flat track racers, a type of racing that featured large motorcycles reaching speeds of up to 90 mph without brakes on dirt tracks. Walker raced primarily on Indian-brand motorcycles and won 19 national championships in his 10 years of professional racing. In 1920, he set several world records at Daytona Beach, Florida, including a land-speed record of 115 mph. Walker was inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1998.

Read more at the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame.

1914 Indian team: 18, Gene Walker; 16, Dave Kinney; 15, Don Johns; 19, Specs Warner; 20, Marty Graves; 17, Red Armstrong. (Dave Kinney Collection, Wikipedia)

For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.