The story
Clarence "Pappy" Hoel formed the Jackpine Gypsies Motorcycle Club and staged the first Black Hills Motor Classic on August 14, 1938, on a half-mile dirt track at the Sturgis fairgrounds. Only 19 riders competed that first year, in an era when flat-track programs sometimes featured deliberate board-wall crashes and staged head-on collisions with automobiles as spectacle. That single meet is the direct ancestor of the modern rally — and the Jackpine Gypsies still own and operate the track, hill-climb, and field areas where the rally's racing events are centered today. The club was inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1997.
Everything that was here
- 1938–present · still open
Jackpine Gypsies Racing GroundsMotorsports Venue
The entire Sturgis Motorcycle Rally started as a side effect of a dirt-track race at this one small track — organized by a local Indian Motorcycle dealer and 19 riders willing to crash into cars on purpose.
See the map in 1939 →
Did you know?
Connected places
Hoel's Indian Motorcycle Shop
One-Eyed Jack's Saloon
Broken Spoke Saloon
Sturgis Motorcycle Museum & Hall of Fame
Explore the full web of connections on the map.
Nearby history
One-Eyed Jack's Saloon
Hotel Sturgis (Benevolent Hall)
The Knuckle Saloon & Brewing Co.
Hoel's Indian Motorcycle Shop
Sturgis Commercial Block
Sturgis Motorcycle Museum & Hall of Fame
Know something about Jackpine Gypsies Racing Grounds? An old photo, a date, a memory of what stood here before?
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