More on Carl Cranke
Monday, November 16, 2020 at 8:14PM One of my favorite picture of Carl Cranke.
Carl laying it down and matting the throttle during an ISDT special tests- the drag race. Skunk helmet, tee shirt, Hallman desert leathers and Hi Points highlight one of the heroes and characters from the wild west days of off-road racing.
Carl Cranke, one of America’s true off-road legends passed away on November 14 following a battle with cancer. Carl was one of those very rare gifted racers who was competitive in nearly every facet of riding. Carl grew up just outside of Sacramento in Fair Oaks racing dirt track, but because of the expense shifted his efforts to anything off-road. After an incredible performance in a Trans AM race Carl began a long relationships with Penton motorcycles, the marque he was most associated with. Carl not only raced Pentons’ but was intimately involved in the development of the Penton line. How good was Carl? Very good.
Carl represented the United States in ten International Six Days and in the process won 9 medals, 7 golds and 2 silvers. No matter what class he rode, he was known to ride in the 100, 125 and 250 class, if he showed up on the starting line he was favored to win. In addition to his racing career Carl was also the West Coast service manager for Penton. Many of us were lucky enough to be decent at one discipline of racing, it’s incredibly rare to be really good at everything. Carl Cranke was great at everything he raced and everywhere he raced. Rare indeed.
Godspeed.
Reader Comments (1)
I was also lucky enough to know Carl Cranke he was every special. He created from scratch an up pipe for my Rickman 250 Montesa so I could ride enduro’s on it. In those days they came with down pipes which were to say the least terrible for off road riding.
I enjoyed reading and watching his exploits over the years. I watched him in the pits at a Speedway race start at the front end of his bike and work from one end to the other and back all the while balancing the bike. Lots and lots of skills.
Another guy I was lucky enough to have been around.
Doug 21J