Bud
Ekins is a pioneer of of-road motorcycling. He has raced
from the deserts of California and Baja to the muddy
motocross tracks of Europe. He used his expertise he
developed through racing to become a great Hollywood
stuntman. While considered a motorcycle specialist he also
raced four wheeled off road vehicles with great skill and
enjoyment.
On May 11, 1930, James Bud Ekins was born in Hollywood,
California, the eldest of five children. Most of his family
worked in the movie business, his mother as an extra and his
uncles training animals. His father owned a welding shop.
Ekins purchased his first motorcycle as a teenager after
riding his cousin’s Harley-Davidson and getting the
speedometer stuck at 65 miles per hour on his first ever
ride.
He purchased a used 1940 Triumph and riding it as much as
possible, he learned the back roads and trails of the
Hollywood Hills. As he rode he met other riders, and they
raced for fun doing hound and hare runs. In 1949 he
participated in his first official race, the Moose Run and
won it, a trend which would continue throughout his career.
Once he started racing he kept at it for nearly the next two
decades.
He raced scrambles and desert races every weekend around
Southern California throughout the 1950s. He earned the
state title seven times. Having proved his skills in the
states, Matchless Motorcycles offered him a spot on their
factory team to race motocross in Europe in 1952. He would
continue to race in Europe for the next ten years. He took
part in the International Six Day Trails (ISDT) and weekly
motocross races. He won the ISDT four times and place second
there once in the seven year period he took part in the
race. He would spend months at a time living in Europe,
renting apartments in cities such as London and Paris. The
Europeans paid their athletes for their efforts and while
there he made a good living racing.
He took the success from his European experiences and
applied it hid life in the States. He monetarily applied it
and opened a motorcycle shop in Hollywood in 1955. By then
he had switched his sponsorship to Triumph Motorcycles and
as result became a Triumph dealer. Triumphs at the time
happened to be the motorcycle that the movie stars of the
day desired and he was in the perfect location to sell them
the bikes. His customers and friends included Steve McQueen,
Paul Newman and Clint Eastwood. Ekins ran the shop for 18
years when he focused his energies on performing movie stunt
work.
The Hollywood connections made through his shop along with
the incredible respect he had earned as a skilled rider
landed him in the stunt business. He preformed motorcycle
stunts and also took on the occasional stunt out of his area
of expertise. He is best know for the work he did as
McQueen’s stuntman in “The Great Escape,” landing the now
famous 65 foot jump in one try. In the movie “Bullit” he
laid his bike over in front of a speeding truck. He worked
with John Bellucci in the “Blues Brothers” crashing over 100
police cars. He also did stunt driving and even took on the
rare team of horses.
Ekins adventures continued outside of the studios. Prior to
the organized Mexican 1000 a number of men took on timed
runs for speed records across Baja. Dave Ekins, Bud’s
brother did one such run in 1962 for Honda Motorcycles
shattering all previous records. Bud sat the run out because
of his sponsorship agreement with Triumph. In 1964 he joined
his brother for an attempt to break Dave’s earlier record.
They did break it, however they only broke it by eight
minutes, crossing the Baja in 39 hours and 48 minutes, the
whole time filled various mechanical difficulties. Their
speed record proved an inspiration and challengers followed
in buggies and trucks. A challenge on their time by Ed
Pearlman lead to Pearlman’s epiphany that an organized race
needed to take place there and the Mexican 1000 was born.
Ekins would go on to race Pearlman’s Mexican 1000. In
addition to racing motorcycles Ekins raced four wheeled
off-road vehicles. From racing the motorcycle he understood
how to read the terrain and the transition to vehicles was
not difficult. He worked with fellow Hall of Fame Inductee,
Vic Hickey to build the Baja Boot. He raced with Hickey for
five years. He drove three races for Steve McQueen. Drino
Miller, a Hall of Fame Inductee and he co-drove “The Thing”
in numerous desert races.
During the 1980s and 1990s Ekins owned a second motorcycle
shop in Hollywood that had one of the most extensive
collections of working vintage motorcycles in the world.
Sources:
Author Interview with Bud Ekins, July 2006
Fiolka, Marty. 2005. 1000 Miles to Glory, The History of the
Baja 1000. Phoenix, AZ.: David Bull Publishing.
http://www.motorcyclemuseum.org/halloffame/hofbiopage.asp?id=166
http://www.off-road.com/dirtbike/rick/bud.html
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/tg/feature/-/287060/026-9615394-2574823
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