An Extremely Macho Elf

I like to post things about people I like when they show up. I like Steve McQueen. This in today's Slate.

A little-known fact about McQueen is that he represented the United States in the 1964 International Six Days Trial, one of the world's premier motorcycle events often referred to as the "Olympics of Motorcycling", in East Germany. He rode a works-prepared 650cc Triumph, not usually thought of these days as a nimble dirt bike. I guess they weren't back then either, as he crashed heavily twice. He got his bells rung both times, and the second crash bent the bike up too badly to continue. There's even a book about his participation. One thing I can say from experience is that those machines were fast and heavy, and throwing one away at speed meant you were going for a "walk on the wild side".

I met him a couple of times. I worked at Bud Ekins' Triumph in Sherman Oaks and McQueen and Bud were business partners. Bud Ekins was a champion desert racer and the stunt man who made that amazing (for the time) jump in The Great Escape. He also gave me my movie debut in The Thing With Two Heads, but that's another story. Anyway, McQueen came into the repair shop with Ali McGraw in tow and you could've heard a pin drop. Not because of him, either. He seemed like a pretty reg'lar guy.

One of these days, I'll have to tell you the story of how I once took care of Cher when she got way too hot.

Back to politics now.