Jim Rice

Jim Rice (born July 10, 1947) is an American former professional motorcycle racer who is an inductee of both the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame and the TrailBlazers Hall of Fame. During his career in the late 1960s and early 1970s he won 12 national races and finished in the top 10 of the championship three times. All but one of his victories were on BSA machines. Footage of Rice's crash in qualifying for the 1970 Sacramento Mile was used in Bruce Brown's film On Any Sunday.

Early life Rice was born on July 10, 1947, in Wooster, Ohio. As a teenager Rice started working on and driving drag cars at West Salem's Dragway 42. When he was 16 he moved to Palo Alto, California, and brought a 50 cc Honda. This was soon replaced with a 250 cc scrambler.

Rice began riding in some pro-events in 1966 to gain points towards getting a professional licence. In 1967 he obtained his amateur licence and became the top points scoring rider in AMA District 36 (Northern California). He was also top scorer at Hayward Speedway, who presented him with a 7 feet high trophy in recognition of his achievements. By 1968 he had become one of the top amateur winning several amateur nationals. despite Rice having won 6 events and Romeo one.

In 1971 Rice was captain of the American BSA racing team and a member of the American team that participated in the 1971 Anglo-American Match Races. He also participated in an AMA road safety campaign that was broadcast on radio and tv stations in America.

Rice won two events in 1972, his home race of the San Jose Mile and the Colorado Springs Mile, where he finished the race with a broken shoulder after clipping the inside barrier. He finished 6th in the championship that season.