John Penton

John Alfred Penton (August 19, 1925 – September 7, 2025) was an American professional motorcycle racer and businessman who developed an enduro motorcycle brand that bore his name. A national champion enduro rider, he was an influential figure in the development of off-road motorcycle racing in the United States during the 1960s and 1970s. A lifelong resident of the Amherst, Ohio, area, he grew up on his family's farm there, where he learned how to ride a motorcycle on his father's 1914 Harley-Davidson. The International Six Days Trial is a form of off-road motorcycle Olympics which is the oldest annual competition sanctioned by the FIM dating back to 1913. He was also a long-distance motorcyclist, setting a transcontinental crossing record when he rode a BMW R69S from New York to Los Angeles in 52 hours and 11 minutes, from June 8–10, 1959.

After Penton won the 1966 Jack Pine Enduro on a Husqvarna, the Swedish motorcycle manufacturer named him the distributor of the brand for the eastern United States. Penton sought to capitalize on this boom by providing a lightweight off-road motorcycle.

Personal life and death In 1949, Penton married Katherine Marks, with whom he had three sons. Jack was a multi-time ISDE winner who was inducted into the AMA Hall of Fame in 2009.

Nineteen days after turning 100, Penton died at a care facility in Amherst, Ohio, on September 7, 2025.