Larry Lawrence | April 10, 2024
Pat Hennen, the first American to win a 500cc World Championship Grand Prix Road Race, died on Saturday, April 6, according to friends. He was 70.
Pat Hennen, the first American to win a 500cc World Championship Grand Prix Road Race, died at the age of 70 on April 6.
His victory at the 1976 Finland GP paved the way for a flood of American riders who would come to dominate the sport. Hennen began his career in 1972 as an AMA dirt-track and road-racing competitor. His rapidly rising career was ended prematurely by a crash at the Isle of Man TT in 1978. Hennen’s short but brilliant career was an inspiration to all American road racers of his era. He proved that an American could win in the highest echelon of motorcycle racing at a time when few believed it could be done.
Hennen grew up honing his skills riding regional dirt track and scrambles races across Northern California in the late 1960s and early ’70s. He rapidly became one of the top up-and-coming riders in the region.
After a successful AMA Novice and Junior class career, Hennen became an expert in 1975, signed with Suzuki and focused primarily on road racing. He earned his first podium as an Expert in the prestigious Daytona 200 in 1976 when he took third behind World Champion Johnny Cecotto and second-place finisher Gary Nixon.
Hennen’s racing career was short but left a strong legacy.
No matter how unexpected Hennen’s 1976 Daytona 200 finish was, it paled in comparison to what he pulled off in Imatra, Finland, on August 1, 1976. That was the day that Hennen raced into history by winning the Finish Grand Prix to become the first American rider to win a World Championship 500cc Grand Prix road race. So unexpected was his victory in Finland that organizers didn’t have a soundtrack of the U.S. National Anthem. Hennen wore a cowboy hat on the podium—a tribute to his father who was once a professional rodeo cowboy—much to the delight of the European photographers.
“My friend, Tepi [Lansivuori], helped me win that race,” Hennen said in a 1977 interview. “That was his home track. I had some problems in practice and didn’t get many laps. He let me follow him in practice to learn the place. It’s a long street circuit, about four miles around, and even where it’s straight, there’s a jump. You could just go over it or use it as a launching pad. Tepi showed me that, among other things.”
Hennen would finish the ’76 season ranked third in the 500cc Motorcycle Grand Prix World Championship.
Hennen was the first American superstar in Grand Prix racing, giving the nation its first win in the 500cc World Championship at Imatra, Finland, in 1976. Here, Hennen is depicted in typical style, on the gas, rear wheel in the air, as he rides away from the world’s best to that famous Finnish win. Photography by Gold & Goose
In 1977, Hennen scored a victory in the British Grand Prix at Silverstone riding a Suzuki. He took four other podium finishes and once again finished third in the final World standings.
In 1978, Hennen was entering his prime. He opened the season with a dominating performance in the Trans-Atlantic Match Races, regularly beating Kenny Roberts and Barry Sheene in the process of becoming the top scorer in the prestigious event. He then proceeded to win the Spanish Grand Prix at Jarma and took the World Championship points lead.
“All I heard when I went to the GPs in 1978 was that I had to beat Barry Sheene,” Roberts said. “I was surprised when it turned out that Pat was the rider to beat that year. He was a very steady rider. You felt good racing hard against him. He didn’t do anything spectacular or crazy. He was just solid and fast.”
By midseason, Roberts and Hennen were in a close battle for the World Championship. Hennen had a win and three other podiums and was just six points behind Roberts after the Italian round at Mugello.
There was a break in the GP schedule and Hennen agreed to race the Isle of Man at the request of Suzuki Great Britain. It would prove to be his final race. A crash there left Hennen with a career-ending head injury. He would recover over time but suffered lasting effects from the injury and never returned to racing. Hennen’s rival Kenny Roberts would go on to win the championship that year to become the first American to win the 500cc Grand Prix World Championship.
Despite being forced out of racing in the prime of his career, Hennen left a strong legacy. His victory in Finland in 1976 was a seminal event in the history of American racing. It helped change the face of GP racing and opened the door for many American riders who followed in Hennen’s footsteps.
Hennen was inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2007.
