Cycle News Staff | June 15, 2024
A memorial and celebration of life for Sammy Tanner was held at Southern California Motorcycles in Brea, California, on June 1, 2024. Steve Wise, AMA Hall of Fame Racer and Pastor, officiated the event.
Dirt track legend and long-time Arai Helmet distributor Sammy Tanner passed away at the age of 84 on September 21, 2023. Photo: Courtesy AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame
Isaiah Canales took an honorary lap for Sammy Tanner at Industry Hills Expo Center in Tanner’s leathers at the season opener of 2024 Southern California Speedway series.
Richard T. Haight recently shared some photos and words with us from the event:
Although it has been a few months since we lost “The Flying Flea,” riders, family, friends and fans from around the country flew in, drove in or walked in and gathered on Saturday to honor a legend of the “Golden Era” of flat track racing, Samuel Edward Tanner, known to us as Sammy, the “Flying Flea” Tanner.
Sammy Tanner was one of the fastest and most successful mile and half-mile racers of an era that included almost every well-known rider in America. From early names like Joe Leonard, Al Gunter, Neal Keen, Bart Markel, Carrol Resweber, and Dick Mann, to others like Shorty Seaborn, Elliot Schultz, Gary Nixon, Mert Lawill, Dave Aldana, Keith Mashburn and Gene Romero.
Born in Houston Texas in 1939 to Frederick and Erna, Sammy started racing as a teenager. Although Sammy had originally bought a Sprint car, with the idea of racing it, it scared the heck out of him, and he sold it and bought a motorcycle, and soon became quite good racing in the various Midwest County Fair circuits.
One day, a fellow racer told him that he ought to go to California and race. This was about the time that J.C. Agajanian was about to open the famed Ascot Park. Sammy had a bright idea, although one he never imagined would never work. Shortly thereafter, Sammy placed a “Collect” call to J.C. Agajanian. Sammy never thought that anyone would accept a collect call, much less that J.C. himself would answer the phone. Sammy’s next idea was to ask for more money than he had ever earned from racing. They made a deal for $200, a lot of money back in the day when gas was less than 35 cents a gallon! Sammy and J.C. agreed that he would race three events for J.C. at Ascot. Sammy brought his BSA Gold Star to California, and to the surprise of a lot of people, won the first half mile race at Ascot, beating the local hero Al Gunter.
Unbeknownst to Sammy, the shop that sponsored him, in Texas, also sponsored Al Gunter. Oops! As it turned out they were not happy and demanded that he return the bike. Left without a motorcycle to ride, and worried that he wouldn’t get paid by J.C. for the three-race contract, always honest, he told J.C. about it, and J.C. referred him to Johnson Motors, the Triumph distributor for the west coast. Johnson Motors built him a new T100 racer in a week. The next week, he won again at Ascot and again for the next 5 out of 6 races. As they say, the rest is history.
Not long thereafter Sammy hooked up with another legend, C.R. Axtell, or “Ax” as he was known. Ax built one of the fastest Gold Stars in AMA History, and Sammy went on to win the legendary Springfield Mile, and many other AMA National events. He also won the “8 Mile National” at Ascot no less than four times, breaking the race record by over six seconds. Sammy had a natural talent for racing on two wheels. As some of his famous competitors have stated, Sammy had “Style.” Call it what you like, he had a natural knack for it. All in all, Sammy won over 400 Half-Mile races in his career. As a result, and well deserved, Sammy was honored to be inducted into the AMA Hall of Fame in 1999.
Chris Agajanian in center with 2 of Sammy’s friends
As his racing career was drawing to a close, Sammy opened a parts and accessories distributorship, and through a chance encounter, eventually became one of the first Arai Helmet distributors in America. Sammy was honest and treated people well. He successfully served both racers and street riders for over 50 years, and attended thousands of races and events. Racing and meeting people was his joy in life. He lived on it. Later on Sammy became a supporter of Speedway Racing, and attended as many events as possible to show his support.
Unfortunately, on September 21, 2023 Samuel Edward “Sammy” Tanner, the Flying Flea, succumbed to a massive stroke and we lost one of the greats. Sammy is survived by his three children Jack, Laurie and Chris; and his grandchildren McKenna, Jordan and Keith, as well as great grandchildren Kai, Rafe and Hazel.
God Speed Sammy!