Each year at the ceremony inducting a new class into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame, an existing Hall of Fame member is honored as an AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame Legend. For 2017, the recipient of that honor is Bill Werner, the most successful tuner and bike builder in AMA Grand National Championship history.
“No one knows more about building a winning flat-track bike than AMA Motorcycle Hall of Famer Bill Werner,” said Ken Ford, chair of the American Motorcycle Heritage Foundation Board of Directors. “Werner-built Harley-Davidson XR750s have won more AMA Grand National Championships and more races than any other machine, and his mechanical brilliance has elevated not just those racing his bikes, but the competitiveness of the sport itself.
Werner, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2000, will be honored Sept. 22 during AIMExpo at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Columbus, Ohio, alongside the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame Class of 2017.
“First of all, I would like to congratulate the current class of inductees who are being welcomed into this prestigious institution,” Werner said. “As for me, I am thrilled by this honor. It is quite unexpected. Typically, racers get most of the attention and deservedly so, and being selected as a tuner is very flattering.”
Werner-tuned motorcycles include those that powered Hall of Famers Gary Scott, Jay Springsteen and Scott Parker to a total of 13 AMA Grand National Championships. Werner is easily the winningest tuner in AMA Grand National racing history, with more than 150 wins to his credit.
Reservations for the induction ceremony may be made at www.americanmotorcyclist.com/induction.