Roger Hull
2001, Promotion
Roger began motorcycling rather late in life, purchasing a used Harley-Davidson Duo Glide, 1961 vintage, in 1966 at the age of 42. This machine was soon named HOUNDAWG, and would become one of the better known Duo Glides among road riders.
In 1969, Roger, along with Jack Denney and George Hays, other motorcyclists who enjoyed road riding and felt there was no specific publication dealing with the subject, founded ROAD RIDER NEWS. The first issue was turned out on a small press in Jack’s garage. This every-other-month publication quickly realized what lead-time was, dropped the NEWS and simply became ROAD RIDER.
As can happen with new endeavors, disputes arose and Roger found himself with a magazine. And, nearly as fast, two more interested road riding people, Bob and Patti Carpenter, joined the team.
Roger’s prime directive was that riding motorcycles was fun and going places was a special experience on a motorcycle. He focused on reliability and function in his publications because he felt that’s what real road riders wanted to know about. Consequently, the magazine grew in format size and became a monthly magazine with a color cover.
One of Roger’s lifetime highlights occurred in 1979 when he was invited to join Malcom Forbes and become the first Americans allowed to ride motorcycles into Russia. He shared the experience with his readers in the October and November 1979 issues of ROAD RIDER.
Other highlights include being the first road rider trustee appointed to the AMA board of directors in 1978 and being presented the Dudley Perkins award over a decade later.
Roger wrote his final Faulty Muffler for the September, 1984 issue of ROAD RIDER, then devoted his time to writing a book. At the time of his death in February, 1995, the book was reportedly in the hands of a publisher.
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