Rider

The Phoenix native was the first American to win a 500cc World Championship Grand Prix and was battling inductee Kenny Roberts for the 1978 title when an Isle of Man TT accident ended his career. Hennen’s first major success was winning the 1974 junior event at Daytona. Three more wins that year made him the AMA’s top junior road racer. Racing Down Under during the 1974 and ’75 off-season, he took the New Zealand Marlboro Championship both years. In 1975, he was part of the US team that won the Trans-Atlantic Match Races. His breakthrough GP win came at Finland in 1976. An outcome so unexpected the organizers didn’t have a copy of the Star-Spangled-Banner. Hennen finished third in the 1976 and ’77 championships. He began 1978 as top scorer in the Trans-Atlantic Match Races, over Roberts and Barry Sheene. A Jarama win and multiple podiums put him neck-and-neck with Roberts for the title when he entered the TT to please a sponsor. He was inducted into the AMA Hall of Fame in 2007.