Don't have 30 minutes to sit and read the Ron Lechien story? I'll read it to you! This is the audio version of
"Making of the Machine: A Ron Lechien Story", originally published in July 2019. Read by the author, Brett Smith.
The original story was published in July 2019, during the voting process for the AMA
Motorcycle Hall of Fame class of 2019. Lechien got the votes (after spending 3 years on the ballot) and was officially inducted on December 6, 2019. We Went Fast attended the Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Just before dinner started, DMXS’ Kevin Kelly and I lobbied with The Dogger to make some last minute changes to the speech he worked hard on. He laughed and said he was already nervous enough.
It was a heavy and emotional night for a guy that (at least to us bleacher rats) always seemed to handle pressure easily. Rob Buydos, a member of the HOF MX committee, introduced Lechien and Jeff Emig presented him the ring and then Ronnie gave a grateful speech to close the evening.
After the ceremony ended, a small group of us broke into a bench racing session about which MX legend should be next on the ballot.