From a press release issued by AHRMA:

Tommy McDermott: AHRMA Daytona grand marshal

Tommy McDermott’s third-place finish at the 1954 Daytona 200, part of BSA’s top-five sweep of the race, was unquestionably a high point of his motorcycling career. But in some quarters, McDermott is better known as the first American to earn a gold medal in the “Olympics of motorcycling,” the International Six Days Trial, doing so on his first try. He was truly a competitor who could do it all, and do it well.

McDermott will serve as grand marshal for the American Historic Racing Motorcycle Association’s Florida Bike Week festivities. Along with the other AHRMA Great Men, he will be available for autographs and photos at 1 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 29, at the American Motorcycle Institute in Daytona Beach, and then at 11 a.m. on Monday and Tuesday, March 1 and 2, at Daytona International Speedway as part of AHRMA’s Classics Days roadracing there.

Born in 1931 in Glen Falls, N.Y., McDermott began his competition career at age 16, flat tracking a BSA 350. He moved to the AMA Expert ranks in 1948. Along the way, he also got interested in off-road competition, once finishing third in the 500-mile Jackpine Enduro.

Invited by BSA to come to England for the season in 1949, the 18-year-old competed with the works scrambles team with impressive success and even demonstrated skill as a speedway racer. At the ISDT in Wales that year, he became the first American to win gold, hitting all the checks on time despite a crash-damaged wheel. One motorcycle British publication referred to McDermott as “an American over here to see how we do things. If he stays much longer he will be showing us!”

McDermott’s first ride at Daytona had also taken place in 1949, when he logged a sixth-place finish. His 1950 Daytona yielded a third, but then military service in Korea took him away from the next three 200s. Then came the Daytona ‘54 and his third-place ride on a Gold Star behind fellow BSA riders Bobby Hill and Dick Klamfoth, and ahead of Al Gunter and Ken Eggers in fourth and fifth.

McDermott managed only a 62nd-place finish the next year, but rebounded with a fourth in 1956 and a fifth in ‘57. He rode Daytona three more times, with mixed results. All of his rides were aboard BSAs.

Today McDermott owns a Harley-Davidson franchise in Fort Ann, N.Y. He was inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum in 2000.

McDermott will be joined at Daytona by his fellow 1954 BSA Daytona teammates Hill, Klamfoth, Eggers and Eugene Thiessen, all of whom will be available for photos, autographs and reminiscing about of one Daytona’s most amazing races. Others taking part in the AHRMA Great Men program at Daytona International Speedway and the American Motorcycle Institute include:

• Chet Dykgraff, the American Motorcyclist Association’s first national champion in 1946.
• Al Knapp, AHRMA’s elder statesman of roadracing.
• Johnny Knapp, veteran Michigan dirt tracker.
• Dave Munganest, renowned ISDE rider and off-road competitor.
• Gary Nixon, two-time AMA Grand National Champion.
• Jeff Smith, twice World 500cc Motocross Champion.
• Jay Springsteen, three-time AMA Grand National Champion.
• John Tibben, veteran Iowa dirt tracker and roadracer.
• Bill Tuman, member of the Indian Wrecking Crew and 1953 national champ.

For a complete schedule of events and other information, visit the AHRMA Bike Week preview page at www.ahrma.org.