The AMA has just announced that Mitch Payton will be the first member of the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame Class of 2010. Payton's racing career was cut short at the age of 17 due to an injury, but his passion for the sport never died. Payton has been active in the motorcycle community since the 70's, and in 1991 he became the owner of the Pro Circuit racing team.
Since then, Payton and his Pro Circuit racing team have won 26 AMA Pro Championships in both Motocross and Supercross. Payton will be inducted on November 19th, at the Red Rock Resort in Las Vegas.
"In AMA Pro Motocross and Supercross, one team is perhaps more synonymous with winning than any other, Pro Circuit, and the motive force behind that team is one of the industry's most driven individuals, Mitch Payton," said Jack Penton, incoming AMA director of operations and a Hall of Famer himself. "Payton is an architect of not only championship teams, but champions, having developed some of this sport's greatest racers."
"To be in the same Hall of Fame, for that honor, I'm really proud about that," Payton said. "It's there forever. It means that anyone looking back on history years from now will see what you've done."
