Garnet “Bud” Koehler

Garnet Koehler was born in 1931 in New Dundee and purchased his first motorcycle at age 16. Two years later in 1949, Koehler won his first trophy for motorcycle racing. Throughout his career, he participated in road and drag races, dirt and flat-track scrambles, hill climbs and ice racing.

In 1952, Koehler raced in his first Canadian Motorcycle Association (CMA) sanctioned event. And in 1957 he won the CMA’s White Trophy, awarded for the most points earned annually in all types of motorcycle racing in Canada. In 1958, he also began racing competitively in the US, wining dirt track and road races in both countries.

He was the first Canadian to win the American Motorcycle Association 50-mile national amateur race in 1960. In 1962, Koehler won the Ontario half-mile championship.

Koehler won the Canadian national dirt track championship in 1963, but crashed later that year in the provincial championship, suffering severe back injuries that forced him to retire from competitive racing. Koehler was inducted into the Canadian Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2008.