“It is effort and concentration that makes life worth while,” those are the words of the legendary Burt Munro and you’ll be able to hear him speak many great words in this 1971 Film called, Burt Munro: Offerings To The God of Speed. When this film was made, Munro was 73 years old. Yes, he was born in 1899! In 1920 Munro saw an Indian Scout and was immediately seduced. For 140-pounds cash he bought the bike which had an acetylene headlamp because he could not afford the one with an electric light. It was that motorcycle that would comes to define his life.
The stories of Munro casting his own pistons, making his own connecting rods, and modifying his 1920 Indian Scout from a machine that originally went 55mph to one that flirted with an even breached the 200mph barrier on a record qualifying run are beyond legend because they are things that actually happened. There’s no real way to explain how awesome Munro’s story is. How his smile hid one of the more tenacious people of the 20th century and how his ability to scrape, save, and dedicate every waking second to the motorcycle resulted in his ultimate and repeated success. The World’s Fastest Indian documented his life in theatrical style. This is Munro in his own words and it is absolutely spectacular.
One last story. Munro was born Bert Munro but when an American newspaper reporter misspelled his name he forever changed it to Burt. If that doesn’t sum the guy up, we’re not sure what does.
One amazing guy still to this day Burt is an icon at Bonneville