Pat Hennen was the first American to win a Grand Prix. As such, he was the trailblazer for the American invasion that followed in his wake – riders like Kenny Roberts, Freddie Spencer, Eddie Lawson, Wayne Rainey and Kevin Schwantz went on to dominate 500cc Grands Prix throughout the 1980s and into the early 1990s.
Hennen’s win in Sweden in 1976 was so unexpected that it caught the race organisers off-guard. “When I won the race, the FIM didn’t have the American anthem to play during the awards ceremony because no American had ever won a race,” Hennen said. “so they played the British national anthem instead.” Hennen made amends by wearing a cowboy hat on the podium.
Born in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1953, Pat moved to the San Francisco Bay area with his family at a young age. His father raced sprint cars, meaning Pat was no stranger to racing paddocks and, having learned how to ride on a 50cc Honda Step-Thru in his early teens, he entered his first race aged 14. He recalled: “Some older friends had gotten into dirt bike racing, and I tagged along at a meeting. Someone offered to loan me his step-thru Honda 90 to race and I accepted, even though I had to lie about my age as you had to be 16 to race. I actually managed to bend the frame of the bike on a jump, but the bike’s
