John Penton is now a centenarian as the American off-road motorcycle pioneer celebrated his 100th birthday on Tuesday.

Penton was born on August 19, 1925, and learned to ride motorcycles on his family farm in Amherst, Ohio. After serving in the Merchant Marine and Navy during World War II, he began racing competitively.

Throughout the 1950s, he quickly established himself as a star in the American enduro scene especially. By 1964, the “handsome Lorainite” had 13 national championships in the U.S. or Canada and nearly 300 trophies. He also represented the United States in the International Six Days Trials seven times.

In July 1959, he set the AMA record for the fastest cross-country motorcycle trip from Western Union’s building in New York City to theirs in Los Angeles. Doing the journey “just for kicks” on a BMW R69S, he completed the journey in 52 hours, 11 minutes, and 1 second to smash the previous record of 76 hours. Penton did nearly the entire trip nonstop save for a 45-minute rest because his eyes were tired and to address a mechanical issue.

Outside of racing, he and his brother ran a motorcycle dealership in Amherst where they sold bikes from Birmingham Small Arms, BMW, Husqvarna, and NSU Motorenwerke. Penton’s career took off on a BSA B31 that he raced in the Jack Pine 500-Mile Enduro, and he’d later win the event on an NSU and Husqvarna.

Penton typically preferred European bikes over their American counterparts like Harley-Davidson and Indian because they were lighter and better fit for enduro, hence the makes that his dealership sold. In the 1970s, he partnered with KTM to sell their off-road bikes under the Penton Motorcycle name.

He also developed the early motorcycle-specific boots in partnership with Alpinestars.

Penton was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1998.

His sons Jeff, Jack, and Tom would also follow in his footsteps with success. Jack in particular raced the ISDE 12 times and is also part of the AMA Hall of Fame.