Between the Races: Don Emde

There’s a lot we could talk about with Don Emde, the winner of the 1972 Daytona 200, owner of Don Emde Publishing, author of the book The Daytona 200: The History of America’s Premier Motorcycle Race, publisher of Parts magazine, and much more. During this particular email conversation, however, we were primarily interested in discussing Riders for Health’s American operations and their activities at the upcoming Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix.

In addition to his many other responsibilities, Don Emde is playing a big part in Riders for Health's U.S. efforts. Photo courtesy of Emde

RRX: I know Riders for Health is growing its American presence. Can you talk a little about that?
Don Emde: I started attending a few Grand Prix races each year back around 2000, and at each race I would see my old friend Randy Mamola. He would often have a Riders for Health shirt on as he was going about his various TV and other duties and before long we got to talking about the Riders for Health charity and how he, Andrea Coleman, and her husband Barry got it started twenty years ago. And as time went on I would also see news releases about big fundraisers like the Day of Champions at Donington Park, and eventually I asked the question, “Why isn’t there anything going on in the United States like you’re doing in Europe for Riders for Health?” The answer was that no one over here had really stepped forward to get things properly organized and running, so I volunteered for the job.

Has having an actual U.S. office with Lisa Bakker helped?
Yes. While there is a growing list now of volunteers, Lisa is the only actual employee of Riders for Health in the United States. She has an office in Chicago which runs the Riders for Health II operation, a 501(c)3 organization that supports Riders for Health in this country. She has been very supportive for the volunteer activities and also does some liaison work for us with the main organization in England.

Riders for Health's Day of Stars will take place on Thursday of next week, just before the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix. Andrew Northcott photo

There are now Northern California and Southern California chapters. Is it possible for groups of supporters to start their own chapters?
For sure there can be, and will be, additional chapters formed around the country. We already have interest coming from the Chicago and Atlanta areas and I know there are many more people out there with ideas and interest in helping grow the awareness and fundraising programs here in the USA. What I’m doing, along with other key people in our volunteer program like Howell Tumlin here in the L.A. area, Adam Silver up in Northern California, and others, is to be facilitators who can help people either organize a chapter, or perhaps hold just a single fundraising event, dealer open house, or something like that. I welcome a conversation with anyone who has that kind of interest.