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Burt Munro
New Zealand motorcycle racer (1899-1978) · New Zealand · Athletes · Died at 78
Burt Munro is read about 684 times a day, in 19 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 8 October 2026
The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 76 days, one point a day.
Something wrong?At 68, riding a motorcycle he'd spent two decades rebuilding in his shed, a New Zealander set a land speed record at Bonneville that still hasn't been touched - nearly 60 years later.
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About this person
Herbert James Munro bought a 1920 Indian Scout the year it rolled off the line and spent the next 20 years tearing it down and reassembling it in Invercargill, working alone. He set his first New Zealand speed record in 1938, then seven more, before turning his attention to the Bonneville Salt Flats. Over ten trips to the Utah desert, he set three American Motorcyclist Association national records. The last came on 26 August 1967 in the 1000cc Streamliner Modified Fuel category - Munro was 68, the machine was 47, and the mark has stood ever since. Roger Donaldson made a short documentary about him in 1971, then returned to the story in 2005 with Anthony Hopkins in The World's Fastest Indian.
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