54 Facts About Yvon Duhamel

Yvon Duhamel was a French Canadian professional motorcycle and snowmobile racer.

Yvon Duhamel's motorcycle racing career spanned the transition from the 60 horsepower four-stroke motorcycles of the 1960s, to the 100 horsepower two-stroke motorcycles of the 1970s.

Yvon Duhamel developed a reputation as a tenacious competitor who always raced at his complete limit with great intensity and skill.

Yvon Duhamel competed all year, racing motorcycles in the summer, then switching to snowmobile racing in the winter.

Yvon Duhamel became one of the first factory supported snowmobile racers when he was selected to drive for the Ski-Doo factory racing team in 1969.

Yvon Duhamel's snowmobile racing accomplishments culminated with his induction into the Snowmobile Hall of Fame in 1988.

Yvon Duhamel was born in Montreal, Canada where he became an avid bicyclist and established a small bicycle repair shop when he was only 13-years-old.

In 1957, when Yvon Duhamel was 17, he began ice racing and the following year he began dirt track racing.

Yvon Duhamel supported his racing activities by working 18-hour days at his brother's service station.

Yvon Duhamel won the Canadian Motorcycle Association's prestigious White Memorial Trophy given to the best performance by a Canadian rider in all racing disciplines six times.

Yvon Duhamel won the CMA 500cc senior championship in 1961 and 1962, then won the CMA 250cc expert championship in 1964.

Davis helped launch Yvon Duhamel's professional racing career by connecting him with Trevor Deeley, the Canadian distributor for Yamaha motorcycles.

Yvon Duhamel's timing was fortuitous as, Yamaha was about to introduce new two stroke engined motorcycles that would go on to dominate the next decade of motorcycle racing.

In 1967, Canada hosted its first World Championship Grand Prix race at the Mosport Circuit, where Yvon Duhamel placed fourth in the 250cc class behind world championship regulars Mike Hailwood, Phil Read and Ralph Bryans.

Yvon Duhamel began competing for the Deeley Yamaha team at AMA races in the United States such as the Daytona 200 and the Loudon Classic.

Yvon Duhamel raced in AMA Grand National dirt track events during this period with his best result being a sixth place in the 1968 Sacramento Mile, but uncompetitive dirt track machinery kept him from seriously contesting the Grand National championship.

Yvon Duhamel participated in the opening round of the 1968 Inter-AMA motocross series in Pepperell, Massachusetts riding a CZ motorcycle against European factory racers such as Roger De Coster, Joel Robert and Bengt Aberg.

Yvon Duhamel returned to Daytona in March 1969 and repeated his victory in the Daytona 250 lightweight class, beating future 250cc world champion Rodney Gould.

Yvon Duhamel then accomplished one of his most impressive achievements at Daytona when he won the pole position for the 1969 Daytona 200, becoming the first rider to qualify for the event with a lap speed above 150 mph.

Yvon Duhamel won the 250cc class at Indianapolis in 1969.

That winter, Yvon Duhamel achieved one of the most impressive victories of his snowmobile racing career when he won the 1970 World Championship Snowmobile Derby held in Eagle River, Wisconsin.

In March 1970 at the Daytona 200, Yvon Duhamel's aggressive riding style was highlighted when, he was relegated to the last row of the starting grid because he had crashed during his qualifying heat race.

Once the race started, Yvon Duhamel moved up through the field from 79th place to challenge for third place before finishing in fourth place at the end of the race.

Yvon Duhamel placed ninth on a Yamaha TD2 borrowed from a local Yamaha distributor.

Yvon Duhamel started the 1971 season poorly, with crashes at the Daytona 200 as well as the following round at Road Atlanta.

Yvon Duhamel battled back and forth with Gary Nixon for the lead in the first heat, but the Kawasaki's fuel consumption forced him to make a pit stop for fuel, handing the victory to Nixon.

For 1972 season, White departed and Yvon Duhamel was joined by new teammates Gary Nixon and Paul Smart.

At the 1972 Indianapolis national, Yvon Duhamel surged into the lead only to have to make a pit stop for mechanical adjustments before rejoining the race in 17th place.

At the season ending Champion Spark Plug Classic held at the Ontario Motor Speedway, Yvon Duhamel showed his aggressive racing style against a field of international competitors that included; Phil Read, Jarno Saarinen, Renzo Pasolini, Kel Carruthers, and Kenny Roberts.

Yvon Duhamel was forced to start the race from the last row of the starting grid after crashing during his qualifying heat race.

Yvon Duhamel continued to charge through the field to capture the race lead by lap 16, only to crash out of the race while trying to pass a lapped rider.

Yvon Duhamel started the second leg from the last row due to his first leg crash and worked his way through the field from 37th to 12th place but, retired due to his injury from his first race crash.

Yvon Duhamel ended the series as the top individual points leader with one victory along with two second place finishes.

Yvon Duhamel finished tenth for Junie Donlavey in the No 90 Truxmore Ford after starting 15th, completing 381 laps of the 400-lap race.

Yvon Duhamel recovered to win the last two road races of the season with victories at the Charlotte and Ontario speedways.

Yvon Duhamel's career was impacted by the introduction of the Yamaha TZ750 in 1974 as, the Yamaha became the dominant road racing motorcycle for the next decade with riders such as Kenny Roberts and Steve Baker.

Yvon Duhamel returned as the North American team captain for the 1974 Transatlantic Trophy match races however, because Kawasaki had reduced their racing budget, Duhamel was forced to ride substandard machines.

Yvon Duhamel beat Kenny Roberts and set a new lap record in the first race of the series held at the Brands Hatch circuit but, he proceeded to crash out of subsequent races due to piston seizures.

Yvon Duhamel sat out the last race of the series out of frustration with his equipment.

At the season-opening French Grand Prix held at the challenging Circuit de Charade, Yvon Duhamel's Kawasaki suffered a mechanical failure on the third lap of the race.

Kawasaki introduced the KR750 for the 1975 season and, Yvon Duhamel used it to place a close second to multi-time world champion Giacomo Agostini at the 1975 Paul Ricard 200 race, despite having to make two fuel stops to Agostini's one stop.

Yvon Duhamel returned to the Assen Circuit on July 9,1975, and won the Dutch round of the 1975 Formula 750 season.

Yvon Duhamel competed in the FIM Endurance World Championship at the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans and teamed up with Jean-Francois Balde to place third at the 1975 Bol d'Or 24-hour endurance race.

Many of the top American motorcycle racers did not consider production class motorcycles as proper racing machinery and were disdainful of the new race category, however Yvon Duhamel's participation gave credibility to the fledging class.

Yvon Duhamel was the sole rider on the Kawasaki factory team in 1976, signed to enter in only three AMA races as he began to reduce his riding schedule.

Yvon Duhamel had lost his motivation due to the frequent mechanical failures of the Kawasaki as, the Yamaha TZ750 began to dominate the 750cc class.

Yvon Duhamel scored two more podium results in the Canadian rounds of the Formula 750 championship in 1977 and 1978 in his final appearances as a member of the Kawasaki factory racing team.

Never officially retired, Yvon Duhamel reduced his racing activities in the 1980s as he became involved in his sons' racing careers.

Yvon Duhamel funded their early motorcycle racing and helped driving their motor home to race venues.

Yvon Duhamel continued to race in historic motorsport events as a member of Team Obsolete in the AHRMA Historic National Series.

Yvon Duhamel was forced to stop racing after suffering injuries in a bad crash during a vintage motorcycle event at the Mosport Circuit.

Yvon Duhamel was inducted into the Snowmobile Hall of Fame in 1988, both the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame and the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1999 and, in 2007 he was inducted into the Canadian Motorcycle Hall of Fame.

Yvon Duhamel died on August 17,2021, in La Salle, Quebec, at the age of 81.

Yvon Duhamel, who raced with the number 17 on his motorcycles, was born and died on the 17th day of the month.