Techincal Speaker Bios

Leo Goff

Leo’s professional mechanical career started in the mid-sixties, when he worked as a mechanic at a local dealership in his hometown of Memphis, TN. He gained valuable experience working on Indians, Matchless, Norton, Ducati, Moto Guzzi, and several other brands which were sold, or had been sold, by the dealership. In the fall of 1969, he opened his own repair shop, and later sold Norton, Hodaka, Ossa, Laverda, Jawa, and CZ Motorcycles.

Always having an interest in hi-performance and racing, Leo’s interest in drag racing found him building some of the quickest motorcycles on the streets of Memphis throughout the seventies for his customers. His Nortons were extremely successful on the drag strips around the south, and Leo became noted for his engine building and tuning skills with Norton, and other brands as well.

Leo competed in National events starting in the late sixties, and soon set and held several national records, and winning national events. This cumulated in his winning the I.D.B.A Super Eliminator Championship number one plate with his Norton Powered Drag bike in 1984, and being awarded several achievement awards along the way, one being the Mechanic of the Year award given by the I.D.B.A.

Leo currently works with many race teams, including Babe DeMay’s Yamaha sponsored Memphis Shades Flat Track Team, several successful “New Triumph” race teams, as well as several automotive race teams involved with Ferrari, Porsche, Audi, BMW, and VW.

John Healy

John Healy is a life long British motorcycle enthusiast. A bit misdirected at age 15, his first bike was a ground up restoration of a basket case 1947 Indian Chief. While restoring this bike he got to know the local Indian, Triumph, Norton, BSA, Velocette, Ducati, and Matchless dealer, Pete Andrews in Boston, Massachusetts. Starting in 1959, it was working for Pete that his love affair of British bikes, especially Triumph, started. In 1966, with the financial help from Pete, John and his wife Susan opened a Triumph dealership in the Boston area, which they ran as a family business until it all came to an end in 1983 when the co-operative closed their doors.

In the early seventies he started manufacturing, importing and distributing British parts wholesale to British dealers around the country under the name Coventry Spares, Ltd.. He still distributes such components as Hepolite, Amal, Lucas, JCC and sources bits from all around the world to keep these Brit bikes running. John also offers the one of the largest selections of Vincent parts in the U.S.

For the past ten years John has done technical seminars across the nation at such venues as Vintage Motorcycle Days and Triumph Come Home Rally - Lake Cachuma, California and will share some of his knowledge about Brit bikes and especially the secrets and mysteries of Amal carburetors.

John also publishes Vintage Bike which is the quarterly newsletter of the Triumph International Owners Club. Along with technical articles written by John, the pages hold articles from the likes of Kevin Cameron, Mick Duckworth (ex-editor of Classic Bike) and Jim Reynolds. John also is moderator for the Triumph Forum on: www.Britbike.com

Don Hutchinson

Don Hutchinson of Hutchinson Cycles of Wake Field, Mass., has been in the business of motorcycle restoration for 45 years. He is considered an expert in all aspects of motorcycle restoration - particularly paintwork - and is considered “the True Supplier of correct paint for most popular British bikes.” His first ambition was to be a chemist, but then he discovered motorcycles. His first was a 1948 Indian.

Matthew Wiley

Matthew Wiley has a passion for Vintage Motorcycles. With 25+ years in the Powersports Industry as a Technician, Shop Owner, Technical Trainer & Moto Journalist he heads up Race Tech’s Vintage Program & AHRMA Track Support Services as well as Facilitating Customer Education at major Touring Rallies & the International Motorcycle Shows. Matthew rides his 1983 Yamaha Seca Turbo Coast to Coast working events for Race Tech logging over 20k miles on two wheels each year.

Gunnar Lindstrom

Lindstrom grew up on a farm in Sweden, not far from the Husqvarna factory and his childhood ambition was to design motorcycles for the company.

As soon as he turned 16, Lindstrom began racing in all types of motorcycle competition in Sweden on street bikes that he’d modified into off-road machines. 

At first, Lindstrom studied agriculture in college with the idea of staying in the family business. But he soon decided to follow his dream and switched to engineering. During college, he continued to race enduros and motocross with good success.

After graduating from college, Lindstrom fulfilled his lifelong ambition and went to work for Husqvarna. His first job for the company was as a test rider of a Military bike but he soon moved into engineering, developing chassis and suspension.

Lindstrom’s racing career continued and he became one of the top Swedish motocross riders. He also competed in select Grand Prix Motocross races across Europe.

It was during the late 1960s that motocross really began to take off in America and Lindstrom  helped usher in the sport and was one of the top riders in the early Trans-AMA and Inter-AMA Series.

After leaving Husky in 1974, Lindstrom became editor of Dirt Bike magazine. Under his guidance, more emphasis was placed on testing motorcycles and Lindstrom’s engineering background helped introduce a new level of professionalism to the magazine, and it was during this time he developed the now well known Gunnar Gasser throttle grip.

In 1978, Honda brought Lindstrom in to manage its motocross racing program. A few years later, he moved into the automotive division where he retired in 2008 as a senior manager of American Honda's Alternative Fuel Vehicle Programs. This finally gave him and friends Tosh Konya and Torsten Hallman time to complete the book  “Husqvarna success”, a book that had been in the making for more than a decade. It was released in August of 2010.