Sugar Ray Robinson s 1950. Tiger Woods 2000. Serena Williams 2015. Few people know Ray Tauscher, or that his 1931 accomplishments could fit on this list, but the Portland motorcycle racer s 12-month tear reached similar historic levels of solo athletic performance. That was the year Tauscher captured four world championships across Australia, England and France. He really had the perfect year, says local documentarian Ned Thanhouser, who (alongside his son Michael) directed a new short film about Tauscher s racing career and Oregon ties.
Ray Tauscher: America s Forgotten World Champion Motorcycle Racer attempts to reclaim a dirt-track dynamo s legendary status from nearly a century ago. Building the legend isn t all that difficult, given Tauscher s own biography. His life begins with a mythic rise in the Northwest, intersects with an Australian racing master (Frank Arthur) and bumps up against rivals with names like Broadside Vic Huxley.