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Five-Time World Champion Ove Fundin Leads Speedway Legends at ‘Hot Shoe’ Hall of Fame Museum & Motorcycle Celebration on Jan. 27
Sweden Two-Wheel Star Joined by Basts, Collins, Orlandi and Diem
LAS VEGAS, Nev. (Jan. 4, 2024) – Five-time World Speedway Champion Ove Fundin of Sweden leads a stellar group of Speedway motorcycle racing inductees into the 2024 “Hot Shoe” Hall of Fame Museum when the popular 2024 “Hot Shoe” Hall of Fame and Motorcycle Industry Celebration takes place on Saturday, Jan. 27, at the Las Vegas’ Notoriety Theatre on the famed Las Vegas Fremont Street Experience (450 E. Fremont St., 3rd Floor).
The event is FREE to all of the attendees.
Fundin, now age 90, complied one of the most successful Speedway racing resumes in two-wheel history including his five World Individual Championships (1956, 1960, 1961, 1963, 1967), six World Team titles for Sweden (1960, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1967, 1970) and one World Pairs Championship (1968) plus three runner-up and three third place finishes in World Speedway Individual events. He was also a nine-time Sweden Speedway champion and four-time South Australian champion.
Joining Fundin in the 2024 “Hot Shoe” Hall of Fame inductees from Speedway competition will be two of the legendary Bast family – Bart and Harlan; former Northern California champion Paul Orlandi; Aidan Collins, a champion racer from England’s Collins racing family; and multi-time U.S. Open champion Warren Diem.
Bart Bast, still competing in California Speedway action, is a former National champion (1998), a multi-time Northern California points titleholder and a three-time Cal Expo champion, while Harlan Bast, who raced until age 81, competed in Northern and Southern California Speedway racing for some 60 years.
Collins, son of British Speedway legend and “Hot’ Shoe” Hall of Fame inductee Les Collins, is a five-time British Flat Track champion, British League Speedway racer and UK Honda factory rider.
Orlandi, nicknamed ‘Mighty Mouse,” raced in various two-wheel forms including Speedway, Flat Track, Motocross, Road Racing and Open Superbikes and captured the 1974 and 1984 Northern California Speedway titles.
Diem, known as “the Warrior,” was a dominant Speedway racer in Eastern competition including capturing the U.S. Open Speedway title six times, the New York State crown seven times, Canadian Speedway championship twice and a two-time World Ice Racing Champion.
“We are so excited to induct this superb 2024 Speedway class into the ‘Hot Shoe’ Hall of Fame led by the legendary Ove Fundin,” said Gene Woods, founder and curator of the “Hot Shoe “ Hall of Fame and Museum at Las Vegas’ Fremont Street. “Ove is one of the greatest Speedway racers ever and he needs to be a part of our sensational ‘Hot Shoe’ group who brought prominence to motorcycling overall. We look forward to saluting our 2024 inductees on Jan. 27 here in Las Vegas. We hope all motorcycle enthusiasts can attend this year’s free celebration.”
At the Jan. 27 Las Vegas event, some 70 new inductees will be a part of the 2024 class for the “Hot Shoe” Hall of Fame and Motorcycle Celebration in the popular “meet and greet” affair at 6 p.m.
In the last three years, Woods, “Hot Shoe” Hall of Fame president Keith Mashburn, the “Hot Shoe” Hall of Fame Board of Directors and the event staff have produced the “Hot Shoe” Hall of Fame Museum Celebrations attended by a star-studded affair of motorcycle legends. The “Hot Shoe” Hall of Fame Museum, full of steel shoes from numerous motorcycle icons, is located at the Gene Woods Racing Experience karting track in the Fremont St. Experience in Las Vegas.
The “Hot Shoe” is the symbol that recognizes the cream of the crop of motorcycle racing stars who used a very specialized tool, the steel shoe, to assist them in navigating the dirt track corners.
For more information on the 2024 “Hot Shoe” Hall of Fame celebration, visit the website at www.hotshoehof.com or on Facebook at “Hot Shoe” Hall of Fame. For Las Vegas hotel discounts, please visit the website at www.hotshoehof.com for these hotels or call El Cortez Hotel, Code – HSHFO124, 800.634.6703 and The “D” Hotel, Code – DCHS24, 702.388.2400.
Contact: Tom Blattler, TB Communications, tomblattlercomm@gmail.com, 317.525.5692
