by
Steven Cole Smith

IHRA racer Jon H. Falkner, who recently won the IHRA Motorcycle Class at the Division 3 Finals at Keystone Raceway Park near Pittsburgh, was profiled over the weekend by writer Rob Malsom in the Sharon Herald newspaper in Pennsylvania.


In the inspiring story, Malsom wrote that Falkner and a few of his friends started racing drag cars in the 1960s at Sunset Drag Strip on the Hermitage-Mercer border. He then went on to be a musician, and eventually a private pilot and a "wing walker."
"I traveled all over the world and, fortunately, never fell off," said Falkner. "It was kind of a small club. Five out of the 25 of us were not so lucky."
He became a pilot and owned his own airplane, a Varga Kachina.
"I think my wife's (Jeanne) fingerprints are still in the steel frame bars," Falknew told writer Malsom. "During that time I borrowed a plane from a friend, and after a few aerobatics I found myself about six feet deep in the middle of Berlin Reservoir in Mahoning County. Not only did it hurt a bunch, but it was a little expensive."
At the age of 60, Falkner's wife wanted him to do something less dangerous, so he built a motorcycle drag bike. Health issues ground his drag racing to a stop, though, as Falkner suffered a stroke and paralysis seven years ago.
"I thought my racing days were over," he admitted. "After quite a struggle at the gym for several months, I was able to get my entire right side working again and jumped back on the bike."
Now 72, Falkner captured the Division 3 title in Pittsburgh recently. "It is quite an unlikely task from someone that's not a 'spring chicken' anymore. I used to say when I was on the air-show circuit, 'It's a lot of fun when everything is going right.'"