The Flying Dutchman

The inspiration behind this painting is my long-time love of motorcycle riding and a very active imagination. This was my first picture painted. Rollie Free pictured on the motorcycle to the right held the land speed motorcycle record for almost 20 years.

Roland “Rollie” Free was a motorcycle racer best known for breaking the American motorcycle land speed record in 1948 on the Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah. The picture of Free, prone, and wearing a  bathing suit and borrowed shoes, has been described as the most famous picture in motorcycling. Whereas Rollie usually rode Indian Motorcycles, on the morning of September 13, 1948, Free raised the American motorcycle speed record by riding the very first Vincent to a speed of 150.313 mph. Free used a style of lying flat-prone along the machine’s spine, to minimize wind resistance and move its center of gravity rearward. 

To protect himself and allow comfort when in such a position, Free had developed special protective clothing. However, when his leathers tore from early runs at 147 mph, he discarded them and made a final attempt without a jacket, pants, gloves, boots, or helmet. Free lay flat on the motorcycle wearing only a bathing suit, a shower cap, and a pair of borrowed sneakers. This resulted not only in the record, but also produced one of the most famous photographs in motorcycling history. The photo was taken from a speeding car driven parallel to his run on the Bonneville Salt Flats.

I pondered what it would look like if Rollie was Amish? And thus, the painting was born.

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