AMA Hall of Famer Gloria Tramontin Struck: Go, Gloria, Go!
At nearly 96, Gloria Tramontin Struck is still riding, still inspiring
May 28, 2021
By Mitch Boehm
Photos: Berit, Inc., and G.T.S. Archive
When you’re talking motorcycling trailblazers, you’ve gotta talk about Gloria Tramontin Struck.
As I’ve written previously, the gal’s life is a literal window on the 20th century, and motorcycling’s unique place in it. From her birth in the 1920s, through the Depression and War years to the bike-crazy ’60s and ’70s and into the current era, Gloria has experienced a lot of stuff most of us only know from history books — and much of it from the saddle of her motorcycle.
“I’ve been very busy of late,” Gloria told us recently, “even as I’ve recovered from the broken leg of last year when I fell in church. [Struck had a rod inserted in her femur from knee to hip. -Ed.] But I’m still alive and kicking! I don’t know any 95-going-on-96-year-old ladies who are a busy as me! [laughs]”
“I’m really looking forward to my 100-year-old ride in about four years,” she added. “Everyone’s waiting for it, all my friends, and I’m hoping I make it that far. A lot of them want to come ride with me when it happens. I’ve healed up pretty well from the fall and surgery, but while I was in the hospital, someone ransacked my home and took a lot of my valuables.”
“I’ve still got books to sell and autograph,” Struck says of her book Gloria: A Lifetime Motorcyclist — 75 years on two wheels and still riding. “I’m happy to autograph them for folks; just order on my Facebook page and I’m happy to do it!”
Gloria Tramontin Struck is indeed motorcycling’s Grand Dame. She’s a trailblazer with a truly epic story, one that in many ways is the story of motorcycling’s amazing first century — and the greatest generation that lived it. Go, Gloria, Go!
Read her story and many more in the May issue of American Motorcyclist.
