About the Hall of Fame
The AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum
When the AMA was first established in 1924, motorcycling was a recent invention, with only about 20 years of history in the United States. As motorcycling and the AMA have aged, however, its leaders have recognized the need to create a museum to preserve the history of motorcycling in America.
To create this museum, in 1982 the AMA first formed a tax-exempt organization separate from the AMA called the American Motorcycle Heritage Foundation. At the heart of the AMHF’s preservation efforts was the creation of a world-class museum of motorcycling.
Inside the Hall of Fame
The Motorcycle Heritage Museum officially opened its doors to the public in August 1990, located at what was then the AMA’s headquarters in Westerville, Ohio. In June 1999 the museum relocated to a new, 26,000-square-foot facility, the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum, at the AMA’s new — and current — location in Pickerington, Ohio.
That building greatly expanded the museum’s exhibit space and opened with an exhibit titled “75 Years of Excitement” timed to coincide with the AMA’s Diamond Anniversary.
Today, the main exhibit floor at the Hall of Fame showcases the lives and careers of the Hall of Famers, the distinguished men and women whose competitive spirit, passion, vision and entrepreneurship have played a vital role in shaping the sport, lifestyle and business of motorcycling. A secondary hall on the lower level showcases rotating and specially themed exhibits that highlight other notable elements of motorcycle history and culture, as well as examples of historic motorcycles from the museum’s permanent collection.