Rider Profile: The Hardin Family
– Father J.C., Son Jerry, and Son Bryan
J.C. Hardin was born on August 8th, 1938 in Mayfield, Kentucky and moved to Pontiac, Michigan in 1953. He then moved to Ortonville, Michigan where he still lives today. J.C. worked for G.M.C. at the Fisher Body Plant from 1963 until December of 1999. He had married his wife Dorris
on September 4th, 1956, and would welcome his first son the following year and his second son in 1965.
J.C. bought his first bike in 1961, which was a 500cc Triumph. He started off riding on the street and riding enduros and even took 3rd place in the Jackpine 500 miler. He would try a Hillclimb, race lots of scrambles, road raced at Daytona 3 times and earned the rank of Junior in the flat track ranks by 1968. He had some great races from 1968 up until he retired in 1970.
After J.C. retired from racing, he went on to open a motorcycle shop in 1971 and it was called ABC Cycle Shop. The shop was located in Pontiac, Michigan and then later in Waterford, Michigan until 1981. During that time, he was also helping his two sons race during the 1970s and up until the early 1980s.
J.C.’s first-born son, Jerry Bruce Hardin, was born on October 1st, 1957. At the age of 8 years old Jerry got his first bike, a M50 Harley-Davidson. He would go on to trail ride and then start racing by the age of 14 years old. He would go on to ice race, scramble race, dirt track race, as well as continue to trail ride on motorcycles. Jerry earned his professional dirt track racing license by the age of 18. He made the rank of Junior Pro and had some respectable finishes but never committed to racing full time. Jerry had also started working for General Motors and wanted to start a family. He raced a limited number of races and decided to call it quits on his racing career by 1986. Jerry had a nice family and a career at G.M.C. but he passed away on March 18th, 2023.
Bryan Heath Hardin was the second-born son of J.C. Hardin, and he was born on October 16th, 1965. Bryan received his first motorcycle at the age of 8 years old. It was a 60cc Yamaha. He would start with trail riding and then eventually start racing dirt track, TT Scrambles, ice racing, 1 motocross race, and eventually indoor ice racing.
Bryan would make his name racing the indoor ice racing series and at professional
dirt track racing. He earned his professional flat track racing license in 1982 and would earn the expert status in less than one year as he won most of the junior races that he competed in. His very first race as an expert was at the famous Indy Mile Race and he qualified for the main event on his very first try. His second attempt was at Flamboro Downs in Canada where he took second place behind Ted Boody Jr.
Bryan’s third expert race was at Syracuse, and he looked very fast that day until he had a crash that resulted in him breaking his back in 7 places. He was out for the rest of 1983 and all of 1984. He came back in 1985 but only raced part-time from 1985 through 1990. Although Bryan never earned an expert win, he was still very fast and well-respected. In recent years Bryan is a flag man at the Red Bud Professional Motocross Racetrack in Buchanan, Michigan and can still be seen at some of the ice races and dirt track races around Michigan.
All three of these Hardin Men had racing careers that saw them excel in multiple disciplines of racing. They were able to race with and at times defeat some of the top racers in the sport.
Story by: Stan Prapotnik
Sources by:
J.C. Hardin, Bryan Hardin, Bert Sumner-AMA Race Records, Sherri Stratton
