David Bailey's
1985 Race Worn Helmet
Here is a brief history of this helmet from Neal and Ronnie Clark......

A friend of mine said he had found a guy who could do suspension work on bikes. I believe
his name was Jake and the company was Competition Suspension in Southern California .  
My son, Matthew was about 5 or 6 at the time and always came with me to this shop.  Matthew
always thought Jake was a great guy and told Jake his favorite rider was David Bailey.  He
told Jake that David was his hero and watched him on videos all the time.  On one visit to the
shop, Jake told Matthew he wanted to give him something, it was a helmet from David Bailey.
After a discussion of how we could not accept such a gift, we finally left with the helmet.  The
helmet never left Matthew’s room and was always a source of great pride.  My wife, Matthew
and I attended as many pro races as possible and one day I noticed that David was going to
be a VIP at a pro race being held at Glen Helen Raceway in Southern California .  It was a long
shot, but I thought maybe we could take the helmet and get David to sign it.  Well, on the day
of the race we kept an eye out for David and finally saw him.  I ran back to the van, got the
helmet and we walked toward David with Matthew carrying the helmet.  When we reached
David and asked him if he would please autograph the helmet, he thought we had a replica
helmet. After looking at the helmet, he said it was really one of his and told us about the tech
stickers on the back.  We told him how we acquired the helmet and he said he remembered
Jake working on his bike suspension.  David said he did not even have one of these helmets
and Matthew offered to give it to him. David refused and we all walked away thinking that
David Bailey was much more than one of the greatest riders that ever lived.  Meeting David
was a great experience for Matthew and something he never forgot.  It was also about this
time that Matthew participated in the Mickey Thompson Stadium Off- Road events.  There was
an invitational only exhibition for pee wee riders and he did as many as 12 events per year as
far away as Seattle and Denver for about 3 years.  He also got to take part in the autograph
sessions and we had an autograph sheet (see attached) made up that he signed and gave
out.  It was amazing to see him sitting on his bike with people standing in line to get his
autograph (he is 14Y).

Matthew died in a car accident on February 18, 2003, just 14 days after his 16th birthday.  I
know he is happy the helmet has found a good home. Thank you again.

Neal and Ronnie Clark
Matthew Clark signing autographs after a stadium race
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