Fall 2022
WCSA AlumNEWS FROM AGGIE TO CUSTOM BIKE KING: DONNIE SMITH ’60 Over the decades, custom motorcycling has seen good times and bad. Motorcycle builders have been on the top of the heap and relegated to the back alley. But for the faithful, those ingrained wrenches and riders who long ago claimed biking as their life’s work, custom motorcycles are as sublime and necessary as ever. Among those few stalwarts who succeeded in the game is Donnie Smith, a man known for his custom creations not only in the Midwest but around the world. He’ll be the first to tell you that his early riding experiences didn’t exactly predict a happy life on two wheels; no, motorcycles were not his first choice. It was Uncle Elwood that got Donnie involved in bikes. Donnie was raised on his parents’ dairy farm in Donnelly, Minnesota. He graduated from the West Central School of Agricutlure in 1960, and moved to Minneapolis soon after. After a two-year tour of duty with the United States Army, Donnie returned to Minneapolis and set up a performance car shop in Minneapolis One day in the early ‘70s Elwood brought his Sportster into the drag race shop Donnie ran with his brother, Happy, and buddy Bob Fetrow; he
wanted them to rake the bike’s neck. “We were three farm kids; we thought rake was something you did with hay,” said Donnie. Though they also had day jobs and were busy working on the Barracuda Funny Car they planned to race, they did their best for Elwood. Soon Elwood’s friends took notice and the shop— Smith Brothers and Fetrow— Donnie Smith started getting more bike yearbook photo 1960 work. A while later, when someone wanted a Springer and there were none to be found, the guys gave that a try, too. Then girders, and tanks, and fenders and so it went. After a year or so their bookkeeper said, “You know, if you got rid of that race car you could make a living out of this motorcycle thing.” So they did. Now one of the top builders in the nation, Donnie Smith Custom Cycles in Blaine, Minnesota, produces motorcycling masterpieces. Along with American Thunder Productions, Donnie hosts “The Donnie Smith Bike Show” in St. Paul. Donnie was inducted into the Sturgis Hall of Fame in 1995 and has lifetime achievement awards from V-Twin and Hot Bike magazines. In 2010, the mayor of Spearfish, South Dakota, proclaimed March 28, 2010 to be “Donnie Smith Day” and awarded Donnie a key to the city.
Information from Before Kustom Kulture was King: Tracing the Roots of Custom Biking written by Marilyn Stemp [https://www.facebook.com/marilynstemp].
1979 custom built by Donnie Smith