J.N. Roberts

Stuntman and champion motorcycle desert racer James Nelson "J.N." Roberts hails from rural Indiana. Roberts moved to Southern California in the 1960's after serving in Okinawa with the U.S. Marine Corps. James worked as a carpenter on film sets at Universal Studios and began competing in off-road desert motorcycle races in his spare time (his first desert race was the Moose Run at Holiday Hills at the age of 22) . One of the first desert racers to use a lighter motorcycle with a single cylinder two-stroke engine, Roberts at one point in his desert racing career won 27 consecutive desert races. His other notable desert racing achievements include winning the Barstow to Vegas desert race four times in a row, winning the Mint 400 three times, and winning both the Baja 500 and the Baja 1000 twice each. Moreover, James represented the United States in the 1971 and 1972 off-road motorcycle event the International Six Days Trial as well as teamed up with fellow desert racer Malcolm Smith to win the motorcycle division of the 1967 Mexican 1000. In addition, Roberts performed stunts in over forty movies after stuntman and director Hal Needham helped Roberts get a job on the film Little Big Man (1970). James was inducted into the American Motorcyclist Association Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1999 and the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2009.