The origin of this decal would make a great subject for Paul Harvey's The Rest Of The Story... Johnny Allen set a two-way average of 193.30 MPH on a Triumph Thunderbird streamliner at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah in September of 1955. This speed broke the pending world record set by Burns and Wright on a Vincent twin by 8 MPH. Unfortunately for Allen, his achievement wasn't recognized as a World Record by the FIM claiming there were no FIM-approved observers at the event. Allen returned in 1956 and was shooting for even higher speeds as the NSU factory had upped the record to 210 MPH. This time Allen had put in a best two-way average run of 214.17 MPH. Again the FIM refused to certify Allen's attempt, stating that the timing clock certificates were in error. This really got under Edward Turner's skin and he decreed that every Triumph leaving the factory would bear a transfer stating WORLD MOTORCYCLE SPEED RECORD HOLDER. Although threatened by the FIM many times over this, Turner paid them no mind, and eventually Triumph had its FIM license suspended for 2 years. And that's the rest of the story.
My name is Tony Schanz, I formerly ran DomiRacer Distributors in Cincinnati, Ohio buying and selling vintage English, Italian, & German motorcycle parts, tools, accessories & memorabilia. DomiRacer closed 6/11/2013, but I still deal in parts, motorbikes, decals, advertising, photos, posters, & more. Please add my store, The Real DomiRacer, to your favorite sellers and watch for other rarities in my future eBay listings.