Paul, was born in San Francisco on April 30th 1950, however was raised in Grass Valley, CA. Paul went to Mt. Saint Mary’s grade school and graduated from Nevada Union High School in 1968. Paul started riding and racing motorcycles before graduating high school, his first bike being a Yamaha 250. He drew #7 on the draft lottery for the Viet Nam War and decided to go ahead and sign up. He was soon sent overseas to Viet Nam and returned just before his birthday in 1970. Paul saved all of his service pay and purchased a piece of property on Pingree Rd. in Grass Valley where he lived his entire life.
Upon returning from Vietnam, Paul started his own concrete business and was a successful contractor for however his passion was motorcycles and he got right back into the game of motorcycle riding and racing. He reached top rankings in Motocross racing and then went on to race Speedway and at one point became Northern California Champion. During his speedway career, Paul became interested in Road Racing and went on to become one of the top riders in Road Racing, in several classes. He then raced Super Moto up into his mid 50's. Paul was often amused when people would stop by his pit area asking to meet rider #59... they would always be blown away - could not believe it was him... for his age and size, Paul would beat the pants off of any rider,
no matter their age!
Paul also loved vintage motorcycles. He had a collection of over 40 bikes and raced/won on several of them. In between working and racing, he would ride just for fun on his vintage AJS, BMW or go for a fast ride on his 850 Guzzi or 996 Ducati. Paul had a passion for his Ducatis’, whether it be racing or riding on the road.
The last new interest for Paul was Indian motorcycles. He and his friends bought and built 6 or more new Indians and enjoyed riding them on any sunny day.
One of the most amazing things that Paul ever did was to win a Super Moto race, with fresh skin grafts on his neck! This was only 6 months before he died at the age of 56 on July 21st, 2006.
Paul was a very generous person and would always be looking out for the little guy. He was a family man and had wonderful values about life in general... we all will remember Paul Orlandi!
