DUD PERKINS AWARD WINNER
DAN KLEEN BY KALI KOTOSKI P H O T O S : K L E E N A R C H I V E S A N D D AV I D H A L S E Y
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hen Dan Kleen first got into off-road riding advocacy and organization work in the 1980s, his home state of Iowa had virtually no legal places to ride, as the state ranks 47th in the nation in availability of public land. The few places with trails were congested, and the overall amount of riding land fell woefully short of demand. “We learned very early on that there was a need to get organized,” Kleen told American Motorcyclist. “If we were going to build and maintain riding areas, we would have to find ways to pay for it ourselves, because the state of Iowa wasn’t interested in giving us any property.” For his work as the outgoing Chairman of the Board of Directors for the National Off-Highway Vehicle Conservation Council (serving as chairman for the past 21 of 24 years), helping to establish the Iowa Off-Highway Vehicle Association in 56
1987, forming the Iowa Motorsports Coalition, and being part of Iowa’s Federal Recreational Trails Program’s advisory committee for more than 25 years, Kleen has been awarded The AMA Dud Perkins Lifetime Achievement Award. The award is the AMA’s top honor acknowledging the highest level of service towards the organization’s core mission in any area of activity. “Dan Kleen is a role model for all riders for his advocacy and organization efforts for off-road riding,” said AMA Board of Directors Chairman Russ Ehnes. “The entire off-road community is grateful for his longtime stewardship and ongoing dedication to the sport. His work will
AMERICAN MOTORCYCLIST • APRIL 2022
continue, and the AMA looks forward to continuing to assist and celebrate his endeavors.” While Kleen’s most visible impact to off-road riding in Iowa is helping establish eight OHV parks spanning thousands of acres, five of which are currently operational and three that are being cleaned up after devastating floods and freak storms, a lot of his work has been dealing with grassroots efforts and legislative matters, things many riders fail to recognize or appreciate. When Kleen got involved, some of the first steps to organizing in Iowa was setting up a registration system for funds, and building relationships with agencies like
