Tom Paradise was an AMA Class A (factory) Hillclimb racer and mechanic who competed from the 1950s through the 1970s. His decades of racing and leadership in the hillclimbing community earned Paradise recognition as one of the “Deans of Hillclimbing” in his era.
A resident of Albany, N.Y., Paradise raced aboard Indian-powered hillclimbing motorcycles. Race reports from the 1950s show Paradise regularly competed in 74 ci (cubic inch) Class A events in Hornell, N.Y., Laconia, N.H., Bethlehem and Jefferson, Pa., and Muskegon, Mich. A 1971 photo in American Motorcyclist shows Paradise tuning racer Gordy Mitzel’s 1932 Indian machine at the White Rose Motorcycle Club’s annual hillclimb in Jefferson, Pa.
Paradise was active in the Class A Hillclimbers Association and attended the 1956 annual meeting in Buffalo, N.Y. He was also a member of the Hornell Motorcycle Club.
Paradise died in 1994, and was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1998.