Quotable Daytona
Quotable Daytona
UP FRONT
David Edwards
SUNSHINE STATE, EH? THIS YEAR, AN unrelenting low-pressure system parked its ugly arse over the Florida peninsula and let loose with 48 solid hours of wind and rain, forcing a week’s postponement of America’s Great Race.
Big disappointment if you went to Daytona Beach for the 200-Miler. Then, again, if that was your sole reason for going, you missed the whole point of the Spring Classic, anyway.
Bike Week is many things to many people, but mainly it’s a chance to celebrate the diversity that is motorcycling. Nowhere else are the past, present and future of our sport/hobby/lifestyle so intermingled.
You could have, for instance, traveled a half-hour west of the Speedway to the town of DeLand and taken in the action at the J. Wood & Company Antique and Classic Auction, where 200 motorcycles-everything from rusty garage junk to pristine museum pieces-went under the gavel. Highest bids? A pair of tastylooking 1960s Honda roadracers each fetched $25,000.
Quote from two-time Grand National Champion Gary Nixon, who pocketed a quick $1000 for auctioning off some old commemorative jackets and a helmet: “Hey, I’ve got a daughter in college and tuition to pay.”
Is ground-poundin’, frame-twistin’ bhp production your thing? Then you should have been at the American Motorcycle Institute’s four-day lollapalooza of wretched excess, the Brute Horsepower Shootout. Some 200 monuments to the tuner’s art were rolled into the school’s dyno shed vying for $30,000 in cash and prizes, while outside an appreciative crowd held its collective ears and waited for the readouts.
Quote from the radio DJ belting out rock ’n’ roll between dyno pulls at AMI, as Mark Moisan got ready to unleash his winning, 308-horsepower Suzuki GSX-R: “Turbocharged! Nitrous!! Stop the insanity!!!”
Show, not go, was the theme at the Rat’s Hole Custom Chopper Show, where a couple of hundred stretched and slammed Harley-Davidsons (as well as a goodly number of Stockers, antiques and classics) were on display. Winner of the prestigious Radical class was Bob Lowe, whose work has been featured in our sister book Big Twin.
Quote from a show-goer, commenting on the Rat’s Hole admission fee of $5: “This has to be the bargain of Bike Week.” Quite right, too.
For $35, you could have gone to dinner with Giacomo Agostini and Jim Redman. The sold-out event, hosted by vintage-racing powerhouse Team Obsolete, was attended by 200 people, who rose as one when the multi-time world roadracing champions were introduced. Keynote speaker was none other than our very own Kevin Cameron.
Quote from Redman on the first phrase of English taught to babe-magnet Agostini-described as “a young, good-looking bugger back then”-by himself and fellow prankster Mike Hailwood: “Hello, would you like to go to bed with me?”
After this salutation was met with curious looks, Ago requested a follow-up phrase from his mentors. Simple, he was told, just smile sweetly and say “Bleep my old boots.” At the dinner, as in the 1960s, Redman neglected to use the word “bleep.”
Balding, middle-aged fans got a kick out of 40-year-old Steve Morehead’s performance at the opening round of the AMA’s 600cc series, held on the dirt short-track that rings the football field at Daytona’s Municipal Stadium. With two wins and a second place in the previous week’s Florida Flat Track Series, the Ohio veteran was on a roll. He jumped into the lead at the flag and rode a flawless race to take the win.
Quote from an obviously elated Morehead atop the victory podium after thanking “old age and treachery” for the win: “We’re bad dogs!”
Unfortunately, a bad rocker arm put him out of the following evening’s Grand National series opener.
Proving that there’s always something new at Daytona if you look hard enough was Willi’s Motorcycle World (566 Ballough Rd., Daytona Beach, FL 32114; 904/253-2100), formerly an abandoned electrical supply house that just happens to contain one of the best collections of historically important motorcycles you’re ever likely to see. Indians, Harleys, Manx Nortons, a Rennsport BMW, an ex-Agostini MY an ex-Geoff Duke Velocette, an Imola Ducati, a beautifully restored dustbin-faired Güera Four valued at $420,000-in all, more than 100 spectacular machines.
The collection, amassed over 30 years, is owned by Willi Marewski, a German management consultant. It’s currently on display just two weeks a year, March’s Bike Week and October’s Biketoberfest, though Marewski has plans to bring over an additional 80 bikes and open year-round by 1998.
Quote from long-time friend Kurt Rappold, who oversees the museum in Marewski’s absence: “Willi would just like to share the collection with the world; the ($5) admission fee will pay the light bills-maybe.”
AHRMA’s two-day extravaganza early in the week provided one of Daytona 1996’s most poignant moments. As rider Andrew Stroud streaked the Britten V1000 to a runaway victory in the BEARS race, Kirsteen Britten, wife of the late designer, moved to the finish line, there to throw the checkered flag as the blue VTwin flashed by. Misty eyes all around.
Quote from Stroud about the V-1000 and the innovative New Zealander who shepherded it from dream to reality: “It’s just a great bike, built and designed by a great man. I’ll always remember John Britten.”
Some people go to Daytona and never set foot inside the Speedway, never hear the thunder of the vintage racers, never even know who wins the 200-Miler. Some go to Daytona and never elbow their way down Main Street, never view the trophy-getters at the Rat’s Hole show, never hoist a brew at the Boot Hill Saloon.
Neither group knows what they’re missing. □
