The Taste of Victory

THE TASTE OF VICTORY

WITH THEME RESTAUrants like Planet Hollywood and the Hard Rock Cafe doing a booming business, it was only a matter of e before motorsports fans t a trendy eatery of their own. The doors were recently blown off of the Race Rock Cafe in Orlando, Florida, just an hour inland from the hallowed high-banks of Daytona International Speedway. Recruited to help with the rumored $6 million start-up cost were famed car racers Richard and Kyle Petty, Rusty Wallace, Michael Andretti and Don Prudhomme, as well as Scott Parker, the six-time AMA Grand National Dirt-Track Champion.

Steve Johnson, whose Slick 50 dragbike and leather-clad effigy are encased in glass, says, "The more we keep our efforts parallel with the rest of the motorsports industry, the more legitimate motorcycling becomes to corporate America."

The 20,000-square-foot ven ture is as much a museum, amusement park and clothing concessionaire as pure restau rant-sorry, no Dodger Dogs or warm beer here. Sure, the place offers up race-oriented vittles with catchy names like "Circle Tracks" (pizzas), "Nitro Wings" (chicken wings) and "Race-Adillas" (quesadil las), but the most interesting fare is visual: On the walls, hanging from the ceiling, jut ting out from the floor and en cased in glass are numerous, history-making cars and bikes. John Andretti's IndyCar and John Force's Funnycar vie for attention with the motorcycles of Parker, Miguel Duhamel, Jeremy McGrath, Dave Schultz and Steve Johnson, each com plete with a mannequin assum ing the proper riding position.

Founded by Bobby Moore (a former elephant trainer, not the 1994 125cc World Motocross Champion), additional Race Rock Cafes are planned for Las Vegas, New York, London

and Tokyo.

Eric Putter