Girls are just as fast…

At about 15 or 16 years old my daughter decided she wanted to learn how to ride a motorcycle. I was roadracing at the time and she had come out the track a few times but somehow the ‘bug’ never got her. Until, she met a boy who rode motorcycles. Great? Well, at least it was better than falling for a surfer or football player…maybe?

“Dad, teach me to ride!!!” I was one happy guy. My daughter had gotten ‘the bug’. The good thing was we had a little Honda ‘Step Thru’ (a 1959 Honda Super Cub) in the garage that was a perfect basic trainer. Ok, that training session lasted about 15 minutes…”Dad, can I ride ‘The Mighty 350?”

Now this is one of my prized motorcycles…it’s not a museum piece, it’s just a bike I have had forever and have ridden everywhere. In a weak moment I agreed to teach her to ride on ‘The Mighty 350’. By the way, ‘The Mighty 350’ is a 1972 Honda CB350 with a sh#t load of miles on it. Again after about 15 minutes, my daughter was off into the sunset. She returned an hour or so later with a great big grin on her face.

Leah moved her way up onto her brothers Honda HawkGT but as she has told me many times, it was that little Honda Super Cub that really gave her the biggest fun.

The boy she had met was also a roadracer. While out at the race track on weekend, she and her friends decided to take on the boys to see who was fastest. The boys were quite surprised.

New motorcycles and old friends

The other day MotoWorld staff photographer Heather and I made our annual pilgrimage to the Long Beach Motorcycle show. New motorcycles, (and all the hoopla that goes with them) and all the new goodies that you just have to have for your new motorcycle.  I love seeing the new motorcycles, and yes, I do my fair share of drooling on them (sorry to the people who have to keep cleaning them all day…), now I only need the bank to give me a bigger line of credit to build a bigger garage and then I could have some of those motorcycles. For me however it’s the people who really make the show worthwhile. 

Media day at the show is a circus. A Ringmaster parades us all around the show to each manufacturer where they tell us all about the new and exciting models and features but the real interest, for me, is listening in and being part of all the side conversations. Magazine editors, contributors, photographers, builders, racers and manufacturer reps.

Most of us in Moto-Journalism may only see each other a couple of times a year, if that, and when we do it’s not so much about motorcycles but our lives in general. We all read each others stories and product reviews so when we see each other it’s all personal. Some have new gig’s, some have increased their family size, moved their business or started a new one. Old contacts are renewed and new ones are made, it’s a great day to be around motorcycles and motorcycle people.

This year at the show I ran into my old friend Bill Stermer from Rider Magazine, we haven’t gone for a ride together for a couple of years so it was a good time to plan one. Next I met up with one of my favorite (and very fast) ladies, Laura Klock. Laura and I met at Bonneville back in 2009, she had just set a land speed record aboard a Victory Vision. Laura rode this fully dressed touring bike down the salt with the stereo blasting a cup of cold coffee in the cup holder to something a bit north of 150mph. This was not your average touring bike (thanks to husband Brian Klock) and Laura is not your average touring rider…by any stretch of the imagination.

My good friend Matt Capri, who happens to be the premier Triumph speed merchant/builder on the planet, and I had a wonderful conversation about his newest creation, a 350 lb (wet) 100+ hp Bonneville, and how much fun (scary fun!!) it is to ride. The thing about talking with Matt is that you can’t contain his enthusiasm. Arms flailing, face going through all kinds of contortions and he is talking so fast you only catch every third word but you heard everything.

My friend Skratch was there painting a gas tank and we talked about how his business is growing. Skratch is a really talented painter and builder of both cars and bikes and always a lot of fun to talk with, especially while he is taping off a flame job. Actually the fun part is doing all that I can to distract him…it never works, the man is a machine.

I spent good time with my old racing friend Evans Brasfield. Evans is actually one of the people that got me into Moto-Journalism, and I’ll never forgive him for that…I mean never ‘forget’ him for that. We have raced sprint races together, endurance races, reported on World Superbike races and camped out in the rain at those races. Evans’ writing (he now writes for Motorcycle.com) and riding I have always enjoyed and seeing him again was a nice bonus to the day.

Media Day is about the people in motorcycling that make it for me. Old friends like Nick, Bruce and Beth from Two Wheel Tuner Magazine (sadly the magazine is gone but they are still doing really well), Sandro and Robert (RobDog) from Galfer Brakes, catching up with Arlen and Cory Ness and their work with Indian motorcycles,  new friends like Alicia Elfving (the motolady.com), Cristi Farrell from Moterrific Podcast and Christa from RoadRunner magazine.

Seeing all the chrome and beautiful paint, the faster than any of us can ride legally on the street motors, the bikes that want to make us cash out our 401K’s so we can ride to the tip of South America are all well and good but for me, it’s the people and their stories and their life on motorcycles that make going to the motorcycle show and my job great.

 

Everybody has their own sense of style

I’m an open minded kind of guy, I think. I like all kinds of food (including stuff that if you really knew what it was you wouldn’t get it anywhere near your mouth), most all kinds of music (I learned to like punk because of my son but I will never accept rap as a form of music…), and even some friends choice of wives (or husbands as the case may be).

The area that I think I am the most open minded is motorcycles. As far as I’m concerned if it has two wheels and a motor, it’s great! I like most all motorcyclists as well. Ok, I do have a bit of a problem when it comes to certain motorcycle brand owners that are too into the ‘lifestyle’ instead of actually riding their status symbol, but I’m working hard at getting over it and thousands of hours in therapy are helping. I like cafe racers, dual sports, adventure bikes, long distance tourers, stretched out choppers, bobbers, baggers, vintage English bikes, UJM’s from the 80’s, and scooters too. I love motorcycles, even the ones you wouldn’t be caught dead riding much less be in your garage.

For some strange reason though, I have this weird affinity for the little old Honda 350. I have seen them laying in fields by the side of the road (that is where I found the first one I bought for my dad, yes I did like him), in the farthest back corner of an abandoned warehouse, in the basement of an old house in Hollywood (I did buy one there, really), a good number of them turn up at Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Swap Meets, and on ebay (generally way over valued).

I have seen Honda’s omnipresent 350 turned into cafe racers,desert racers (I have had both), choppers and bobbers.Grocery getters and student commuters. Todd Henning is the Guru of making Honda 350 roadracers that put bigger, more modern bikes to shame on the track. I have even seen some left stock?! The Honda 350 is the one bike that you can buy without breaking the bank (or even having to ask the bank…your wife…) and turn into anything you want it to be. That’s why I love ’em.

While looking for parts for my latest SL350 Cafe’ Racer project the other day, I came upon the coolest, or at least the most unique, styling treatment I have ever seen for a Honda 350.

I can’t imagine any high fashion woman not wanting to ride around in this classic Honda. Soichiro is probably turning over in his grave right now.

Vintage values

There’s an old saying, “something is only worth what somebody else is willing to pay for it”. I write another blog about vintage motorcycles, www.vintagemotorcycles.wordpress.com and here is where I learn what people think their motorcycle is worth and I will say this right off the bat, some people have a very inflated sense of the value of their motorcycle or their 1970 metalflake helmet.

In my years as a surf shop owner I spent a great deal of time helping people determine the value of the used surfboard they wanted to sell. A customer would come in toting an old surfboard that maybe they have had for years or they picked it up at a garage sale somewhere for a few dollars, either way it’s time to sell it. I would always start off the conversation by asking how much do you want for it? The customer would reply, “how much is it worth?”, next is me asking again how much they want for it, knowing that they do have a dollar figure in mind…getting that figure out of them is a very funny game of cat and mouse. This game goes on for just a bit and then I throw out a price of what I think I can sell it for (we sold surfboards on consignment for a small percentage). One of three things happen now, the customer is surprised in a good way, they’re offended or sometimes I get lucky and I’m right there with what they had in mind. At least half the time it’s door number two. If the offended one doesn’t walk out the door in a huff, I try to explain why I put the value on their board that I did. It comes from the knowledge of knowing what it will sell for, not what it may be worth. There is a difference.

The other difference I have to explain to people whether we are talking about surfboards or motorcycles, is the difference between just old and classic. What is the difference? To make it as simple as I can, a ‘classic’ is something that truly stood out in it’s time and has stood the test of time. A ‘classic’ is something iconic, something that helped define that time period, either technologically or sociologically. In surfboards, a 1967 Dewey Weber Performer is a classic, a 1967 stock production, no model name surfboard is just an old board. A Honda CM400A is just an old motorcycle, a 1969 Honda CB750 is a classic. A Kawasaki Samurai is a neat motorcycle but it’s just an old motorcycle, a ’72 H2 is a classic. You get my point here I hope.

I spend a portion of each morning perusing ebay for cool old motorcycles or interesting parts for my vintage motorcycle blog. If I find something interesting that I have some history with, I write a story about it, add some pictures then post it. If I find something interesting that I don’t know much about, I do some research and then write what I have learned..spread the knowledge you know. But here’s the best part of looking at bikes on ebay…the value a seller puts on the motorcycle. I catch myself laughing out loud every morning, I guess laughter is the best way to start the day. For some people the price is based on sentimental value, “I have had this bike since I was just a boy back on the farm in Iowa”, or, ” I completely restored this bike from the ground up, I have $7324.14 in receipts”, opening bid for this Honda CB350 is $7500. Here’s the deal folks, sentimental value does not translate in real world value. If you don’t want to sell it for a realistic price, then don’t put it on the market. If you spend $7324.14 on a CB350, well first, you should be institutionalized, then you have to realize that every dollar you put into it was for your own enjoyment. When you add accessories or do restoration work, the rule of thumb is that you can expect to get back around half of what you put into it. That’s the real world.

I put together a little list of bikes I thought fit in the “you must be kidding” category, ready…? A rusty, sidecover missing, fenders all scuffed up 1979 Honda XR80 for only $2000. How about a custom Maico dirtbike from the ’70’s for a paltry $7,000, or maybe you have fancy a dirty, banged up, yellowed gas tank, not sure of the mileage or hours on the bike ’88 Yamaha BIG Wheel with a starting price of $3500. How does a very nicely restored 1968 Suzuki T500 for $7000 fit in your garage? Now here is where the fun really begins. How can you turn down the opportunity to buy a 1969 Indian 50cc minibike in well used condition for only $2600. I don’t even think you could get that much for one of the Harley Clone Indians from a couple of years ago!?
And here is the capper for the day, a beautiful, 99% original 1978 Kawasaki Z1R turbo that will only lighten your wallet by $25,000, you can actually find a real nice one for less than half that.

What do all these bikes have in common? besides crazy prices, they have all been on ebay a while, and they all have zero bids. I wonder why.

So what was my point in writing this today, it’s not really to make fun of anybody or what they believe the value of their motorcycle is, the point was to take my experience in selling used goods for people and use it to help somebody think about pricing their Suzuki 250 triple that needs work, or that 1970 metalflake helmet to sell..not languish about on ebay. If you want to sell it, sell it. Get a fair price for it and be happy. Like my old friend Doug used to say, “buy it for $1, sell it for $2 and be happy with a one percent profit”

Family ties and Vintage Racing

Last weekend was the annual AHRMA Moto Corsa Classica at Willow Springs Raceway here in Southern California. Motorcycle racing, a classic motorcycle show and a swap meet…what else could a proper motorcycle nut want? Great weather (even with the required Willow Springs ‘breeze’..read 35mph wind!!), catching up with old racing friends and making new ones.
When I first started down the dark path of ‘Vintage’ motorcycle racing back in the early nineties, I thought racing a Honda 350 would be an easy and not too expensive way to dip my toes in the water. In my early research I came across the guru of building racing Honda’s, Todd Henning. I spent a good amount of time with Todd on the phone and learned that building a really competitive 350 was not the cheap entry into vintage racing I thought it would be. I learned a lot from Todd and ended up using some of that knowledge on my street-going 350’s. Thank you Todd.

Ten years ago, Todd had a serious crash while racing the AHRMA race at Sears Point Raceway in Sonoma California resulting in head injury and a long time in a coma. It took a while, but thankfully Todd did recover. His racing career was over, however. But…the Henning dynasty lives on.

While cruising the pits at the Willow Springs AHRMA races I saw a young man getting into his leathers, the name on his chest, Ari. Next to his truck was a motorcycle I thought I recognized, a very well set up Honda 350. It turns out that Ari is Ari Henning, Todd Henning’s son and it was his dad’s old racebike next to the truck. A quick introduction and asking how his dad was doing, we arranged for a better meeting later in the day.

Ari went on to win both races he was entered in that day. Afterwards we had a good chat about his new career as a moto-journalist with Motorcyclist Magazine and finished up with a call to his proud dad. There is an old racing saying, “age and treachery will always overcome youth and skill”; in young Ari Henning riding his fathers racer it’s the best of both worlds.

The Sound of Music

Any truly dedicated motorcycle rider will tell you that there is music in the sound of their motorcycle. Whether it’s the ‘potato, potato, potato’ sound that Harley Davidson tried to trademark,(or patent, I can’t remember which), the scream of a high revving inline four from Japan, the distinct cadence of an Italian V-Twin or the growl of a British triple. It doesn’t matter, our motorcycles make music to our ears. Wind in your hair and bugs in your teeth be damned..it’s the sound, the feel of your motorcycle that stirs your soul.

Music stirs our souls as well. I don’t know about you, but I’m guessing that there are a lot of you that have done this…made a tape (if you’re old!?) or a CD of your favorite traveling music. Some of you have motorcycles that have CD players, speakers in the fairing (hell, now speakers are put into the arm rests for the passenger??) and/or headsets in your helmet and you travel with your music. I have a very funny story about a trip to Laguna Seca with a group of friends and one of them that likes his music loud, but I’ll save it for another time. The rest of us however, love the sound of our motorcycle.

I’m not a musician, the only thing I can play is the radio, but I do have some riding and racing friends that are great musicians and one of them is Bernie Ayling. Bernie is not only a great guitar player, he has an incredible guitar collection. National Steel’s from the Thirties, original Fender Stratocasters and some of the most beautiful and beautiful sounding acoustics you’ll ever hear. Bernie plays some very serious blues in a band named ‘Turn Nine’. Where did the name ‘Turn Nine’ come from?, Bernie is also a motorcycle roadracer and turn nine is his favorite turn at his home track, Willow Springs out in the California desert.

Bernie spent years racing a 500CC single at “The Fastest Road in the West”. Recently, Bernie along with racing partner Jay Niederst, built his newest and very trick race bike, The AsHawk. What’s an AsHawk? A built to the hilt 591 CC Honda single from an Ascot neatly tucked into a Honda Hawk GT chassis. Upgrade the suspension, adapt some slick race bodywork, have Jay do a stunning paint job, spoon on some Dunlop slicks and watch out Formula Singles…the Bern Man is back.

So, here is one lucky guy, making music during the day on his motorcycle and at night on a classic Les Paul. If you find yourself in Southern California sometime, look up ‘Turn Nine’ and spend your evening listening to some great blues. I’ll see you there.

What generation gap?

I’ll start this post with an apology. There will, in about eight months, be another Nielsen to terrorize the motorcycling world. I’m sorry.  The other day my son Kelly informed me that I was going to be a Grandfather. This can’t be true I said to myself, I’m not that old!!?? A quick look in the mirror and guess what…I am that old. Damn.

I started riding at the ripe old age of fourteen, I rode my fathers Honda CB160 right into the back of his ’66 Impala. Being the good dad, he first asked if I was OK, I said yeah…but as he was asking the question he was checking out the motorcycle. I don’t believe that he even heard my answer. That’s OK too. From that time on I loved motorcycles. It was my stepfather that truly injected the sickness to me. I can’t thank both of them enough.

My son Kelly was about two years old when I first put him on a motorcycle. Trail riding in the Kennedy Meadows area of the southern Sierra’s. Outfitted him with helmet, goggles…(do you know how hard it is to find goggles, much less a helmet to fit a two year old??!!), gloves and whatever I could find for protection. Here we are on my trusty Husqvarna 250 getting ready for a fun ride through the mountains. Over the years I would take Kelly to school on a motorcycle, go to the Speedway races in Costa Mesa on a bike, all over the place and all on a motorcycle. But for some reason the sickness never infected him. Where did I go wrong??

Fast forward a few years. Kelly graduates from high school and we send him off to Europe for three months or so. It’s amazing what you’ll do to get your kid out of the house! Downside…he came back. Upside…he came back and wanted to ride?! Cool. He had rented a small motorbike in Greece and got hooked. He told me that he never understood my obsession until then. We spent Christmas day riding around the hills of our town just having a blast. He on our little trusty CB350 and me on..I don’t remember.  Put the boy in the local MSF course, got his license, made him spend six months riding the little 350 and then got him his own bike,  a Honda Hawk GT. He still has it.

Another short ‘fast forward’ here, my father who got me started, wanted to ride again..great. But..he hadn’t ridden a motorcycle since the days of the Honda 160.  Search the classifieds and back yards and found my dad a ’71 CB350, the perfect starter bike…it seems I have a thing for the Honda 350’s…it’s a weird sickness don’t ask, I don’t know why. Anyway, same thing for dad, MSF course and time on a little bike.  Next up, a Honda GL500 Silver Wing..neat little bike and a good traveler. Dad and I ride the SCMA 3 Flags Classic, Mexico to Canada in 3 1/2 days, together a couple of times and some other good trips. Dad was in his 60’s at the time and just as enthused as a kid, it was great.

At the same time as all this was going on, I was roadracing out at Willow Springs here in Southern California, AFM in Northern California and doing the western AHRMA races. My dad became the crew chief of our team and was having the time of his life. But…something was missing, Kelly. For some reason racing didn’t appeal to him..wuss.

I don’t know what happened but one day my son decided that racing might be fun…duh… So we bought another Honda Ascot to go singles racing and get him started. After a few races on that evil thing (“that bike is trying to kill me”) we actually got a proper race bike,  a Yamaha YZF600. Set it up and off he went. The highlight of this time was the WERA 24Hour Endurance race at Willow Springs. The whole family, my daughter as a scorer, my son and myself as racers and of course my dad as crew chief. So, like I have said before, when the family rides together, there is no generation gap.

My son and daughter still ride and my dad rode his Gold Wing (he finally stepped up to the BIG leagues) until he passed away. Oh, and one other little note here, in the 24 hour race, my son Kelly was the youngest racer and I was the oldest. We finished 3rd in middleweight supersport. Not bad for a kid and a geezer

Getting around town

I don’t know about you, but I spend a lot of time on a motorcycle. My regular commute is over 50 miles round trip and my son used to commute 120 miles a day. We both do it on motorcycles. Now,we all know people that use their bikes as their sole transportation no matter what the weather. What do they ride? Would you ride a Ducati 916 on the freeway, in traffic, 120 miles a day? NO. How about a customized Harley with ape hangers? NO. Well wait, I’ve seen some that do..you see everything in Southern California.

So what does make a good commuter bike? Well, it’s got to be easy to ride, reliable as a rock, good gas mileage, easy to park and able to carry a small amount of luggage (your tank bag, briefcase and maybe a bottle of wine on the way home). What else does it need to be? Here in So Cal it needs to be freeway legal, you pretty much can’t go anywhere without getting on the freeway, being inexpensive wouldn’t hurt either.

So here are some of my thoughts.  Here in the good old USA motorcycles are mainly considered toys, throughout the rest of the world motorbikes are transportation. In Mexico your pizza is delivered on a specially designed Honda 125, the police ride 125’s too and your mail comes on a special little 125. In Europe scooters and small motorbikes are king. When I was  in Italy a year ago small bikes out numbered big bikes it seemed like 100 to 1. Why don’t we see that here? Yeah I know, it’s a big country, lots of wide open space etc. But I’m talking about cities and suburbs where a small, easy to ride, quick little two wheeler could make your life a lot easier. Again I’ll go back to the theory that here in America motorcycles are toys not transportation.

If you were going to get your self a commuter bike to scoot around town what is out there? Actually quite a few. I’ll focus on small bikes this time. They are all fun and easy to ride and pretty cheap for all you get.  Most seem to hover right around that $3500 range and get great gas mileage. The first one that comes to mind is the Honda Rebel and Nighthawk, little 250’s that have been around forever. If you want something a bit sportier, Kawasaki has revamped the Baby Ninja 250 into first rate little sportbike that would be fun for dodging traffic. Suzuki has their GZ and TU 250’s. Like the Honda’s, they come in kind of a cruiser style and a standard model. Hyosung out of Korea (who does a lot of work for Suzuki…thats why they look similar) also has a couple great little 250’s. That’s actually a good selection. There are also some very good 250cc Dual Sport bikes that would fit the bill although a little pricier.

I know most people consider all of these motorbikes for beginners or girls, but for getting around town easy and cheaply, you can’t beat ’em. Some of them you could even take on a trip ( if you are into self abuse) they are capable. A few years ago while on a trip of my own, I ran into a couple on their way home from the Sturgis Rally in South Dakota, the wife was on a Yamaha Virago 250!! L.A to Sturgis and back on a little 250.

I think that as traffic gets worse, the streets get more crowded, parking is harder to find and more expensive these little bikes are going to start looking a whole lot better. They do in the rest of the world.

The economy and salvage yards

As you’ve read before, I’m starting work on a Cafe Racer project based on a 1971 Honda SL350. It’s going to be a very cool bike when it’s done but it’s going to need some surgery and odd parts. Off to the boneyard I go. I know the owner pretty well and I know he keeps odd hours, like you never know what days he is going to be open and for how long that day. Oh well. Knowing this, I decide to call first before making a fifty mile trip to find closed doors. No answer, call a couple of hours later, no answer, call the next day, you guessed it, no answer. So I call a friend who lives close by to see if there is a sign or anything that says when the place is open.  My friend calls back with some bad news. There is no sign about hours and it looks like a lot of the old bikes and stuff that you can see from the street are gone.  This is very distressing, time to open a beer.

When gas prices were at their peak earlier this year friends at motorcycle shops were telling me guys pulling old bikes out of the garage and and starting to ride again. Parts sales were pretty good, accessory sales were up and so were cheap used bikes. Not so with new bikes though.  With a lot of these old bikes being drug back out into the light of day you would think that the salvage yards might be doing a pretty brisk business, I mean a good part from a salvage yard is usually less than half the cost of new.

As gas prices started coming down and the weather stated getting a little cooler, the old bikes were relegated to the corner again. Even scooter sales that were doing so well started slowing. Motorcycles here in the U.S are looked at more as toys instead of transportation. Everywhere else in the world, small size motorbikes are a major part of the traffic scene. And with gas prices as high as they are in Europe and other areas of the world you can understand it. But, wait I’m getting off topic here, let’s get back to the boneyard.

Digging around some of the lists and forums I’m on, I’m finding that salvage yards are going the way of the DO-DO bird. They are disappearing.  Riders that work on their own motorcycles seem to be going away as well. Younger riders on newer bikes aren’t interested in crud covered old bikes and unless you have all kinds of computer stuff you can’t work on a new one.  So again, back to the salvage yard. With a bit more research and calling a couple of other salvage yards around the Southern California area, I learn that the value of all those parts is greater as scrap metal than parts. And with business slowing it’s better to send it to the smelter than to someones garage. A pretty hefty number of the motorcycle salvage yards in Southern California have closed over the past couple of years. Those of us that dabble with vintage motorcycles are find it increasingly difficult to find parts.

The econmy is hitting motorcycling in all ways, from the lowly salvage yard all the way to MotoGP. Just this morning, sources inside the Kawasaki MotoGP team leaked it that Kawasaki was pulling out of the 2009 MotoGP season. This is sending some shockwaves through the motorcycle racing world. American Honda pulled out of roadracing here in America citing economic woes. With two major players out of the game, I wonder who’s next.

Well, I think now I’ll go outside get on my trusty little Honda 350 and see if the salvage yard is open. If Greg isn’t there oh well, it’s nice day for a fifty mile ride.

Racing and the Economy

If you’re a racer, you know how expensive racing can be. Heck, racing a little ‘ol Honda 500 Ascot out at Willow Springs could cost upwards of $500 a weekend, and that’s if nothing broke and I didn’t crash. Now imagine you’re part of a team…Big bikes, sponsors, big truck and trailer, motorhome…you’re racing in style. That’s a whole lot of money, you need big sponsors. Let’s step it up one more time, you’re the factory or the importer of the motorcycle. Now you have all the other stuff plus…the riders salary, a couple of mechanics (at least two or three) they have to be paid too, BIG trucks, a motorhome a bit above your average Winnebago, a caterer….you can see the dollar bills just flying out of the exhaust pipe.

In Europe, motor racing gets large, no, huge crowds. Two or four wheels, it doesn’t matter. On The Continent they love their racing. Fans show up wearing leathers just like their favorite racer, their bike is painted in the same livery…they love racing. Racer’s are gods. So, why is racing shrinking? As a former President of the USA once said, “it’s the economy stupid”

Check out what is going on. We’ll start with a small but significant event, ‘The Legend of the Motorcycle Concours’ held at Pebble Beach California, has been canceled for 2009. Why? The economy. Next up on the ‘Hit List’, Craftsman (Sears) pulls their sponsorship of the NASCAR Truck Series…Why? The economy. NASCAR teams are shrinking because sponsorship is drying up. Audi, the most successful team in the American LeMans Series, has pulled out due to economic concerns and Honda has pulled out of Formula One racing altogether. And, even though Honda is citing global economics and it’s effect on Honda as the reason they have pulled out of AMA Pro Racing for the 2009 season, I think there is more to it than that. That is another post as well.

Car sales are down, motorcycle sales are down, of course the factory’s can’t continue to spend gazillion’s of dollars on racing. It’s simple stuff. Valentino Rossi is going to have to sell one or two of his houses around the world. Dani Pedrosa will have to order off the value menu on Tuesday and Thursday and Ben Spies can’t have Texas Barbeque flown in fresh each week.

But here is the Silver Lining to that cloud. Scooter sales are up world wide and I’m working on a plan to set up a World Scooter Racing program. Can you see it?? Vespa vs Kymco vs Honda vs Lance. It’s gonna be great. We’ll be on network TV all over the world..we’ll have screaming fans wherever we go…we will be the new gods of racing.

Excuse me, I have to go take my medication now.