Me too truckin, I was there too. I went for about 5 or 6 years straight in the 90's when I was in college and it was ****** awesome. I wish I could go back to that. The factories should put the one off rides in these guys contracts, like they used to do for Suzuka. Can you imagine all the World Superbike and MotoGP guys coming to Daytona for a one off race? The ******* stands would be packed like the Daytona 500 and it wouldn't matter WHAT they were riding. Yeah it's dangerous...so are alot of things and alot of jobs. So was board track racing and the stands were OVERFLOWING back in the 10's and 20's. Read about the crazy attendance they used to have. Guys in leather hats on bikes (motorized bicycles) going 100 mph with no brakes full throttle with total loss oil systems (oil all over the track), splinters stuck in their faces, and lye all over the track to soak up the oil burning your eyes (they had to take the goggles off so they could see bc of the oil!). And when someone would crash they flew right into the stands and killed a bunch of spectators. I'm not advocating bloodsports but safety and the perception of what's safe has certainly changed alot with the times. And the track itself quite honestly is going to end up being a product of the times. Concrete walls, armco barriers and no runoff I just don't think are going to last forever. Plus so many people are so ******* braindead anyway, they'd rather watch American Idol.

 

It would be an amazing sight indeed. I would love to go back to that. Those were my earliest memories of MY LIFE. Sleeping in the van in the infield. Spending hours walking around amongst millions of old bike parts for sale. RARE RARE bikes in original condition for sale. Sitting at the horseshoe. Watching them rebuild the bikes between the races, I mean complete teardown and rebuilds in an hour and A HALF.

Those were the good days. Most likely and unfortunately gone forever.

 

Back in the early to mid '80s I went to several races at Laguna Seca and Riverside with my close friend who I've known since high school and who has worked in the motorcycle industry since the late '60s. We always rode to the races with several other guys. We got in free and watched either from the pits, where his company would sell Michelin tires, or somewhere else around the track.

I saw Freddy Spencer, Kenny Roberts, Randy Mamola, Wes Cooley, Sam McDonald, Mike Baldwin, Wayne Rainey, Eddie Lawsen and many others. My last year at Seca was the rookie year for Kevin Schwanz. But after the late '80s, I quit following racing and reading the magazines. I still rode, but not much in the canyons.

Four years ago my wife wanted to start riding, and that renewed my interest as well. Found out a surfing buddy also rode (he has 2 Ducs) and we started doing canyons together. That's when I got interested in racing again, but now the premier class was called MotoGP....I'd never heard that term before.

Bottom line is that I don't think there is a more exciting form of racing than motorcycle road racing, and WSBK is on again this weekend.

 

Damn surfer I wish I was born a little sooner I'd have loved to have been there. At least I caught the tail end of the awesomeness at Daytona in the mid to late 90's. And you were right in the other post even some of us younger guys know there was an AMA class called Formula 1 The premier class, 500cc grand prix, went to 990cc four strokes and became "MotoGP" and is now smaller at 800cc four strokes.