Next week is going to be historic!

By this time next week, the first event of the inaugural 2008 Red Bull Indianapolis GP will be kicking off an epic week of activities. The Kick Start Celebration will take place at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 9 on Monument Circle in downtown Indianapolis. If you are at all able to sneak out of the office for a long lunch, what better way to start off a week of MotoGP experiences than this two hour kickoff event.

Rumors have it a parade of motorcycles will be escorted onto Monument Circle to start off the week-long celebration of two-wheeled racing events. Be sure to check out the schedule of events and the newly posted Guest Guide at www.redbullindianapolisgp.com. The folks out on West 16^th Street have also posted a very useful Event Planner to help you out-of-towners locate all the local motorcycle shops, eateries, lodging, off-track events and lots more.

The activities over at the track have definitely picked up this week. New grandstands are going up around the new GP course, tents are being erected, trailers of equipment are coming in, and crews of support people are getting geared up to put on what will undoubtedly be the two-wheeled equivalent of “The Greatest Spectacle In Racing.”

While checking out the Event Planner, I also noticed there are a bunch of neat events on the schedule. The Red Bull TNT Freestyle Motocross will be taking over 62^nd Street in Broad Ripple Thursday evening and the XDL Sportbike Freestyle Championship at Indy will be downtown on North Street Friday evening with practice Thursday.

The AMA Flat Track bikes are coming back to the Indiana State Fairgrounds Saturday evening, Sept. 13 with the Lucas Oil Indy Mile AMA Flat Track Grand National. A couple teams were at the fairgrounds the end of July testing, and the sound of those big twins ripping around the mile-long dirt track was a spine-tingling experience. See the video below.

If all of this isn’t enough two-wheeled excitement for you, speedway bikes will be racing out at the Marion County Fairgrounds Friday evening, Sept. 12. If you’ve never seen a speedway racer throw a motorcycle it into a corner, these guys are NUTS! But then again, who am I to talk!

For all of you riding into town next week, be sure to check out Motorcycles on Meridian Friday and Saturday nights starting around 7 p.m. The city is shutting down Meridian Street each night from Maryland Street down to South Street for motorcycle traffic and parking only, providing a perfect opportunity for riders and fans to check out the exciting restaurants and downtown nightlife.

After more than a year of anticipation that started off with the Red Bull Indianapolis GP event introduction back on July 16, 2007, the count down is just a week to go. Be sure to check out all the events on the schedule and make you plans to experience the biggest two-wheeled celebration to hit the city of Indianapolis in almost 100 years.

If you haven’t got your tickets yet, go to www.redbullindianapolisgp.com for purchase information, and I’ll see you all next week in Indianapolis.

Greg