Old guys still go fast!
As I’m sitting here on a five-hour flight out to Ontario, Calif., I keep thinking about more milestones that seem to be popping up lately. Last week I shared some of the epic milestones occurring around the Town of Speedway and a few of the historic events that are launching a three-year Centennial Era celebration out on West 16^th Street at the Brickyard.

I also spilled the beans about my good friend Reuben, who experienced his own milestone last week with the celebration of his 40^th birthday. As much as he didn’t want it to happen, there was no stopping the inevitable march of time. He did put on a great surprise show, though!

Another longtime friend and former road racing teammate of mine, Jim Knipp, reached a milestone this past week with the celebration of his 50^th birthday. Yikes, everybody I know is going over the hill these days.

Jim and I spent almost 10 years together as teammates on a locally sponsored motorcycle road racing team know as The Superbike Factory. Together, we campaigned in the Western Eastern Roadracers Association (WERA) series and the American Motorcyclist Association Pro Superbike series from the late 1970s through the late 1980s.

Our first venture into the AMA Pro Superbike Series was Daytona Bike Week in March 1981. With the help of Marc Wertzberger and his motorcycle dealership, Greenwood Honda, Jim and I put together a pair of Honda CB750F motorcycles and launched our campaign at the Daytona International Speedway. What an eye-opening experience that was. It was an unbelievable feeling to be going as fast as you think a bike could possibly go on the high-banks when Freddie Spencer and the freight train of leaders came whipping around you like you were dragging an anchor only nine laps into the race.

This past weekend marked the launch of a historic new era in AMA Pro Road Racing, continuing a motorcycle racing tradition that dates back to the inaugural running of the Daytona 200 on Jan. 24, 1937. Under the new ownership of Daytona Motorsports, a new age of AMA Pro Road Racing kicked off last week, culminating Friday night with the first-ever running of the Daytona 200 by Honda under the lights.

After 72 years featuring the innovations of Superbike and Grand Prix machines, the Daytona 200 has now been relegated to a middleweight production event. Wow!

Another good friend of mine also celebrated his 40^th birthday milestone a little more than a year ago. Gene Burcham is a former motorcycle racer from the mid 1980s, and he also experienced his first and only Daytona 200 in 1988 when the format was full-blown 750cc modified Superbikes.

Like all of us in this era of milestones, Gene is experiencing his first major mid-life crisis. This past fall, he took the big fall and purchased a small fleet of new Ducati sport bikes, including two of the new 848 middle weight performance machines. That was just the beginning!

Months later and with new Ducati 848s, new truck, new trailer, new gear, new pit equipment, new this, new that and at age 41, Gene entered, qualified and successfully completed the 68th running of the Daytona 200 by Honda under the lights this past Friday, March 6 at Daytona International Speedway.

Now this isn’t just any old race to come back to after 20 years away from the sport. The Daytona 200 by Honda is also AMA Pro Road Racing’s new series format featuring middleweight production sport bikes with the likes of Ben Bostrom, Josh Herrin, Jason DiSalvo, Jamie Hacking, Miguel Duhamel and a whole host of ultra-fast factory backed riders competing.

Factory teams included entries from Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Yamaha, Aprilia and Buell. The only factories not represented were Ducati and Triumph. Enter local old fast guy, Gene Burcham! Of the 84 pre-entries for the Daytona 200 by Honda, only a pair of Ducati 848s were entered, and only Gene managed to qualify for the main event to be held Friday night under the lights.

I won’t even get into the severe disadvantage the new format rules imposed on the Ducati 848 verses the 600cc, four-cylinder machines and the other vee twin’s 1000cc and 1125cc allowance, but did Gene manage to put the only Ducati 848 twin in the 75^th position of a 75-bike field.

After enduring 52 laps under the lights of Daytona International Speedway, the grueling congestion of a 75-bike field, the absurdness of a “safety car” on a course with motorcycles, Gene managed to pull off a finish in 51^st position.

Congratulations, Gene, for putting the only Ducati into the history books of the first Daytona 200 of a historic new era in AMA Pro Road Racing.

Not bad for a fellow “old fast guy”. Speed isn’t just for the young pups.

Now I hope Michael Lock out in Cupertino, Calif., hears about your feat and gets you some more ponies and a bit more top speed for your Ducati 848. Or maybe he could find out how the boys in Milwaukee wriggled out an allowance from Roger E for 1125cc so you could run your Ducati 1098 instead.

Oh, well, I think that’s about all the pot stirring I can come up with this week, and the battery in my laptop is about to go belly-up. So I’ll see you all next week at www.redbullindianapolisgp.com

Greg