It’s time to go racing…
The Centennial Era of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway has now been in full swing since February of this year, and the City of Indianapolis is once again rolling out the red carpets for the tens of thousands of MotoGP fans who’ll start rolling into town in just a couple days.
The MotoGP circus has been moving into the Brickyard over the past weekend for the second running of the Red Bull Indianapolis GP. Trailer load after trailer load of MotoGP equipment has been making its way from Indianapolis International Airport out to West 16th Street since last Friday, and the pit area out at the Brickyard has been a bee hive of activity setting up all the team garages.
In the middle of all this activity, the Moto Taxi team spent Saturday morning getting back in the saddle again, reacquainting ourselves with all the nooks and crannies of the 16-turn road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. KTM is once again suppling a fleet of 990 Adventure motorcycles for the Moto Taxi team to retrieve fallen riders, and Tucker Rocky Distributing has outfitted the entire team with a brand-new line of adventure wear from their Speed & Strength line. For not being much of an off-road motorcyclist, this is some very fine technical riding gear!
Another very neat activity Saturday afternoon was the Pop Dreyer Ride. This annual event celebrates the history of Floyd “Pop” Dreyer, who opened his first motorcycle dealership on W. Washington St. in Indianapolis in 1952 selling BMWs. In 1958 Pop became the first Honda dealer east of the Mississippi. Today, Dreyer Honda, dealer number 100009, is recognized as the oldest dealership in the North American Honda organization and is run by third- and fourth-generation Dreyer family members. Over 500 motorcycles gathered at the dealership this past Saturday morning and paraded over to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for a lap of the MotoGP racecourse. As the lead bikes completed a full lap, the parade of bikes was still entering the course. Wow, what a site to see 2.61 miles of the Brickyard filled with motorcycles.
If you happen to be local to Indianapolis or get into town a bit early, the opening ceremonies and celebration of the second running of the Red Bull Indianapolis GP will take place Thursday morning Aug. 27. The event will start at 11 a.m. on South Meridian Street between Maryland and Georgia Streets. Motorcycle parking will be available on Meridian Street. Rumor has it several MotoGP riders will make an appearance and a very high-level Indiana State official will be arriving on a very special two-seater race bike. This should be a great event if you can make it.
This is just the beginning of three jam-packed days of experiences surrounding the second running of the Red Bull Indianapolis GP. Be sure to check out the full schedule of activities and special events all over town at www.redbullindianapolisgp.com. Also, if you’re downtown, take a peak in the Nordstrom’s window on the corner of Meridian and Georgia Streets, and you might just see one of the special bikes out of my garage doing some serious “posing” duties along with a bunch of helmets out of my collection.
I’ll be looking for each and every one of you this weekend at “Where America Learned to Race”; the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
I’ll see you all next week at www.redbullindianapolisgp.com.
Greg
Let’s keep the chat going
Wow, it’s been one heck of an exciting year for all of us motorcycle race fans. It has also been great hanging out here at the official Web site of the Red Bull Indianapolis GP, sharing with all of you many of my activities and experiences leading up to the inaugural event on Sept. 14, 2008.
The good folks out on West 16th Street have asked me to stick around and continue “The Experience” here at www.redbullindianapolisgp.com although I will be scaling back my entries to a couple times a month for a while.
With all the motorcycle activities out at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway settling down a bit, things back at the office have picked up pace again. Actually, I’m sitting here in my hotel room in Vancouver, Wash., looking out toward the Columbia River and Portland, Ore., after a long day of crowded airports and packed flights. Not exactly what I consider an ideal Monday experience.
Over the past week or so, I’ve been cruising around a lot of the online motorcycle forums seeing what all you fans are saying about the inaugural running of the Red Bull Indianapolis GP. Even with Mother Nature’s soggy contribution to a historic weekend, it sounds like those of you who braved a hurricane of historic proportions had the experience of a lifetime out at The Brickyard.
When was the last time a hurricane hit central Indiana? It’s kind of poetic that the past two weeks and weekends have been spectacular weather here in the Hoosier state.
I have particularly enjoyed all of the photos you all are posting and sharing with motorcycle enthusiasts throughout the Internet forum community. I’d like to invite you to post some of your favorite Red Bull Indianapolis GP experiences and photos here at www.redbullindianapolisgp.com in the Talkback and Fan Photos sections for us all to enjoy.
I’ve posted some of the photos I’ve taken and come across as part of the Moto Taxi team. As you can image and may have seen, the Moto Taxi team had a very busy weekend giving fallen racers a lift back to their garages on the KTM 990 Adventure motorcycles. Fortunately, only a couple racers had to take a four-wheel ride back to the Clinica Mobile over the course of the entire weekend.
Well, I can’t really say I’m looking forward to another long, cold, dreary central Indiana winter, but we still have a month or two of good riding weather before all the two-wheeled toys are tucked away until spring. Oh, the smell of a smooth pad of ice is also just around the corner, so that’s something to look forward to.
It’s never too early to start planning for next year’s running of the Red Bull Indianapolis GP on Aug. 30, 2009, so be sure to stay tuned to www.redbullindianapolisgp.com.
Greg
Will spring ever come?
Being a motorcyclist this time of year in central Indiana can be a very frustrating experience. It has been three or four months of snow, sleet, rain, bone-chilling weather and short, sunless days. When March rolls around with April just around the corner, the glimmer of spring is in the air, and the siren song of two wheels begins to tempt the senses for the first ride of a new season.
One of the rituals of the impending new season is the annual Dealer News Powersports Expo at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis. This is one of the largest gatherings of all things motorcycles in North America. If you are lucky enough to get an entry pass to this powersports dealer-only industry event, there are treats to tempt every facet of the motorcyclist experience.
Last week I shared with you my experience visiting the Hayden family compound in Owensboro, Ky., to pick up Nicky’s 2006 MotoGP championship-winning motorcycle. This very special machine spent the following weekend in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s exhibit at the Dealer News Powersports Expo, along with a KTM 125 GP bike from the Red Bull AMA U.S. Rookies Cup and a very special Indian from the IMS historic vehicle collection. Motorsports legend Army Armstrong shared some of his life experiences with up-and-coming Red Bull Rookie rider Jacob Cunningham while visiting the exhibit.
This event provided a great forum to share the plans for the September 2008 Red Bull Indianapolis GP with North American motorcycle and powersports dealers. Over the course of three days, thousands of Expo guests visited and experienced the IMS and Red Bull plans for this very special event kicking off the 
celebration of 100 years of racing in Speedway, Ind. One of the more notable motorcycle racing legends to visit the exhibit was 1993 World Champion Kevin Schwantz.
Now if only the spring weather would make its way to Indianapolis with some 50-degree-plus days, I will finally be able to get out of my four-wheel cage and back to the ride.
See you all next week on redbullindianapolisgp.com
Greg