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Indy Show/Awards Banquet Recap

For the second year in a row, my dad and I made a trip out to Indianapolis for the Indy Dealer Show. Pretty much everyone in the motorcycle industry is present at the four-day event. It's huge. The trip was well worth it, as it's always good to actually talk face to face with the people we work with throughout the year; normally over the phone and through email. Woodcraft, Pit Bull, Spiegler, World Wide Bearing, Motul, EZ-Up, Barnett, Motion Pro and of course Moose and Theresa from Pirelli were all in attendance.

The guys from Honda East were there also, as well as some friendly and familiar faces like James Bhathena, Jamie Hanshaw, Eric Johnston and nearly the entire Sportbike Track Gear crew. We made some new contacts as well, which is nearly impossible to not do given the shear size of the show itself, but one of our main reasons for attending.

Last year we wanted to see everything the show offered, which was a fairly large undertaking. This year we covered most all of what we wanted to on Saturday, then had a list of people we specifically wanted to talk to on Sunday. Things were organized a bit differently this year, which was a good thing. For example, all the Chinese knock-off stuff was put into the RCA dome, so we were able to more or less skip that entire part of the show. There was of course the list of big names present: Mladin, Schwantz, Roberts, the Bostroms, Pegram and McGrath, among others. One interesting bit was talking with Ammar Bazzaz about the latest electronic goodies he's offering with Bazzaz Performance, which have been drawing a lot of attention recently. We talked a bit about the pros, cons and what we might be able to expect in running some of them on a 600.

In addition to the show, the WERA awards banquet was held on Saturday night. It was a good time getting to see many of the guys and gals since the season ended. When I was called up to receive our awards, I gave my quick speech, thanked everyone involved with the effort from this past year, specifically my dad. The cool part was that everyone paused and clapped specifically for him. Not a huge deal I suppose, but something I thought was extremely cool. You could tell he was taken back by it a bit, as he's someone who usually stays pretty low key. It wasn't something I planned or thought would happen, but I think it shows that everyone in the paddock thinks pretty highly of him, which I couldn't agree with more, but of course I'm biased.

Overall, the night was a good time – especially after the banquet when a group of us headed to the Tip Top Tavern, where fellow racer Wade Parish's band was playing. All of us there had a good time, except for Mike Flis who cashed out his chips early (literally) before we even got inside the bar. :)

After getting back from Indy on Sunday night, we thought it'd be fun to hop in the car again and take yet another road trip – this time to Toledo's Honda East to put the bike on display. I'll have some pictures posted of it soon, but I really think it looks sharp. We've put a ton of time into prepping the bike and I'd be lying if I didn't say I'm glad it's out of our hands for the time being. It's consumed us for the past month and I surely don't mind a break. A good week of being able to have some free time is something I'm looking forward to. As much as I enjoy being out in the garage, spending every night out there can get a bit tiring.

In any event, that's it for now .. More updates and pictures to come soon. Thanks to Jeff Kovack for the pictures you see here.

Cheers,

- eddie

Tuesday, February 19th, 2008 | POSTED AT: 6:25 AM
FILED UNDER: General