GP Racing

A Yankee's View of a Redneck Weekend

By
Dan Randall

Last winter, MTR decided that it would be fun to ride to Birmingham, Alabama for the Chevrolet GP Superbike Championship race at the new Barber Motorsports Park. We had fourteen like minded souls that agreed and tickets were purchased and hotel reservations were made in advance. Final plans were made for our route and the itinerary was published via the normal means, our website and the Happy Trails newsletter. That is when Murphy’s Law went into effect and all well made plans were thrown up in the air.
First, our fearless road captain’s son decided that his parents really didn’t need to be riding 500 miles in the rain,so he threw his back out at work the night before our departure to save them from testing their rain suits out as most of the rest of us had the pleasure to do. This left the Junior Road Captain in charge and of course that meant that our itinerary was immediately tossed in the trash. So we met at the prescribed place somewhere at Exit 6 on Hwy 78 in a truck stop that was or was not a Flying J on one side of the road we were traveling on. But everybody managed to find it so we managed to leave on time.
The Honda house was happy to see us as they were going to close and we left enough of our hard earned funds behind to make it worth their time to stay open. Of course, our Jr. Road Captain left the stop a full fifteen minutes early in search of dinner. After stuffing our faces we left for Jasper, AL for our nights lodging. The rain was pretty steady and heavy at times but we continued on.
We arrived in Jasper and the rain stopped. At the motel we were reminded of the slow poke clerk in McMinville and wondered if the hotel industry was all related or just went to the same school of speed management. Of course we were a good hour behind our itinerary at this point, due to the short cut we took I assume.
The evening went well and the Brangus steak house was excellent. The next morning anticipation grew as I prepared to attend my very first GP race but it was still raining and I worried that the race might be postponed. But after breakfast at the Cracker Barrel, the rain stopped and things began to look up. It was now I 1:00AM and race time was drawing near. We set up our camp complete with picnic lunch and umbrellas. The races were entertaining and we saw a couple of crashes, some neat high speed corner passes and cheered on the winners as they rode by with their checkered flags on the way to the pitt The track is a great place to watch a race and is a first class facility, one that should be enjoyed for many years to come.
The only problem we had was trying to leave and begin our journey home. As with most racetracks getting spectators out is not a design priority and traffic was backed up for a while. We finally decided it was time to try our luck and begin to work our way back to the Home of the Blues. As we would later realize waiting there allowed us to arrive home late but dry as the rain moved out in front of us all the way home. We started out not wearing our rain suits and didn’t really feel the need for them until after an impromptu roadside picnic at the Alabama/Mississippi line.
At the end of the day we were tired but after enjoying the friendship and camaraderie of good friends. Definitely a trip to repeat next year.

The May meeting of the Memphis Tour Riders was called to order at 7:55PM

Roll Call: Buck and Donna Permenter, our newest members, Barry and Sharon Englander, Dick and Fran Salveson, Hubert Gross, Margaret Rogers, Richard Oglesby, Dan Randall, Terry Scott, B.J. and Hildia Max, Charlie and Darnell Gibson, Woodie and Lin Hill and yours truly Stan and Jean Viets. We also welcomed our visitor, Mark Hanson. Come back anytime Mark. We now have memberships in Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi. We have the Mid-South covered. We will celebrate seven birthdays and two Anniversaries in June as noted in the newsletter. If y'all can make the meeting the Shoney's servers will sing a birthday song and deliver a cake to your table, as a meeting perk.

Again thanks to Tim Hendrickson for the interesting story about the BMW Dogwood Trail Rally, In Vicksburg, MS for the MTR May issue. Everyone, please continue to send BJ current events, safety articles, stories, etc. and get involved, this is your chance to have your articles published both in Trails End Newsletter and on a World Wide Web Site, mtrmc.com.

We had a May meeting bank balance of $1,280.12. MTR financial information is posted quarterly as well as the current membership information, i.e. names, addresses, telephone numbers, email, birthdays, etc. all can easily be accessed on the MTR web site by using your password.

Ongoing business: A reminder to those that have not yet renewed their membership, the MTR yearly renewal membership dues, $24/year were due and payable on April 8, 2004. In event you have misplaced the renewal application you have another one in this issue of Happy Trails Newsletter, your continued participation will be appreciated Please complete your membership information, updating if necessary and mail with your check to: 8285 Chippingham Drive, Cordova, TN 38016. We value your continuing support however it for some reason you are not going to renew, please let us know that too.
Please support our growing number of advertisers when you can and show our appreciation, it would be good to thank them for their advertising. Additional Happy Trails Newsletters or membership applications to pass out to prospective members or - Sponsors/ advertisers are available just let me know. The ads are still only $30/year, see web site for details. With new Sponsors/advertisers we need 2 business cards for the ad insertions.

We had 17 folks ride out to Brad's Bar-B-Q Restaurant in Oakland, TN on the May 7th the food and fellowship was great. Thanks to David Elston and Brenda for inviting MTR.

The MTR May I 5th Saturday ride and the Sunday AMA Super Bike races at Barbers in Birmingham was well attended by 15

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members. It rained on our parade on the way down but fortunately it didn't rain at the track. Everyone had a good time at the races and our Saturday night in Jasper included an enjoyable dinner at the near by Brangus Steak House where we celebrated Dick and Fran's 22nd anniversary. A good time was had by all; however we missed BJ and Hildia who unfortunately were unable to make the trip. No. Jean and I didn't have our windows down with our heads out during the rain, ignoring the vote to do so. Pictures of both events are now on the web site.

The American Motorcyclist Association Newsletter is now sending their National Newsletter via email for more coverage and less cost, check it out for up to date interesting and useful information. Also we have received our AMA Charter certificate for 2004.

New Business: We will have two scheduled event before our July meeting hopefully you will be able to make one or both. Don and Marion Oller and the Freedom Wings Annual Picnic, Saturday June 5th at Mousetail Landing Stale park on the Tennessee River, near Parsons, TN. June 26th's ride to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, Huntsville, Alabama Details for both events will follow.

We will continue to post rides/events as they conic up both in the Happy Trails Newsletter, Web Page, and at the meetings. As always if anyone has any suggestions for rides or events please let BJ. know.

Quotation for June: "Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadow" .......Helen Keller

May 31st is Memorial Day. Please remember and thank all those that served so that we could enjoy the freedom their service rendered-
God Bless America.

Ride Safe and ride more in 004
Stan and Jean

The meeting was officially adjourned at 7:45 PM

WASHINGTON (AP) - Deaths from crashes of motorcycles and sport utility vehicles rose last year, leading to a slight increase in the overall highway fatality count.
Preliminary figures show 43,220 people died in 2003 - the highest number since 1990 when 44,529 died in auto accidents up slightly from the 42,815 deaths in 2002, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Wednesday. People drove more total miles last year, so the rate of deaths per miles traveled was about the same.
Motorcycle deaths increased 11 percent to a total of 3,592, NHTSA said. It was the sixth straight year in which motorcycle deaths have increased, a trend some have blamed on the widespread repeal of helmet laws since 1995, when Congress stopped penalizing states for not having them.
Passenger car fatalities declined 3.8 percent, but SUV fatalities increased 11 percent for a total of 4,451, partly due to a 12 percent increase in SUV sales, but SUV rollover also was a significant problem.
Forty percent of crash deaths - or 17,401 - were alcohol-related, NHTSA said. That was about the same as 2002, when 17,419 people died in alcohol-related crashes.
Wendy Hamilton, president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, said police need to combat those numbers with more frequent highway checkpoints and tougher sanctions for drivers who have high blood-alcohol levels.

Memphis Tour Riders 2004 Ride Schedule

June 5th- Freedom Wings Annual Po-Boy Picnic-Mousetail Park-Perryville, Tennessee-240 Miles 

June 26th- U.S. Space and Rocket Center-Huntsville, Alabama-408 Miles

July 10th-Dinner Ride-Bozo's Bar-B-Q Mason, Tennessee -52 Miles

July 17th-Burnt Burger III - Wall Doxey State Park, Mississippi-100 Miles

July 31st-Second Annual Magnolia Moon Dinner Ride-Chapman's Resturuant-154 Miles

August 14th-Dinner Ride-Crossroads Café -Red Banks, MS--70 Miles 

August 28th-Reelfoot Lake, Tennessee-Lake View Inn--196 Miles

Sept 4th - Antique Road Trip - Hazel, KY - Dinner in Paris, TN - 300 Miles

Sept 11th -Doodle Soup Festival, Car and Motorcycle Show- Bradford, Tennessee--198 Miles

Sept 18- Trail of Tears- -Waterloo, AL-Dinner at the Catfish Hotel-Shiloh--265 Miles

October 2nd-Saddlesore 1000 Endurance Ride-Hendersonville, NC and Return-24 hours or less--1012 Miles

October 16th and 17th- 4th Annual Blazing Saddles Fall Foliage Tour-McMinnville, TN--570 Miles -Overnighter

November 6th-Veteran's Day Thunder -Bally's Casino-Robinsonville, MS-86 Miles