My First Flat Track Motorcycle Race

   

   Six months ago if you had told me I would be going to a professional motorcycle race, I would probably have just smiled and quickly walked away from you. I've never ridden a cycle, didn't know anything  about racing, and have pretty much gotten away from watching the Philadelphia  Phillies and Eagles - the only sports I've ever followed. Yet this past weekend I attended my first American Flat Track race, and had been looking forward to it for a couple of months.
     I was first introduced to Flat Track by the writing of a motor sports journalist and fellow blogger. Michael Lawless who I had only known casually before reading his work.  (#ehorseman.blogspot.com ) His stories of the people on the bikes and his behind the scenes views as a racer and journalist as well as a friend to many of the people involved in the sport created a very interesting picture of a whole culture . I started watching races on Fanschoice.tv and recognized some of the names of people whose stories I had read. It helped that for a sports announcer Scottie Deubler has got a voice that's very easy on the ears.
     As I became more familiar with the sport and the people, through watching races and then talking with Mike, my interest grew and I decided I would like to attend a race. The Pro races- American Flat Track  -are held all over the country and the closest to home wouldn't be until September. In the meantime, I did drive to Maryland to attend a District race and got to see Mike race back in July.
     Over the summer, I have seen the workings of the AFT family when there have been accidents and injuries and I learned of the work of the AMA Flat-Track Rookie's Class of '79 - a group who's purpose is to help injured riders and their families by raising funds among the American Flat Track community, This is maybe the part of this whole thing that attracts me the most. This IS a family. People may compete very seriously on the track, but if one of the riders is injured, they come together for one another.

     So, anyway. I had planned to ride out to Williams Grove, near Harrisburg and at some point, meet up with Mike for the rider autograph session and he would introduce me to the riders. As it turned out, he had room in his truck and I was able to ride with him which gave me the opportunity to wander around the pit with him for a good bit of the day, watch him do his job of networking, connecting, planning and generally schmoozing with his tribe. I got to meet a number of the riders I had read stories about like Henry Wiles and followed in the races such as Jeffrey (the Wizard) Carver, as well as one young woman, Sandriana Shipman,  who had been injured back in the early part of the season and was racing again for the first time that day.I also got to meet one of the Rookie Class of '79 members and again I  heard of how this flat track family was different from other sports- thank you Charlie. This was all before the action started!

     Once the racing got started, I wandered out of the pit to watch the track. What I noticed right away that was different from watching on TV was the sound and the blur. The roar was much clearer live, but even on a half-mile track, the pack buzzed by and I didn't hear it much til they came around again.  The blur on the other hand  was harder to adjust to. At home the camera tends to focus on individual riders which I would find annoying because I couldn't see what was going on with the rest of them. Live action was hard to watch because at over 100 miles an hour I could hardly tell who was going by, especially if I didn't recognize the numbers.
    I tried taking pictures and video, but was not very successful at capturing action clearly. My hat is off to the professional photographers and cameramen who do such an excellent job. There was some delay in events due to rain and then they squeezed all the races in early because of threatened rainstorms, As it turned out, the autograph session which is usually held before the Semi and Finals races,  was moved to  after the races were completed and trophies given and the season Singles Championship was awarded. -way to go Montco PA racer Dan Bromley!  So thanks to Mike letting me tag along, I was able to have a much fuller experience behind the scenes than if I had to wait til the end. Thank you Mike! It was so much fun.
     I had originally planned to attend one race to feel the excitement of race day and as Mike introduced me to his friends and told them this was my "first Flat Track race"  I was thinking yeah first, probably last. But since Saturday I'm thinking, I'm probably not done. There are only two races left this season. If you've never watched - check out American Flat Track and fanschoice.tv.  Maybe you'll be surprised too.
       
   

On The Road -Years Later

                           

      If I were to choose my all time favorite book I might say On The Road by Jack Kerouac.  I was seventeen when I first read it and it was suggested by Marty Cohen, a young man who I had recently met when he took over the Jack and Jill Ice Cream truck route in my neighborhood. The first day he showed up, I was probably sitting on the front steps reading a book, since reading was my favorite past time for a large part of my life.
     I had grown up reading from a young age. My Dad taught me letter sounds and how to put them together to make words before I started first grade, and I think I had my first library card by the age of six or seven. I read most all of the Nancy Drew books and graduated to more grown-up detective stories as I got older. So as I said, I was probably reading a book when Marty and I first met. He was an English major at Temple University in Philadelphia and I was about to enter my senior year of high school in my home town outside of Philadelphia. We got to talking over the summer and he recommended a few of his favorite reads such as The Blackboard Jungle and Johnny Got His Gun which I read and which introduced me to literature outside of the detective genre.
     On The Road however, was exciting to me on so many levels. Kerouac's free-flowing style of writing was something new to me, his characters and adventures carried me way beyond the world I had lived in to that point.  The flow of conversation, music, road trips, love-making, and poetry went on and on. I had been born in and lived in a mostly Italian working class neighborhood and had no inkling of going beyond my small town. The idea of just heading out on the road with no plan, itinerary or schedule was beyond my way of thinking. And I loved it!  The following year I graduated from high school just in time for Woodstock and the era of sex, drugs and rock and roll.  Fortunately I survived with some happy memories of good times and not too many negative effects.
     It has probably been decades since I last reread it,  but I came across a copy at a used book sale a while back. I was going to give it to my son to read, but didn't because he has some trouble getting into actually reading books because of an eye problem, though he can skim over internet stories for hours at times. The other reason though was I don't think that I wanted him to realize that Mom had her wild side that grew out of reading this homage to the Beat Generation.
     Nowadays, many years and hundreds if not thousands of books later, I still have to smile when I think about On The Road. It was like opening the door to a new world. Maybe that's why the other story I think of as a favorite is Stephen King"s Dark Tower series. But that's a story for another day.