First of all, the legendary Mid-Ohio AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days event takes place just south of Cleveland. The track is in the middle of nowhere, and it’s July. But despite sweltering temperatures and humidity that would knock-out the Swamp Thing, the annual Mid-Ohio AMA sponsored swap meet, bike show and vintage races attracted fans from all points of the compass including a bunch of guys from Italy, since this year’s spotlight was on Ducati motorcycles. And they were belissima… from little Cucclio scooters to the bad boy 999Rs.
Meanwhile, according to vintage Duck fan and L.A. resident Paul Montgomery, who traveled to the event, the high point of the three-day weekend event was the slew of Italian stallions, and also apparently the best root beer floats ever made. “It was the steamingest, sweatingest pit of motorcycle misery, but it was also the biggest swap meet in the U.S.,” he said. “I literally left raw with excitement. It was so hot that everything was chafing. I was loosing skin every step I took, and you could see chrome melting off the old Triumphs and BSAs.
The specific location of the track, called the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, is located in Lexington, Ohio, about 75 miles south of Cleveland, Ohio. It was founded by businessman Les Griebling in 1962 basically so he and his buddies could race their cars. Some 20 years later the track was bought by James R. Trueman who did a full makeover, turning it a roadracing track of world class quality, and it’s been going strong these past 40 years with both pro and amateur race events, both cars and bikes, modern and vintage. A highly competitive track, it includes a permanent road course with both a 2.4-mile, 15-turn configuration and a 2.25-mile, 13-turn layout that features some famous sections, for example the Keyhole, the Esses, Thunder Valley and the Carousel.
Meanwhile the rest of the attractions, including the humungous swap meet occupies the track’s 330 acres, about 190 acres of the parking area filled with swap meet vendors. Between races, the tracks kept busy with manufacturing testing their products as well as driver training programs. In a given year, the track counts some 500,000 spectators, a bunch of them made up of the Mid-Ohio motorcycle vintage swap and race event.
They previously featured Marques including BSA, Honda, Norton, Penton, Vincent, Indian, Spanish motorcycles, Harley-Davidson and, most recently, BMW. The American Historic Motorcycle Racing Association (AHRMA) conducted the weekend of racing that in addition to the roadracing included two days of AHRMA motocross, plus observed trials and dirt-track racing, the events attracting some 1,500 competitors. Some spectators walked away with trophies as well, including Lee Anne of Pleasant Hill, Ohio. In the Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum raffle she won a restored 1953 Vincent Black Shadow.
There were actually three vintage bikes shows and a wide spectrum of speakers including Craig Vetter plus demo rides by BMW, Ducati, Buell, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Aprilia, Moto Guzzi, MZ and Harley-Davidson. Attending this year’s event was a number of legendary racers including Paul Smart who acted as the Grand Marshal. Smart in 1972 won the famous Imola race aboard a Ducati. He also picked the Best of Show from a good mix of American, British and Italian bikes. So you could swap shop ‘til you dropped and then take in the racing. Sounds like a plan. Just stock up on root beer floats.
