New Zealand has a reputation as an interesting place of unparalleled beauty. Well, it is and I think most people know that. What I personally found just as interesting is that it is a land of motor heads. I have never seen a population so fascinated by anything with an engine and they will race anything, anywhere in any weather.
I was standing in NZ with Fab Kevin on the side of a twisting mountain road, with no guardrails, in the pouring rain, as men and women raced on a twisting road. Kevin and I kind of wondered how hard it had to rain to cancel the race and the old guy we asked just said, “Well you got to learn to race in the rain sometime,” and I think that was the theme of the visit.
NZ is a land where racers are bigger than rock stars. NZ is a land where Andrew Stroud is actually as popular as Charlie Sheen is in the land between Charlie’s ears. The movie, “The World’s Fastest Indian,” about Burt Munro might not officially be required viewing in the NZ school system, but more kids have probably seen it, then read, “Where the Red Fern Grows.”
It is no surprise then that artist Roddy McMillian was commissioned to build a statue of Burt Munro breaking the world record on his streamliner. This statue is in Burt’s hometown of Invercargill. I can’t think of any US statues of motorcycles enthusiast. Here in the US, we gotta get our act together.
–Edge
