1 00:02:33,353 --> 00:02:38,524 [Coe Meyer] There's a freedom about it, there's an open-air experience. 2 00:02:38,526 --> 00:02:41,393 The sun in your face, the sound of the motor and the vibration, 3 00:02:41,395 --> 00:02:45,364 the unobscured view of everything that's going on around you. 4 00:02:45,366 --> 00:02:48,300 It's a bombardment of the senses. 5 00:02:50,103 --> 00:02:53,272 I just love it, I just enjoy being on a bike. 6 00:02:55,375 --> 00:02:57,743 [David Hansen] The cliche of feeling the wind in your hair, 7 00:02:57,745 --> 00:03:00,179 even though I don't have much hair anymore, is very true. 8 00:03:00,181 --> 00:03:03,415 It's just... It's a wonderful feeling. 9 00:03:05,919 --> 00:03:09,755 It's a built-in passion to ride a motorcycle, no matter what it is. 10 00:03:13,226 --> 00:03:17,362 It's unlike anything else that you'll ever feel. 11 00:03:17,364 --> 00:03:19,698 There's nothing in my life that's like it. 12 00:03:25,438 --> 00:03:31,276 It's part of who I am, and what I want to be. 13 00:03:33,780 --> 00:03:36,381 Motorcycle riding is such a filter for the brain for me. 14 00:03:36,383 --> 00:03:40,285 I always end up singing while I'm riding because it's just me and my bike 15 00:03:40,287 --> 00:03:44,756 and I'm just enjoying myself and not really thinking about anything else. 16 00:03:51,331 --> 00:03:54,466 [Meyer] Some people paint, some people sew, 17 00:03:54,468 --> 00:03:56,969 some people listen to music. I get on a motorcycle 18 00:03:56,971 --> 00:03:59,504 and that really puts my mind at ease. 19 00:04:04,777 --> 00:04:10,482 It's a high, it's a good high, and it's one that you can get addicted to. 20 00:04:14,988 --> 00:04:19,258 [Michael Baer] In a spiritual sense you could almost say, Namaste, you know, 21 00:04:19,260 --> 00:04:23,228 it's that blending of the soul of the motorcycle and you 22 00:04:23,230 --> 00:04:26,665 and it's just this perfect moment. 23 00:04:26,667 --> 00:04:29,701 [Hansen] Everybody that rides a motorcycle that's been around for a while 24 00:04:29,703 --> 00:04:32,337 has got a personal connection to their motorcycle 25 00:04:32,339 --> 00:04:34,606 It's a person unto itself. 26 00:04:36,342 --> 00:04:38,443 [Jay Allen] We all dream about flying. 27 00:04:38,445 --> 00:04:41,780 Well, when you ride a motorcycle, you are flying. 28 00:04:41,782 --> 00:04:45,450 You're flying through space at the twist of a throttle. 29 00:04:53,159 --> 00:04:56,995 [Damien Doffo] When you ride motorcycles, people always say hi to each other, you know, 30 00:04:56,997 --> 00:04:59,965 you don't see people who drive cars waving at everybody in a car. 31 00:04:59,967 --> 00:05:05,470 [Al Lamb] They all have a bond, and it's a bond that they share by desire. 32 00:05:05,472 --> 00:05:09,174 The common denominator is two wheels. 33 00:05:19,719 --> 00:05:22,120 They are people that'll bend over backwards to help ya. 34 00:05:22,122 --> 00:05:27,859 You're not going to leave a comrade on the side of the road without offering to help 'em. 35 00:05:30,496 --> 00:05:36,335 There are some of the nicest people I've ever met, are motorcyclists, hands down. 36 00:05:39,872 --> 00:05:43,542 [Hansen] Being a motorcycle guy cuts across every job description, 37 00:05:43,544 --> 00:05:46,812 and you identify yourself with being a motorcyclist, 38 00:05:46,814 --> 00:05:50,015 first and foremost, before you're a doctor, before you're an actor, 39 00:05:50,017 --> 00:05:52,918 before you're a newspaper tycoon, you're a motorcycle guy. 40 00:05:52,920 --> 00:05:57,322 And that really levels the playing field with a lot of people. 41 00:05:57,324 --> 00:06:01,193 [Alonzo Bodden] So you're talking to a guy about bikes and then you find out 42 00:06:01,195 --> 00:06:03,628 that this guy's a neurosurgeon, and you're, like, 43 00:06:03,630 --> 00:06:08,867 "Huh, I thought he was just some guy who rode a Honda." [laughs] 44 00:06:10,837 --> 00:06:13,672 [Allen] If you ever get on that bike, president of a bank, 45 00:06:13,674 --> 00:06:16,375 a leader of a country, you're in. 46 00:06:19,812 --> 00:06:22,714 [Rick Baer] You could get out of work totally angry, take a little ride, 47 00:06:22,716 --> 00:06:25,684 and boy you don't get two miles down the road, and all of a sudden, 48 00:06:25,686 --> 00:06:28,954 you've let go of all of that stress, all that anxiety, 49 00:06:28,956 --> 00:06:31,656 and now you're... you're free. 50 00:06:32,825 --> 00:06:37,462 [Ted Simon] In my view people travel in bubbles, a lot. 51 00:06:37,464 --> 00:06:39,898 The motorcycle gets you out of the bubble. 52 00:07:30,683 --> 00:07:32,984 We can't know where we're going if we don't know where we've been. 53 00:07:32,986 --> 00:07:35,187 [Johnny McClure] In the old days, you know, there were thousands of people 54 00:07:35,189 --> 00:07:37,088 that came out to watch the motorcycle races. 55 00:07:37,090 --> 00:07:41,126 Some of the greatest riders of all time, Ben Campanelli, 56 00:07:41,128 --> 00:07:45,397 Jimmy Phillips, Bobby Hill and Bill Tuman, and Ernie Beckman. 57 00:07:45,399 --> 00:07:48,366 Ed Kretz. [laughs] Ed Kretz was my hero. 58 00:07:48,368 --> 00:07:50,402 They were badass, they were real men. 59 00:07:50,404 --> 00:07:52,737 [Meyer] Like rodeoing, there was no money in it, 60 00:07:52,739 --> 00:07:55,740 there was no prestige in it, you did it because you liked doing it. 61 00:07:55,742 --> 00:07:58,510 [Gordon McCall] I would have loved to have been around during that era. 62 00:07:58,512 --> 00:08:00,479 You know, it was just throw it all out there. 63 00:08:00,481 --> 00:08:02,848 [Don Emde] It was a great time in racing for sure. 64 00:08:02,850 --> 00:08:06,618 [Allen] It's about tradition, I wanna keep those stories alive. 65 00:08:06,620 --> 00:08:08,954 I don't want these people to be forgotten. 66 00:08:09,856 --> 00:08:11,156 [Michael Baer] I think it's important 67 00:08:11,158 --> 00:08:12,958 to preserve the lineage. 68 00:08:12,960 --> 00:08:14,192 I mean, it's kinda funny, 69 00:08:14,194 --> 00:08:16,161 you go out and buy a brand-new motorcycle, 70 00:08:16,163 --> 00:08:21,700 it's hard to think that that has roots that go back to 1901. 71 00:08:21,702 --> 00:08:23,902 Motorcycles literally were, you know, bicycles 72 00:08:23,904 --> 00:08:26,104 that somebody finally came up with the idea of putting an engine in it. 73 00:08:26,106 --> 00:08:29,374 [McCall] Kind of like the peanut butter and jelly story, you know. [laughing] 74 00:08:29,376 --> 00:08:31,610 It's like, I think maybe these two things might work. 75 00:08:31,612 --> 00:08:33,612 Of course, if you got an engine in a motorcycle, 76 00:08:33,614 --> 00:08:35,680 the next thing is you gotta start racing it. 77 00:08:35,682 --> 00:08:38,950 [Emde] When racing really got going in the U.S. was through board track racing. 78 00:08:38,952 --> 00:08:42,187 [Butch Baer] Small, circular, banked wooden track. 79 00:08:42,189 --> 00:08:45,357 [Buzz Kanter] Literally just strips of wood laid end to end. 80 00:08:45,359 --> 00:08:49,060 And all these bicycle racings, they used a pacer, 81 00:08:49,062 --> 00:08:55,166 that they followed behind, which was a motorized, big, clumsy bicycle. 82 00:08:55,168 --> 00:08:57,569 [Emde] And then the bicyclists would actually be in the draft. 83 00:08:57,571 --> 00:09:02,974 And the pacer would get to a certain speed, peel off, and then the racers would start. 84 00:09:02,976 --> 00:09:06,311 Someone came up along the way one time, with, like, an intermission. 85 00:09:06,313 --> 00:09:10,215 "Why don't we put all the pacers out on the track, let them have their own race?" 86 00:09:10,217 --> 00:09:12,717 And they did that, and I guess it went over pretty well, 87 00:09:12,719 --> 00:09:16,454 but then it wasn't long they realized the bikes themselves could go faster, 88 00:09:16,456 --> 00:09:18,423 so they made them a little less big and bulky. 89 00:09:18,425 --> 00:09:22,127 [Kanter] That's the premise for the Indian Company, the Hendees. 90 00:09:22,129 --> 00:09:27,299 They were bicycle racers and created this motorized bicycle 91 00:09:27,301 --> 00:09:30,068 to help set faster and faster speeds. 92 00:09:30,070 --> 00:09:32,203 [Emde] Then, you know, here came Harley-Davidson 93 00:09:32,205 --> 00:09:35,106 and companies that, uh, went into production on the whole thing. 94 00:09:35,108 --> 00:09:38,243 [Kanter] There were more than a hundred motorcycle manufacturers 95 00:09:38,245 --> 00:09:41,479 just in the United States. 96 00:09:41,481 --> 00:09:45,517 Some of the designs of some of these engines were completely insane. 97 00:09:45,519 --> 00:09:47,586 They leaked. They smelt like a beast. 98 00:09:47,588 --> 00:09:50,855 [Kanter] You couldn't go to the local store and have someone work on it. 99 00:09:50,857 --> 00:09:53,658 You had to have a basic understanding of 'em. 100 00:09:53,660 --> 00:09:56,094 Which means that anybody who had these early bikes, 101 00:09:56,096 --> 00:10:00,865 you know, it wasn't a convenience, it was a dedication. 102 00:10:02,301 --> 00:10:04,569 [Allen] It was all about the racing and, predominantly, 103 00:10:04,571 --> 00:10:07,138 the two major bike companies were Harley versus Indian. 104 00:10:07,140 --> 00:10:10,642 [Kanter] And these guys were out there with these bikes with no brakes, 105 00:10:10,644 --> 00:10:13,311 going around the track, close to a 100 miles an hour. 106 00:10:13,313 --> 00:10:17,282 [McCall] You've gotta be kidding me, horrible tires, horrible chassis, 107 00:10:17,284 --> 00:10:20,452 lots of horsepower, how do you manage that stuff, you know? 108 00:10:20,454 --> 00:10:24,589 Well, you just do it until you crash and then you figure out where to go from there. 109 00:10:24,591 --> 00:10:28,693 It was a very dangerous sport. If they went off the outside of the track, 110 00:10:28,695 --> 00:10:33,398 they went through the fence and flew through the air, into who knows what. 111 00:10:33,400 --> 00:10:36,701 A lot of, lot of good racers 112 00:10:36,703 --> 00:10:40,538 and young men died racing. 113 00:10:40,540 --> 00:10:45,677 [Kanter] Until Henry Ford did his thing, cars were basically for the wealthy. 114 00:10:45,679 --> 00:10:49,080 So a young enterprising man, who was a working man, 115 00:10:49,082 --> 00:10:54,586 a working family, his dream would be to buy a motorcycle and a sidecar. 116 00:10:54,588 --> 00:10:58,123 My great-grandfather, Fritzie Baer, had a '23 Chief with a sidecar. 117 00:10:58,125 --> 00:11:02,560 Brought his pregnant wife to the hospital in a motorcycle and a sidecar, 118 00:11:02,562 --> 00:11:06,231 and the newborn baby came home... in the sidecar. 119 00:11:06,233 --> 00:11:09,300 Over the next five years, she had another three more children, 120 00:11:09,302 --> 00:11:13,838 and all four of us were brought home in that side car. 121 00:11:14,974 --> 00:11:17,642 You would had to have lived through the Depression 122 00:11:17,644 --> 00:11:19,744 to know what the period was like. 123 00:11:19,746 --> 00:11:22,313 People didn't have a lot of money. 124 00:11:22,315 --> 00:11:26,184 [Gloria Struck] I can remember when a can of pork and beans 125 00:11:26,186 --> 00:11:31,089 and a roll was a wonderful meal, I'm not kidding. 126 00:11:32,558 --> 00:11:36,728 [Butch Baer] Fun was hard to come by. Entertainment was expensive. 127 00:11:36,730 --> 00:11:39,931 As people got into motorcycling and the club, 128 00:11:39,933 --> 00:11:43,234 the club itself became their entertainment. 129 00:11:43,236 --> 00:11:46,538 [laughing] And this club with Fritzie running it, 130 00:11:46,540 --> 00:11:49,140 there was all kinds of things to do. 131 00:11:49,142 --> 00:11:51,176 They were busy, you know, four or five nights a week. 132 00:11:51,178 --> 00:11:53,511 [Butch Baer] They went out on these little rides. 133 00:11:53,513 --> 00:11:55,780 It just went on and on. 134 00:11:55,782 --> 00:11:57,716 [Michael Baer] And, of course, back then you got dressed up. 135 00:11:57,718 --> 00:12:01,252 [Butch Baer] You dress and act like a gentleman, or you got fined. 136 00:12:01,254 --> 00:12:05,990 And if you couldn't abide by the rules... [laughing] ...you're out. 137 00:12:05,992 --> 00:12:08,193 And people are begging to get in. 138 00:12:08,195 --> 00:12:11,596 Always had a waiting list for members. 139 00:12:11,598 --> 00:12:14,332 And then once they started with the auxiliary, 140 00:12:14,334 --> 00:12:17,902 now it became joint affairs. 141 00:12:17,904 --> 00:12:20,472 Now we had boys meeting girls. 142 00:12:20,474 --> 00:12:21,873 [laughing] And you know how that works out. 143 00:12:21,875 --> 00:12:24,576 [Emde] After the Depression, 144 00:12:24,578 --> 00:12:27,679 it was hard to keep those big factory things kinda going in those years, 145 00:12:27,681 --> 00:12:30,215 and the AMA got together with the manufacturer and said, 146 00:12:30,217 --> 00:12:34,652 "Let's create a form of racing that would be more production bikes." 147 00:12:34,654 --> 00:12:36,955 So they started this thing called Class C. 148 00:12:36,957 --> 00:12:40,225 And it was a bike that was based on production model bikes, 149 00:12:40,227 --> 00:12:43,294 and it was basically built around Indians and Harley-Davidsons. 150 00:12:43,296 --> 00:12:46,865 You can't know about racing, you can't know about Daytona, 151 00:12:46,867 --> 00:12:49,234 and not know who Ed Kretz is. 152 00:12:49,236 --> 00:12:51,903 What Ed was, was really one of the first champions 153 00:12:51,905 --> 00:12:54,372 of that Class C era. He won all the big races. 154 00:12:54,374 --> 00:12:56,975 [Jack Hoel] He was always known as "Iron Man Kretz." 155 00:12:56,977 --> 00:13:00,745 He was so determined, when he got on he was either gonna break the damn thing 156 00:13:00,747 --> 00:13:02,714 or win the race, that was it. 157 00:13:02,716 --> 00:13:06,684 [Hansen] Kretz would not stand for anything other than total victory, 158 00:13:06,686 --> 00:13:08,553 and anything other than that was a failure. 159 00:13:08,555 --> 00:13:11,890 When you look at it that way, that's when you get very successful. 160 00:13:11,892 --> 00:13:15,560 [Butch Baer] Ed tried to pass everybody, so in case anything went wrong, 161 00:13:15,562 --> 00:13:19,330 you had time to fix it and still win. That was his idea how to race. 162 00:13:19,332 --> 00:13:21,232 [Michael Baer] When Ed Kretz finished a race, 163 00:13:21,234 --> 00:13:25,436 they actually had to pry his fingers off of the handlebars, 164 00:13:25,438 --> 00:13:27,205 because he physically couldn't do it. 165 00:13:27,207 --> 00:13:30,041 He'd been holding for so long, for the last hundred miles, 166 00:13:30,043 --> 00:13:33,845 going as fast as he could, they had to pry him off the cycle. 167 00:13:33,847 --> 00:13:37,649 Dad, when he would ride, he would just do nothing but ride, 168 00:13:37,651 --> 00:13:43,087 and you could tell by looking at him, that that's all he was thinking. 169 00:13:43,089 --> 00:13:46,157 One of the things that Ed told me a long time ago 170 00:13:46,159 --> 00:13:48,359 that really stuck in my mind, first of all, 171 00:13:48,361 --> 00:13:50,662 "When everybody else is letting up to go into the corner, 172 00:13:50,664 --> 00:13:54,732 I just grabbed a handful of throttle and that's where I would pass everybody." 173 00:13:54,734 --> 00:13:57,135 And, boy, that just... 174 00:13:57,137 --> 00:14:01,239 It sounded so hairy and so bold, but that was Ed Kretz, man. 175 00:14:01,241 --> 00:14:04,075 He was the Iron Man. 176 00:14:04,077 --> 00:14:07,912 Dad had a job driving a hay truck, truck and trailer. 177 00:14:07,914 --> 00:14:10,181 That's where my dad made his money. 178 00:14:10,183 --> 00:14:13,351 He loaded it by himself and he unloaded by himself. 179 00:14:13,353 --> 00:14:15,653 That's what gave him all this upper-body strength. 180 00:14:15,655 --> 00:14:20,191 [Kanter] Not only was he in great physical condition, but also mentally. 181 00:14:20,193 --> 00:14:23,194 He'd do 18-hour days, 20-hour days, 182 00:14:23,196 --> 00:14:26,097 and then go right back in and do it again. 183 00:14:26,099 --> 00:14:30,201 He would come over on his motorcycle and he used to do a lot of stunts 184 00:14:30,203 --> 00:14:32,270 and he would stand on his head or stand on the seat, 185 00:14:32,272 --> 00:14:37,075 and just kinda showing off in front of her, you know, and... 186 00:14:37,077 --> 00:14:40,612 That's how he met my mother, on a motorcycle. 187 00:14:40,614 --> 00:14:42,881 Race, race, race, every day. 188 00:14:42,883 --> 00:14:47,252 When he wasn't on the truck, he was on the motorcycle. 189 00:14:47,254 --> 00:14:52,457 Oh, she was for it, she was always with him, always with him. 190 00:14:52,459 --> 00:14:57,729 He'd take Mom, they'd ride to where the race was gonna be, 191 00:14:57,731 --> 00:14:59,697 he'd take off the headlight, 192 00:14:59,699 --> 00:15:01,933 he'd take everything off the bike, 193 00:15:01,935 --> 00:15:06,070 and have it just bare, you know, so he could race. 194 00:15:06,072 --> 00:15:10,508 And so Mom would just stand there and watch the stuff 195 00:15:10,510 --> 00:15:15,013 and Dad would race, he'd put it all back together, 196 00:15:15,015 --> 00:15:18,716 they'd get on it and head home. 197 00:15:18,718 --> 00:15:21,753 My father was very business, 198 00:15:21,755 --> 00:15:26,190 but when it came time to be home, he was home. 199 00:15:26,192 --> 00:15:29,260 He was just there any time you needed something, 200 00:15:29,262 --> 00:15:32,697 or he would go out of his way to help ya, you know. 201 00:15:32,699 --> 00:15:35,366 We had such a good time as kids. 202 00:15:35,368 --> 00:15:39,237 So many cheerful rides. 203 00:15:39,239 --> 00:15:42,840 I miss it terribly. 204 00:15:42,842 --> 00:15:45,910 [Kanter] Ed Kretz did some pretty amazing things, 205 00:15:45,912 --> 00:15:49,280 and he did it basically on the same motorcycle. It was a little Sport Scout. 206 00:15:49,282 --> 00:15:52,417 With that same bike, he won the last Savannah, Georgia race, 207 00:15:52,419 --> 00:15:54,953 which, at the time, was a massive race. 208 00:15:54,955 --> 00:15:58,289 He won the first Laconia ever on that bike, 209 00:15:58,291 --> 00:16:02,093 which is a massive race, and he won the first Daytona. 210 00:16:02,095 --> 00:16:06,464 Ed Kretz and those guys racing at Daytona, on the sand? 211 00:16:06,466 --> 00:16:08,399 Seriously? Who does that? 212 00:16:08,401 --> 00:16:11,636 I mean, and how do they go that fast? I wanna know. 213 00:16:11,638 --> 00:16:16,708 And then Daytona become the biggest race of the year for motorcycling. 214 00:16:16,710 --> 00:16:19,944 [Emde] The real tough part about Daytona, 215 00:16:19,946 --> 00:16:21,946 which would put most of the people out of the race, 216 00:16:21,948 --> 00:16:25,283 was either coming down the straightaway and going into the north turn, 217 00:16:25,285 --> 00:16:27,618 you started getting into the loose, chopped-up sand, 218 00:16:27,620 --> 00:16:30,621 and then also transitioning from the sand onto pavement, 219 00:16:30,623 --> 00:16:33,424 you know, you got the little sandy stretch there, where you've got pavement 220 00:16:33,426 --> 00:16:36,494 with sand all over it and there's a lot of guys spinning out, coming through that, 221 00:16:36,496 --> 00:16:38,396 or where they'd stuck in a little rut and everything, 222 00:16:38,398 --> 00:16:42,300 and then same thing at the other end. 223 00:16:42,302 --> 00:16:46,404 The beach course went from when Ed won in 1937 224 00:16:46,406 --> 00:16:48,940 and it went through 1960. 225 00:16:48,942 --> 00:16:50,708 [McCall] Ed's winning Daytona, it was a big deal. 226 00:16:50,710 --> 00:16:55,046 From that point forward, that beach has never been the same. 227 00:16:55,048 --> 00:16:58,616 [Struck] It's motorcycling history. 228 00:16:58,618 --> 00:17:03,254 You know, I feel so fortunate that I'm a person who was there, 229 00:17:03,256 --> 00:17:08,192 when some of these fellas won, riding on the beach. 230 00:18:03,015 --> 00:18:05,783 Daytona kinda paved the way that you were a road racer. 231 00:18:05,785 --> 00:18:09,220 [Jason DiSalvo] It's the ultimate test of man and machine. 232 00:18:09,222 --> 00:18:13,157 Two hundred miles, flat out, as hard as you can go, 233 00:18:13,159 --> 00:18:15,460 and may the best man win. 234 00:18:15,462 --> 00:18:21,232 You know, you see it on TV and you don't realize just how big that place is. 235 00:18:37,349 --> 00:18:41,552 It's the first race of the year, everyone's got all these expectations 236 00:18:41,554 --> 00:18:43,688 of what's gonna happen. 237 00:18:43,690 --> 00:18:47,692 [Kenny Roberts] That was the race, I mean, if you could win Daytona, that was the race. 238 00:18:47,694 --> 00:18:51,963 [Melissa Paris] There's a certain air that surrounds it that to me is a bit magical. 239 00:18:51,965 --> 00:18:56,667 It's like you get to be a part of something a lot bigger than yourself. 240 00:18:56,669 --> 00:19:02,673 [Josh Hayes] The history and the vibe and the feel around the race track. 241 00:19:02,675 --> 00:19:07,512 [Paris] If you can get your name in that history book, that's a pretty big deal. 242 00:19:12,217 --> 00:19:16,053 [Allen] Tradition is everything and the Daytona 200 is one of those ones, 243 00:19:16,055 --> 00:19:21,325 it's like you gotta chalk it up. You've gotta win the Daytona 200, it's the ultimate. 244 00:19:21,327 --> 00:19:23,427 [engine revving] 245 00:19:29,735 --> 00:19:34,539 [Kanter] It's every racer's dream to get up on the banks of Daytona. 246 00:19:44,049 --> 00:19:48,819 To sit in the grandstands and feel those motorcycles fly by you, 247 00:19:48,821 --> 00:19:54,225 then to hear their exhaust and everyone cheering, and... It's a blast. 248 00:19:57,529 --> 00:20:01,399 It was huge. I mean, I won the 200. Not too many people can say they have. 249 00:20:02,901 --> 00:20:06,971 My father won the race in 1948, but to this day we still remain 250 00:20:06,973 --> 00:20:09,540 the only father and son to have won Daytona. 251 00:20:12,744 --> 00:20:17,014 It's definitely my proudest moment, winning the Daytona 200. 252 00:20:33,065 --> 00:20:35,566 I was probably six years old when I saw a minibike, 253 00:20:35,568 --> 00:20:39,203 and, I mean, I was hooked right then. 254 00:20:39,205 --> 00:20:44,175 I saw somebody riding down the road on a motorcycle, and I was, 255 00:20:44,177 --> 00:20:49,513 as the Brits say, gobsmacked, I just... and that was it. 256 00:20:49,515 --> 00:20:52,016 My brother had a minibike when he was about ten years old, 257 00:20:52,018 --> 00:20:56,487 and I was forbidden to ride it, and so I made it my life's mission 258 00:20:56,489 --> 00:20:58,756 to be able to ride that bike. 259 00:20:58,758 --> 00:21:03,361 I'm want to say that I was about ten or 11 the first time I put a leg over a minibike. 260 00:21:03,363 --> 00:21:05,329 - I was 16. - Fifteen or 16. 261 00:21:05,331 --> 00:21:06,797 - Thirteen years old. - Twelve. 262 00:21:06,799 --> 00:21:08,032 Eleven years old. 263 00:21:08,034 --> 00:21:09,533 - Eleven years old. - Ten years old. 264 00:21:09,535 --> 00:21:11,502 - Six or seven. - Five years old. 265 00:21:11,504 --> 00:21:13,204 Five. It was just a little minibike. 266 00:21:13,206 --> 00:21:15,139 [multiple speakers] Minibike. Minibike. Minibike. 267 00:21:15,141 --> 00:21:17,375 Minibike. Minibike. Minibike. 268 00:21:17,377 --> 00:21:19,910 My dad hit it lucky in Vegas 269 00:21:19,912 --> 00:21:22,680 and bought my brother a car and bought me a Whizzer. 270 00:21:22,682 --> 00:21:25,149 - CZ 125. - S90 Honda. 271 00:21:25,151 --> 00:21:27,952 - Suzuki DS 80. - YZ 80 Yamaha. 272 00:21:27,954 --> 00:21:30,221 - ATC 70. - CZ 250. 273 00:21:30,223 --> 00:21:32,256 - PW50. - It's called a Taco. 274 00:21:32,258 --> 00:21:35,192 - Honda 50. - A little scooter, it was called a Corgi. 275 00:21:35,194 --> 00:21:37,795 We weren't rich or nothing, so I built a minibike 276 00:21:37,797 --> 00:21:40,364 out of a bicycle frame and a lawnmower motor. 277 00:21:40,366 --> 00:21:42,233 With a lawnmower engine, Briggs & Stratton. 278 00:21:42,235 --> 00:21:44,068 Back in the day you put the rope on it and pull it. 279 00:21:44,070 --> 00:21:45,369 I don't think it had a name, 280 00:21:45,371 --> 00:21:47,672 I think somebody built it in their garage. 281 00:21:49,341 --> 00:21:51,475 We need to rename what we called motorcycles back then. 282 00:21:51,477 --> 00:21:54,278 They should have been renamed, you know, "the things that we hid from our parents." 283 00:21:54,280 --> 00:21:57,348 When I was young, my dad didn't want me to have anything to do with motorcycles. 284 00:21:57,350 --> 00:21:59,650 They absolutely did not approve of me riding a motorcycle. 285 00:21:59,652 --> 00:22:02,653 - "That's for bad people." - OK... but I'm riding. 286 00:22:02,655 --> 00:22:04,622 My mom didn't know when I bought my first bike, 287 00:22:04,624 --> 00:22:07,658 I kept it at my friend's house down the street. That's such a cliche. 288 00:22:07,660 --> 00:22:11,829 I've run into so many people that could tell that same story. 289 00:22:11,831 --> 00:22:15,299 [Chris Baer] We're in the St. Helene's parking lot, thank God it was a church, 290 00:22:15,301 --> 00:22:17,635 and, uh, that's where I popped my first wheelie, 291 00:22:17,637 --> 00:22:19,904 [laughs] because I hadn't learned the clutch yet. 292 00:22:19,906 --> 00:22:24,208 And I panicked, got whiskey throttle, next thing I knew, I took off. 293 00:22:24,210 --> 00:22:26,277 Boom-bity boom-bity boom, across the field. 294 00:22:26,279 --> 00:22:28,979 How do you stop it, how do you stop it? 295 00:22:28,981 --> 00:22:32,783 And the first time I got on it they just told me to take off, so I took off, hit a tree. 296 00:22:32,785 --> 00:22:35,920 Went wide open into the chainlink fence, wrapped all up in it. 297 00:22:35,922 --> 00:22:39,623 And it was a house down there, and we hit the corner of the house. 298 00:22:39,625 --> 00:22:43,160 It had no brakes. The only way we could figure out how to stop it 299 00:22:43,162 --> 00:22:45,563 was to run it into my dad's work truck. 300 00:22:45,565 --> 00:22:48,466 So we didn't have it very long. He took that away. 301 00:22:48,468 --> 00:22:50,468 I think it's like trying to learn how to play a violin. 302 00:22:50,470 --> 00:22:53,204 It's just hideous and then all of a sudden it's like, 303 00:22:53,206 --> 00:22:56,474 "Oh, my God, I know how to ride this thing now." 304 00:22:59,244 --> 00:23:04,815 [Roberts] I mean, I literally rode it for about a minute and a half, 305 00:23:04,817 --> 00:23:08,052 and I went, "OK, I have to do that." 306 00:23:08,054 --> 00:23:11,021 [Taye Swing] The first time I rode that little minibike, 307 00:23:11,023 --> 00:23:15,192 I just felt like I could do anything. 308 00:23:17,162 --> 00:23:21,132 [Allen] I was so excited to know that I was going to ride my bike the next day, 309 00:23:21,134 --> 00:23:25,369 and I still feel that today, every day. 310 00:23:27,839 --> 00:23:30,274 I just hope to God that I can always have the sensation, 311 00:23:30,276 --> 00:23:34,712 and I guess when I'm not, I'll be talking and dreaming about it all the time. 312 00:23:34,714 --> 00:23:38,816 I'll be taking a lot of naps just so I can see it in my dreams. 313 00:23:44,623 --> 00:23:47,525 I met Bret and I went home that day and I said, 314 00:23:47,527 --> 00:23:50,027 "Just to let you guys know, I met my future husband." 315 00:23:50,029 --> 00:23:54,064 [Bret Petersen] Sharing my passion with the person that 316 00:23:54,066 --> 00:23:59,570 I'm gonna spend the rest of my life with, means the world to me. 317 00:24:02,107 --> 00:24:04,542 I used to race out of Willow Springs WSMC. 318 00:24:04,544 --> 00:24:06,444 I was out there minding my own business, 319 00:24:06,446 --> 00:24:08,345 and then he asked me out to dinner and I said no. 320 00:24:08,347 --> 00:24:10,181 But she was really hungry, so she went. 321 00:24:10,183 --> 00:24:13,684 So I relented when I realized I'd spent all my money on tires, 322 00:24:13,686 --> 00:24:16,654 and I was like, "Well, at least I'll get a meal out of this." 323 00:24:16,656 --> 00:24:18,322 [both laugh] 324 00:24:18,324 --> 00:24:20,391 I actually met my wife at a race track. 325 00:24:20,393 --> 00:24:24,528 I met her at, uh, at Little Talladega Gran Prix Raceway. 326 00:24:24,530 --> 00:24:28,199 We met at the snack stand, she was working there, 327 00:24:28,201 --> 00:24:33,103 serving hamburgers, and I ate about 15 hamburgers that weekend. 328 00:24:33,105 --> 00:24:38,476 I took my then girlfriend, now my wife, up in the San Joaquin Valley. 329 00:24:38,478 --> 00:24:42,179 We stopped at a little stand to pick some cherries. 330 00:24:42,181 --> 00:24:45,316 As I'm riding down my motorcycle, she's biting the cherry, 331 00:24:45,318 --> 00:24:49,320 pulling the pits out and feeding them to me. 332 00:24:49,322 --> 00:24:52,957 I'll still remember that to this day. Uh... 333 00:24:52,959 --> 00:24:56,460 It was just one of the most romantic things we've ever done. 334 00:25:28,894 --> 00:25:30,861 Motorcycling has a very bad reputation. 335 00:25:30,863 --> 00:25:33,163 [Zach Ness] When my grandpa first got involved, 336 00:25:33,165 --> 00:25:34,665 they'd pull up to restaurants, 337 00:25:34,667 --> 00:25:36,233 they'd pull up to hotels, and they wouldn't be allowed in. 338 00:25:36,235 --> 00:25:38,469 You'd pull up on a bike and they'd turn the sign around. 339 00:25:38,471 --> 00:25:41,305 Pretty much you were considered an outlaw. 340 00:25:41,307 --> 00:25:46,343 It goes way back to, what was that movie, The Wild One, with Marlon Brando, 341 00:25:46,345 --> 00:25:50,714 when bikers were bad, you know. You wore black leather and you took over the town, 342 00:25:50,716 --> 00:25:54,818 and you ran the sheriff off, and attacked the women. 343 00:25:54,820 --> 00:25:58,722 They didn't like the motorcycles there for a long time. 344 00:25:58,724 --> 00:26:00,925 And, of course, along come Honda. 345 00:26:00,927 --> 00:26:02,927 [Keith Code] There was a great PR campaign 346 00:26:02,929 --> 00:26:04,595 that Honda did at that time, and it was, 347 00:26:04,597 --> 00:26:06,764 "You meet the nicest people on a Honda." 348 00:26:06,766 --> 00:26:09,133 It changed a lot of the image back again. 349 00:26:09,135 --> 00:26:11,068 [Lamb] And that kinda brought it more into the mainstream, 350 00:26:11,070 --> 00:26:14,204 suddenly it's the moms and dads, the kids next door, 351 00:26:14,206 --> 00:26:15,739 and the neighbor down the street. 352 00:26:15,741 --> 00:26:17,708 [Keith Code] People just started buying these things, 353 00:26:17,710 --> 00:26:19,677 because they were accessible, they didn't have to go and buy, 354 00:26:19,679 --> 00:26:23,247 you know, a six-, seven- 800-pound motorcycle. 355 00:26:23,249 --> 00:26:24,982 They were smaller, they were lighter, 356 00:26:24,984 --> 00:26:27,551 they were nicely designed. They were damn cute. 357 00:26:27,553 --> 00:26:30,387 It was a good move, I think somebody at Yamaha was like, 358 00:26:30,389 --> 00:26:32,623 "We shoulda went with the nice people thing." 359 00:26:32,625 --> 00:26:36,527 Everybody could ride a Honda, a little Honda. 360 00:26:36,529 --> 00:26:39,363 God. [chuckles] 361 00:26:39,365 --> 00:26:42,900 [Judy Code] Almost everybody that learns to ride was taught by their friend or neighbor, 362 00:26:42,902 --> 00:26:47,137 you know, and whatever false information, misinformation, 363 00:26:47,139 --> 00:26:53,243 bad habits that friend or neighbor had are passed on from learner to learner. 364 00:26:53,245 --> 00:26:56,180 We come equipped with a certain number of survival reactions. 365 00:26:56,182 --> 00:27:00,117 We do something like put our hands out to cushion a fall, 366 00:27:00,119 --> 00:27:02,453 whereas if you roll, you won't break your wrists. 367 00:27:02,455 --> 00:27:06,790 There are about eight or nine of these responses that we have to situations 368 00:27:06,792 --> 00:27:09,193 that are just a little bit out of our control. 369 00:27:09,195 --> 00:27:13,364 Each and every one of these are contrary to what you should be doing at that time. 370 00:27:13,366 --> 00:27:18,035 The California Superbike School is a running research project 371 00:27:18,037 --> 00:27:21,538 on how to understand and control a motorcycle. 372 00:27:21,540 --> 00:27:24,274 Now it's expanded into about 50 different areas, 373 00:27:24,276 --> 00:27:28,245 where we can make corrections on specific areas of skill 374 00:27:28,247 --> 00:27:31,682 and control of the motorcycles. 375 00:27:31,684 --> 00:27:34,218 Street riding is great, but track riding is way better. 376 00:27:34,220 --> 00:27:39,189 It's so much more fun because you don't have all of the distractions, restrictions. 377 00:27:49,300 --> 00:27:52,302 A student we had up at Sears Point, up in Sonoma, 378 00:27:52,304 --> 00:27:56,740 26 years he'd been riding, ridden 1.2 million miles. 379 00:27:56,742 --> 00:28:01,245 At the end of the day he said, "You know, I thought I had 26 years of experience, 380 00:28:01,247 --> 00:28:04,948 now I realize I had one year of experience 26 times." 381 00:28:09,220 --> 00:28:13,590 It's so fulfilling, there is no other job better than this. 382 00:28:17,962 --> 00:28:21,765 Motorcycles are what taught me everything about how things work. 383 00:28:21,767 --> 00:28:24,868 Tearing down the motor on my first Honda CL-90 384 00:28:24,870 --> 00:28:28,172 and not being able to put it back together. [laughs] 385 00:28:28,174 --> 00:28:32,843 I had a handful of cafe racers, none of which really resonated with me 386 00:28:32,845 --> 00:28:34,845 until I built my first Indian, 387 00:28:34,847 --> 00:28:37,181 and that was a 1926 Indian that I built with my grandfather. 388 00:28:37,183 --> 00:28:41,585 You nurture it, you love it, it grows, you develop it, 389 00:28:41,587 --> 00:28:43,787 you restore it, and then finally it's done. 390 00:28:43,789 --> 00:28:50,160 It was a great experience to hang out with your grandfather and work side by side with him. 391 00:28:52,497 --> 00:28:56,967 We started collecting motorcycles about the same time we started making wine. 392 00:28:56,969 --> 00:29:00,671 One became a hobby and one is a business. 393 00:29:00,673 --> 00:29:03,307 We appeal to a different crowd. 394 00:29:03,309 --> 00:29:06,076 The motorcycle riders, they have a different spirit about 'em, 395 00:29:06,078 --> 00:29:09,713 and they usually have an appreciation for the arts. 396 00:29:09,715 --> 00:29:13,417 Being an artisanal winery, it goes hand in hand. 397 00:29:13,419 --> 00:29:15,819 It's people from all walks of life. 398 00:29:15,821 --> 00:29:18,989 We all share the same passion, same desire, 399 00:29:18,991 --> 00:29:21,658 to bring these older bikes back to life 400 00:29:21,660 --> 00:29:25,095 and to really admire the simplicity of them, the lines. 401 00:29:25,097 --> 00:29:31,135 The old bikes just have this character to 'em. 402 00:29:31,137 --> 00:29:34,471 The feeling of firing a vintage bike is unique. 403 00:29:34,473 --> 00:29:37,708 There is no electric start, you don't push a button and they go. 404 00:29:37,710 --> 00:29:41,545 You may have to kick it, you may have to play with the carburetor. 405 00:29:41,547 --> 00:29:47,618 It's very emotional to get one of those bikes running and hear the open exhaust. 406 00:29:47,620 --> 00:29:49,820 And they sound incredible. 407 00:29:53,291 --> 00:29:55,225 [Michael Baer] Anyone that's out there that has a motorcycle, 408 00:29:55,227 --> 00:29:57,261 you always try to customize it, make it yours, 409 00:29:57,263 --> 00:29:58,996 whether you buy one right off the showroom floor, 410 00:29:58,998 --> 00:30:01,265 whether you buy a used one off of somebody, 411 00:30:01,267 --> 00:30:05,702 most people want to add a little something to it to make it their own. 412 00:30:05,704 --> 00:30:08,238 [Bodden] You customize your bike 'cause it's personal. 413 00:30:08,240 --> 00:30:11,708 People don't like to be like everybody else exactly, you know. 414 00:30:11,710 --> 00:30:15,846 [Cory Ness] And it's not just here in the U.S., we see it worldwide, 415 00:30:15,848 --> 00:30:19,516 we see it in Europe, we see it throughout Asia. People want to be noticed. 416 00:30:19,518 --> 00:30:22,319 [Michael Lichter] The most reward that people get from it 417 00:30:22,321 --> 00:30:24,988 is a slap on the back at the bar when they went off 418 00:30:24,990 --> 00:30:27,658 and had bragging rights and showed off their bike. 419 00:30:34,132 --> 00:30:37,067 [Michael Baer] They're all extensions of our own personality. 420 00:30:45,176 --> 00:30:49,446 [Troy Lee] Helmets are a great canvas to experiment with. 421 00:30:49,448 --> 00:30:51,348 I get to reach into the soul of the athletes and the racers, 422 00:30:51,350 --> 00:30:53,917 and, you know, feel what they're feeling hopefully 423 00:30:53,919 --> 00:30:56,987 and then transfer that onto their helmet. 424 00:30:56,989 --> 00:30:58,856 What I try to do and push all of my artists 425 00:30:58,858 --> 00:31:02,092 is to give them something they're not expecting. 426 00:31:02,094 --> 00:31:06,263 We're art-driven company and it's gotta be something they go, 427 00:31:06,265 --> 00:31:09,099 "Wow," you know, and I'm OK for half the people out there to go, 428 00:31:09,101 --> 00:31:12,769 "I would never wear that, you know." 429 00:31:12,771 --> 00:31:15,339 I want it to be the piece that people talk about. 430 00:31:19,043 --> 00:31:21,011 Back in the day when I started shooting bikers, 431 00:31:21,013 --> 00:31:23,213 there was a directness that I felt, 432 00:31:23,215 --> 00:31:27,951 that they were experiencing life in a big way. 433 00:31:29,654 --> 00:31:32,389 I like culture and I like character, 434 00:31:32,391 --> 00:31:37,694 and bikers are full of character and full of life. 435 00:31:40,932 --> 00:31:45,202 I don't know how many times I've ridden with him, and he's riding with no hands and shooting. 436 00:31:45,204 --> 00:31:48,872 [Lichter] Now, of course, that's not the safest way to be shooting. 437 00:31:48,874 --> 00:31:51,375 The back of a two-wheeled motorcycle works great, 438 00:31:51,377 --> 00:31:55,812 and so, I know in the last few years I've done more then 10,000 miles backwards. 439 00:31:57,849 --> 00:32:00,884 I have a photograph of somebody riding through a storm, 440 00:32:00,886 --> 00:32:03,420 I call the photograph "Storm Rider." 441 00:32:03,422 --> 00:32:07,291 And I've seen bikers and they grab their girlfriend and they say, 442 00:32:07,293 --> 00:32:10,994 "Do you remember that? That's me. I came back and I told you all about it, 443 00:32:10,996 --> 00:32:12,562 that's me in that photograph." 444 00:32:12,564 --> 00:32:14,264 I think it brings back for them 445 00:32:14,266 --> 00:32:16,133 that feeling of riding through a storm, 446 00:32:16,135 --> 00:32:20,037 and feeling the elements and feeling the beauty around them. 447 00:32:20,039 --> 00:32:22,205 People see themselves in it. 448 00:32:28,479 --> 00:32:32,482 - [Ernie Alexander] Everything happens in California first. - Saddleback Park. 449 00:32:32,484 --> 00:32:34,618 - Orange County Raceway. - Hopetown. 450 00:32:34,620 --> 00:32:36,320 - LACR. - Muntz Park. 451 00:32:36,322 --> 00:32:38,422 - Ontario Motor Speedway. - Big Bear Hare and Hound. 452 00:32:38,424 --> 00:32:43,160 - Bay Mare. - The coolest place in the world, that was Indian Dunes. 453 00:32:43,162 --> 00:32:45,095 That's were we started promoting our first races. 454 00:32:45,097 --> 00:32:49,533 But it was the first place that everybody remembers. 455 00:32:49,535 --> 00:32:52,002 [Kenny Alexander] I spent probably five days a week out there. 456 00:32:52,004 --> 00:32:55,906 - It was just a way of life. - [Ernie Alexander] A lot of families out there, 457 00:32:55,908 --> 00:32:58,775 everybody would come out and more like a potluck-type thing, 458 00:32:58,777 --> 00:33:03,580 and build a big bonfire and have a good time. 459 00:33:03,582 --> 00:33:06,116 [Kenny Alexander] Indian Dunes had something else. 460 00:33:06,118 --> 00:33:11,188 It had a river running down through it, it had the hills, it had the sand wash. 461 00:33:11,190 --> 00:33:15,258 There was some vibe that the other places just didn't have. 462 00:33:18,730 --> 00:33:23,367 In the '70s, the club racing scene in California was good, it was really, really good. 463 00:33:23,369 --> 00:33:25,469 It didn't take too long of riding a motorcycle, 464 00:33:25,471 --> 00:33:28,672 where I discovered I could do this better than my friends could. 465 00:33:28,674 --> 00:33:30,340 And I rode it and it ran great, 466 00:33:30,342 --> 00:33:32,442 and I rode it, and he goes, "That kid's gotta go on the racetrack." 467 00:33:32,444 --> 00:33:35,512 My fondest memories for sure are racing motorcycles. 468 00:34:02,507 --> 00:34:07,844 Everybody is your friend when we're on the track with the camaraderie, 469 00:34:07,846 --> 00:34:14,518 and also the competition, because when we have our helmet on, we're racing. 470 00:34:17,288 --> 00:34:20,490 [engine roaring] 471 00:34:37,408 --> 00:34:41,344 Racing to me makes everything else I do easy. [laughs] 472 00:34:41,346 --> 00:34:44,347 Because racing is one of the toughest things in the world. 473 00:34:52,323 --> 00:34:55,792 [Hansen] There's some guys, the competitive spirit in them 474 00:34:55,794 --> 00:34:59,129 is so intense, they have to race. 475 00:34:59,131 --> 00:35:02,165 [Butch Baer] There's no getting away from it, it becomes part of your life, 476 00:35:02,167 --> 00:35:04,935 it gets in your blood. 477 00:35:33,297 --> 00:35:35,098 [Dave Ekins] If you're looking up to anybody, 478 00:35:35,100 --> 00:35:36,666 they're gonna beat you on the racetrack, 479 00:35:36,668 --> 00:35:38,635 so you can't look up to anyone. 480 00:35:38,637 --> 00:35:41,438 [Paris] Growing up, I was always really competitive at everything I did, 481 00:35:41,440 --> 00:35:45,142 having four brothers. As soon as I got on a racetrack, 482 00:35:45,144 --> 00:35:48,111 if there's someone in front of you, you want to pass 'em. 483 00:35:51,649 --> 00:35:55,852 I can see a corner and I can imagine the line 484 00:35:55,854 --> 00:35:58,622 of how that turn needs to happen, 485 00:35:58,624 --> 00:36:03,226 and then on the first try I can go out and make that happen. 486 00:36:03,228 --> 00:36:05,795 When I did my first race it was like that moment, you know, 487 00:36:05,797 --> 00:36:10,066 where the angels sing, and you realize this is the thing that makes me happy. 488 00:36:40,498 --> 00:36:44,067 [Kerry Petersen] Hillclimbing has been going on since the 1920s. 489 00:36:44,069 --> 00:36:47,170 [Michael Baer] It's a time trial, so you're basically competing 490 00:36:47,172 --> 00:36:48,738 against yourself and the clock. 491 00:36:48,740 --> 00:36:51,741 Making the hill is one thing, but you gotta make it fast. 492 00:36:51,743 --> 00:36:53,510 Fastest person to the top wins. 493 00:36:54,745 --> 00:36:56,746 You don't really have anybody else around you 494 00:36:56,748 --> 00:36:58,782 and you just go for it. 495 00:36:58,784 --> 00:37:01,151 [Kerry Petersen] You're running very hard up the hill 496 00:37:01,153 --> 00:37:02,586 and to have a lot of obstacles, 497 00:37:02,588 --> 00:37:04,321 a lot of jumps, a lot of cliff faces. 498 00:37:04,323 --> 00:37:05,956 [Bret Petersen] You gotta know how to take turns, 499 00:37:05,958 --> 00:37:10,227 you gotta know how to hit jumps like on a motocross track. 500 00:37:12,597 --> 00:37:17,500 It's not you against the other guy, it's you against a mountain. 501 00:37:17,502 --> 00:37:19,436 It's pretty crazy. 502 00:37:22,473 --> 00:37:24,975 [Jerry Petersen] A lot of our hills are incredibly steep, 503 00:37:24,977 --> 00:37:26,843 some of them are past vertical, 504 00:37:26,845 --> 00:37:29,479 and when you tell somebody that you're going up a hill 505 00:37:29,481 --> 00:37:33,783 with a motorcycle that's past vertical, they're going, "No, that's not happening." 506 00:37:33,785 --> 00:37:35,252 Well, it is. 507 00:37:39,957 --> 00:37:43,727 [Austin Fox] The first time up and over is just awesome. 508 00:37:43,729 --> 00:37:46,663 You just want to turn around and yell at everybody. 509 00:37:47,932 --> 00:37:50,133 [Kerry Petersen] All of our bikes are all handmade. 510 00:37:50,135 --> 00:37:52,535 [Chelsea Saylors] A lot of the classes you have kind of free reign 511 00:37:52,537 --> 00:37:58,141 on choosing either chains, or bolts, or disc paddles. 512 00:37:59,844 --> 00:38:04,547 [Bret Petersen] Putting your leg over a 220-horsepower, nitro-injected bike 513 00:38:04,549 --> 00:38:08,084 with steel spikes on the back of it, driving it up the hill, 514 00:38:08,086 --> 00:38:10,553 it scares a lot of people. [chuckles] 515 00:38:11,856 --> 00:38:14,291 X Climb got started up in Northern California. 516 00:38:14,293 --> 00:38:19,362 The gate drops, and you battle bar-to-bar all the way to the top of the hill, 517 00:38:19,364 --> 00:38:22,232 which is something new to the sport. 518 00:38:34,378 --> 00:38:39,516 It's my release, it's my medicine in this crazy world. 519 00:38:49,927 --> 00:38:54,931 [Hansen] Bonneville is like being on the surface of the moon. 520 00:38:54,933 --> 00:38:56,199 Bonneville changed my life. 521 00:38:56,201 --> 00:38:58,001 [Brian Klock] Bonneville. That one word 522 00:38:58,003 --> 00:39:00,337 sends chills up people's spines. 523 00:39:00,339 --> 00:39:02,706 This is it, this is the Holy Grail, 524 00:39:02,708 --> 00:39:04,541 everybody in the world knows Bonneville. 525 00:39:04,543 --> 00:39:09,212 [Lamb] You're on this fast, smooth, white surface 526 00:39:09,214 --> 00:39:10,880 that's flat in every direction. 527 00:39:10,882 --> 00:39:14,784 Salt stuck to everything, the cycle was covered with it. 528 00:39:15,853 --> 00:39:18,054 Well, I went one time and I got the salt fever. 529 00:39:18,056 --> 00:39:22,859 [McCall] You have to experience lining up, to know what it's all about. 530 00:39:22,861 --> 00:39:28,698 Butterflies, always, always, filled with butterflies. 531 00:39:30,201 --> 00:39:32,869 Sometimes you forget to put it in gear. [laughing] 532 00:39:32,871 --> 00:39:35,605 All the old-timers say when you're at the starting line, 533 00:39:35,607 --> 00:39:39,509 you can feel the spirit of all the people that were there before you. 534 00:39:39,511 --> 00:39:41,978 You feel everybody's spirit there. 535 00:39:41,980 --> 00:39:45,281 And I'm like, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah," and so I get up there to the line, 536 00:39:45,283 --> 00:39:48,017 and I'm like, "Wow, this is incredible." 537 00:39:48,019 --> 00:39:50,687 It still kind of gets me. 538 00:39:50,689 --> 00:39:53,823 And the fastest man has gone on the planet was right there. 539 00:39:53,825 --> 00:39:55,725 It's you and your motorcycle, that's it. 540 00:39:55,727 --> 00:39:58,395 You're not racing next to someone, 541 00:39:58,397 --> 00:40:01,097 you're not rushing to get off the light. 542 00:40:01,099 --> 00:40:04,367 When you're ready you take off. 543 00:40:05,903 --> 00:40:08,104 [Valerie Thompson] Bonneville is a 10-mile course, 544 00:40:08,106 --> 00:40:13,143 and you're at full speed, 200 miles per hour, for three or four miles. 545 00:40:13,145 --> 00:40:16,646 It's a very powerful place to be. 546 00:40:21,485 --> 00:40:23,787 Everything goes into slow motion. 547 00:40:27,291 --> 00:40:31,928 I get to turn it wide open and hold it as long as I think I can do it. 548 00:40:33,597 --> 00:40:36,065 You look at these guys today, they're the same mindset 549 00:40:36,067 --> 00:40:39,569 of the guys that were flying the P-51 Mustangs and Corsairs. 550 00:40:39,571 --> 00:40:43,072 It's that seat-of-the-pants, "tell me how to start the thing 551 00:40:43,074 --> 00:40:44,441 and I'll figure out the rest." 552 00:40:44,443 --> 00:40:46,810 Chuck Yeager, did the guy have a clue 553 00:40:46,812 --> 00:40:49,979 what was gonna happen on the other side of the sound barrier? 554 00:40:49,981 --> 00:40:52,382 He didn't. Did it matter? No. 555 00:40:52,384 --> 00:40:55,452 It's like going to Bonneville, it's the same thing. 556 00:40:55,454 --> 00:40:58,087 It becomes a really personal thing with your motorcycle. 557 00:40:58,089 --> 00:41:01,458 [Thompson] To go that fast you need to be one with the bike, 558 00:41:01,460 --> 00:41:04,027 be the paint, be a sponge. 559 00:41:04,029 --> 00:41:06,563 I came to a point with that first bike that I raced, 560 00:41:06,565 --> 00:41:08,565 that I didn't know if it was the bike holding me back 561 00:41:08,567 --> 00:41:09,966 or me holding the bike back. 562 00:41:09,968 --> 00:41:11,935 So we started switching around motorcycles, 563 00:41:11,937 --> 00:41:15,505 and found out I could go a little faster, but... [laughs] 564 00:41:15,507 --> 00:41:18,942 So I just, um, took off, twisted the throttle 565 00:41:18,944 --> 00:41:22,979 and took off and got a land speed record in the first two passes. 566 00:41:27,985 --> 00:41:31,488 My first land speed record was set on a 1946 Indian Chief, 567 00:41:31,490 --> 00:41:36,092 and that bike is still ready, sitting and waiting to go get another record. 568 00:41:36,094 --> 00:41:39,562 We've had the 1000cc turbo charge record since last year. 569 00:41:39,564 --> 00:41:44,000 [indistinct chatter over PA] 570 00:41:54,845 --> 00:41:56,946 By the end of last year, we had it at 245, 571 00:41:56,948 --> 00:42:00,083 this year we went back with some changes in September 572 00:42:00,085 --> 00:42:02,585 and we set the record at 262.4, 573 00:42:02,587 --> 00:42:08,424 which is now the fastest sit-on motorcycle record in the world. 574 00:42:08,426 --> 00:42:11,127 Setting the record this year is a phenomenal thing. 575 00:42:11,129 --> 00:42:13,162 People say, "What's it like to be the fastest in the world?" 576 00:42:13,164 --> 00:42:18,501 I said, "Well, that and $3.95 gets you a cup of coffee at Starbucks." 577 00:42:20,771 --> 00:42:23,306 On the way home after that first year, after they saw it, 578 00:42:23,308 --> 00:42:26,910 I said, "Well, what do you think, girls, is that something you'd want to try?" 579 00:42:26,912 --> 00:42:30,179 And before I had it out of my mouth, they were like, "Yeah, we want to do it." 580 00:42:30,181 --> 00:42:35,552 It's kinda hard sitting on the sidelines and just watching when you're a bike freak too. 581 00:42:35,554 --> 00:42:37,420 First of all you either have to either have a mom crazy enough 582 00:42:37,422 --> 00:42:39,789 to let her daughters do it, or vice versa. 583 00:42:39,791 --> 00:42:43,660 And we became the first mother-daughter-daughter trio in history 584 00:42:43,662 --> 00:42:46,062 to hold records at the same time. 585 00:42:46,064 --> 00:42:49,065 [Thompson] It's so amazing that her kids can do what she does, 586 00:42:49,067 --> 00:42:54,003 and, you know, they have fun at it. All of 'em do. 587 00:42:54,005 --> 00:42:57,407 I think there's something about riding a motorcycle that's really empowering. 588 00:42:57,409 --> 00:42:59,142 I really like riding my own a whole lot better 589 00:42:59,144 --> 00:43:01,477 than I ever liked riding on the back of a motorcycle. 590 00:43:01,479 --> 00:43:05,615 The difference between being a passenger and being a rider is everything. 591 00:43:05,617 --> 00:43:09,218 [Struck] I mean, most of fellas today who ride, they want their women to ride. 592 00:43:09,220 --> 00:43:12,855 [Swing] Being a wife, and a worker, and a mother, 593 00:43:12,857 --> 00:43:16,059 when I get on my bike, the wind just kind of takes it. 594 00:43:16,061 --> 00:43:18,761 I mean, you see two bikes in a row, one's a guy, one's a woman. 595 00:43:18,763 --> 00:43:21,798 [Thompson] Women and racing has come a long ways. 596 00:43:21,800 --> 00:43:26,102 [Judy Code] There's more women riding now and a larger percent of them are going racing. 597 00:43:26,104 --> 00:43:30,707 And they would get on these bikes that would scare some normal men. 598 00:43:30,709 --> 00:43:34,477 Well, there's all those great women that have paved the way for us. 599 00:43:34,479 --> 00:43:38,681 I didn't think of 'em as men and women, 600 00:43:38,683 --> 00:43:40,683 I just wanted to race. 601 00:43:40,685 --> 00:43:42,752 Women, you know, 20, 30 years ago 602 00:43:42,754 --> 00:43:45,688 that wanted to get into racing, they faced actual real barriers. 603 00:43:45,690 --> 00:43:50,093 [Donna Forstall] I wanted to ride with the guys on the track and beat 'em, 604 00:43:50,095 --> 00:43:55,732 but I couldn't, because women didn't do it then. 605 00:44:02,573 --> 00:44:07,510 [Swing] You say I can grow up to be anything I want to be, I can do anything I want to do, 606 00:44:07,512 --> 00:44:10,446 so why is there a line drawn in the sand? 607 00:44:11,849 --> 00:44:14,017 [Erika Cobb] You definitely see a lot more women out there now, 608 00:44:14,019 --> 00:44:16,586 trying it, and encouraging other women to do it. 609 00:44:16,588 --> 00:44:21,024 Oh, women are taking over. I say five, ten years, they'll be more women riding than men, 610 00:44:21,026 --> 00:44:23,993 because women are tougher, you know. 611 00:44:44,314 --> 00:44:47,450 [Mert Lawwill] I learned that I needed to slide the bike without using brakes, 612 00:44:47,452 --> 00:44:50,953 'cause every time you'd use the brakes to skid around, it'd slow you down. 613 00:44:50,955 --> 00:44:54,057 You know, I didn't want that, I wanted to stay fast all the time. 614 00:44:55,292 --> 00:44:58,561 Flat track racing is probably one of the best places 615 00:44:58,563 --> 00:45:04,267 to build that skill set, because it's all about controlling traction. 616 00:45:04,269 --> 00:45:07,537 I was in Indianapolis the first year they had MotoGP there, 617 00:45:07,539 --> 00:45:10,473 and they had the Indie Mile, which is a famous dirt track race, 618 00:45:10,475 --> 00:45:14,544 and they took the MotoGP riders to see the dirt track riders, 619 00:45:14,546 --> 00:45:17,714 and they were like, "That's crazy, how are they doing that?" 620 00:45:17,716 --> 00:45:23,152 [DiSalvo] That's where so many successful road racers have come from. 621 00:45:23,154 --> 00:45:26,189 [Bodden] The American racers like Kenny Roberts, 622 00:45:26,191 --> 00:45:29,258 they always had to do both so they could ride dirt track. 623 00:45:29,260 --> 00:45:35,231 Because of the dirt track experience, I started hitting my knee on the ground. 624 00:45:35,233 --> 00:45:37,734 [McCall] You talk to any one of these guys and they'll tell you 625 00:45:37,736 --> 00:45:39,769 the reason why they became a good Grand Prix rider, 626 00:45:39,771 --> 00:45:42,105 is because sliding a motorcycle didn't intimidate them. 627 00:45:42,107 --> 00:45:45,308 [Roberts] I started winning. At that point, I just started winning races, 628 00:45:45,310 --> 00:45:48,277 so everybody is now trying to play catch-up. 629 00:45:48,279 --> 00:45:52,448 That's where the whole back wheel sliding thing kind of took off. 630 00:45:52,450 --> 00:45:55,051 [McCall] Yeah, Kenny was a pioneer in a lot of ways. 631 00:45:55,053 --> 00:45:58,154 And when I got to Europe, it kind of multiplied. 632 00:45:58,156 --> 00:46:02,024 He was the guy that just went over there and showed those Europeans, 633 00:46:02,026 --> 00:46:04,327 "Hey, us Americans can ride motorcycles, too." 634 00:46:04,329 --> 00:46:07,730 People are fascinated to watch a racer drag a knee, 635 00:46:07,732 --> 00:46:10,233 and now they're dragging elbows. 636 00:46:12,770 --> 00:46:15,671 You know, when I drag my elbow, it's part of the crash. 637 00:46:20,477 --> 00:46:22,678 [McCall] Every sport has its pinnacle, 638 00:46:22,680 --> 00:46:24,647 football, it's the National Football League, 639 00:46:24,649 --> 00:46:26,649 in baseball, it's Major League Baseball. 640 00:46:26,651 --> 00:46:30,052 Motorcycle racing, the pinnacle is MotoGP. 641 00:46:30,054 --> 00:46:31,954 [DiSalvo] Over in Europe, it's huge. 642 00:46:31,956 --> 00:46:34,223 [McCall] It's the most evolved, most technically advanced 643 00:46:34,225 --> 00:46:38,694 motorcycles in the world, and arguably the best riders in the world. 644 00:46:38,696 --> 00:46:43,466 [DiSalvo] Every rider wants to be in that show. 645 00:46:43,468 --> 00:46:46,769 [McCall] I don't think the talent is any less than it was years ago, 646 00:46:46,771 --> 00:46:49,105 but the bikes have become so technical today, 647 00:46:49,107 --> 00:46:51,374 that it really requires a completely 648 00:46:51,376 --> 00:46:53,709 different type of a rider to master the bikes, 649 00:46:53,711 --> 00:46:58,114 because you're mastering electronics now as well as mechanicals. 650 00:48:12,823 --> 00:48:15,057 [Simon] I wanted to have the world, 651 00:48:15,059 --> 00:48:18,127 and going round it is one way to do that, 652 00:48:18,129 --> 00:48:22,431 and I was thinking should I do it on a donkey or a skateboard or... 653 00:48:22,433 --> 00:48:28,404 ...or something, and I thought a motorcycle would be a really good way to do it. 654 00:48:30,340 --> 00:48:34,010 That was when everything in my life changed completely. 655 00:48:38,882 --> 00:48:41,450 I was quite sure nobody had ever done it, 656 00:48:41,452 --> 00:48:47,256 because I didn't know anybody who rode bikes, and there was no Google. 657 00:48:48,926 --> 00:48:52,261 I'm neither brave nor strong, and so I realized 658 00:48:52,263 --> 00:48:56,666 that you don't need strength and bravery to be able to do this, 659 00:48:56,668 --> 00:48:59,302 you just need the determination to do it. 660 00:49:01,271 --> 00:49:03,906 It got rid of all my anxieties. 661 00:49:03,908 --> 00:49:06,776 I can't think of a better way of changing your life 662 00:49:06,778 --> 00:49:09,745 than to lose fears and anxieties, I mean, 663 00:49:09,747 --> 00:49:12,248 that's the... that's the main thing. 664 00:49:15,786 --> 00:49:18,955 I wasn't counting miles, I wasn't even counting countries, 665 00:49:18,957 --> 00:49:21,891 I was just going 'round the world. 666 00:49:24,061 --> 00:49:26,162 There were people where there shouldn't have been any. 667 00:49:26,164 --> 00:49:30,366 I was like Lawrence of Arabia coming out of the desert. 668 00:49:32,602 --> 00:49:36,472 So I had these very immediate and intense relationships 669 00:49:36,474 --> 00:49:42,111 with people all the way around, and carried stories from one to another. 670 00:49:44,314 --> 00:49:46,916 I don't know how I can convey the sheer excitement 671 00:49:46,918 --> 00:49:51,387 that I was feeling almost the whole time about being able to do this. 672 00:49:53,590 --> 00:49:58,294 It's the interruptions that are the journey, not where you're going. 673 00:50:02,799 --> 00:50:05,001 I swear that never in those four years 674 00:50:05,003 --> 00:50:09,271 did I ever wish that the journey was over. 675 00:50:29,626 --> 00:50:32,294 I really wasn't suited to being home. 676 00:50:32,296 --> 00:50:35,531 I was more comfortable on the floor than in a bed. 677 00:50:35,533 --> 00:50:38,034 I couldn't do small talk. 678 00:50:38,036 --> 00:50:42,705 I couldn't believe what was obsessing people. 679 00:50:42,707 --> 00:50:46,008 The problems they were having seemed be absurd, you know. 680 00:50:46,010 --> 00:50:48,244 Why were they worried about that? 681 00:50:48,246 --> 00:50:50,046 Things weren't going right for them, 682 00:50:50,048 --> 00:50:52,681 they were getting in all sorts of turmoil. 683 00:50:52,683 --> 00:50:56,018 And I thought, it's... nothing. 684 00:50:57,421 --> 00:51:00,122 You're alive, what else do you need? 685 00:51:04,428 --> 00:51:08,130 I have great trouble coming to terms with social media. 686 00:51:08,132 --> 00:51:12,601 I simply don't understand how people have the time 687 00:51:12,603 --> 00:51:16,705 to be so involved in the lives of so many people, 688 00:51:16,707 --> 00:51:20,743 and I can't imagine how their interest in those people 689 00:51:20,745 --> 00:51:24,146 can be anything but superficial. 690 00:51:25,916 --> 00:51:28,184 The advantage of the technology in this world 691 00:51:28,186 --> 00:51:30,686 is that if you have a really good idea about what it is 692 00:51:30,688 --> 00:51:35,391 you want to achieve, the technology can generally make it a lot easier. 693 00:51:35,393 --> 00:51:38,894 The disadvantage is that having all this technology 694 00:51:38,896 --> 00:51:41,464 probably doesn't encourage people to have 695 00:51:41,466 --> 00:51:44,266 very great ideas about things to do, 696 00:51:44,268 --> 00:51:48,971 because it's so easy to just swim along with the current. 697 00:51:53,910 --> 00:51:59,448 So I went on home from Vietnam. I was depressed and I was miserable and I was angry, 698 00:51:59,450 --> 00:52:02,318 like a lot of us, and I just couldn't settle down. 699 00:52:02,320 --> 00:52:04,653 It was nobody's problem but my own. 700 00:52:04,655 --> 00:52:08,023 And I looked at Israel as a country that had something together, 701 00:52:08,025 --> 00:52:12,862 they had just fought the 1973 war, the Yom Kippur War. 702 00:52:12,864 --> 00:52:15,431 And, uh, and I said, "I want a part of that." 703 00:52:15,433 --> 00:52:18,834 I served two years, and then I went on to be 704 00:52:18,836 --> 00:52:22,304 in the Rhodesian Light Infantry, then I went on to South Africa. 705 00:52:22,306 --> 00:52:24,206 I served in a special organization, 706 00:52:24,208 --> 00:52:28,077 the parachute brigade called the Pathfinder Company. 707 00:52:29,246 --> 00:52:32,948 August 29th, 1981, about 100 miles up inside Angola, 708 00:52:32,950 --> 00:52:37,386 we were in light vehicle operations and, uh... 709 00:52:37,388 --> 00:52:40,156 ...the light vehicle I was in, was a Toyota Land Cruiser, 710 00:52:40,158 --> 00:52:44,493 which was a firing platform for heavy machine guns, 250-caliber Brownings. 711 00:52:44,495 --> 00:52:48,731 And, um, the left rear wheel of that vehicle 712 00:52:48,733 --> 00:52:53,569 - initiated a Soviet-made TM-57 anti-tank mine. - [muffled boom] 713 00:52:53,571 --> 00:52:58,107 When that mine went off, the last thing I ever heard in my left ear was "pop," 714 00:52:58,109 --> 00:53:00,543 and I watched the vehicle going away. 715 00:53:00,545 --> 00:53:06,282 And I said to myself, "We've hit a mine, I'm dead, 716 00:53:06,284 --> 00:53:10,152 and I'll be answering for my life in front of God very soon." 717 00:53:10,154 --> 00:53:12,221 Well, God had other ideas. 718 00:53:12,223 --> 00:53:15,958 And I was transported down to one military hospital, 719 00:53:15,960 --> 00:53:18,394 Pretoria, South Africa in a medevac transport, 720 00:53:18,396 --> 00:53:21,397 where I was to spend the next nine months and 18 days. 721 00:53:21,399 --> 00:53:25,267 During that time, I underwent 20 operations. 722 00:53:25,269 --> 00:53:27,503 All right. And it left me... 723 00:53:27,505 --> 00:53:31,473 And four of those operations were amputations, 724 00:53:31,475 --> 00:53:33,309 which left me with my right leg off... 725 00:53:33,311 --> 00:53:34,977 - [knocking on leg] - ...above the knee, 726 00:53:34,979 --> 00:53:36,545 and my left leg off just below. 727 00:53:36,547 --> 00:53:41,717 I got out of the Army, and I went home to my mom and dad. 728 00:53:41,719 --> 00:53:45,854 After a very touching reunion, I was out in the garage having a reunion 729 00:53:45,856 --> 00:53:48,724 with something to that time now I'd owned ten years, 730 00:53:48,726 --> 00:53:54,496 and that was a 1972 Harley-Davidson Wide Glide. 731 00:53:54,498 --> 00:53:58,567 Within a few days, my dad and I, we had it out of the mothballs, 732 00:53:58,569 --> 00:54:00,903 we had it cleaned up, we had it all put back together, 733 00:54:00,905 --> 00:54:05,941 and we knew we were gonna have to fix the rear brake for the mechanical knee. 734 00:54:05,943 --> 00:54:09,445 So we extended the brake pedal, we put overload springs on it, 735 00:54:09,447 --> 00:54:12,314 my dad welded a stirrup on that pedal, 736 00:54:12,316 --> 00:54:14,383 where my foot would sit on the brake all the time. 737 00:54:14,385 --> 00:54:16,986 The overload springs compensated for the weight of the leg, 738 00:54:16,988 --> 00:54:20,990 and the idea was, when I was driving, I would push on the stump, 739 00:54:20,992 --> 00:54:23,993 that would push on the leg, that would push on the brake, 740 00:54:23,995 --> 00:54:26,095 that would stop the motorcycle. 741 00:54:26,097 --> 00:54:30,199 And it works most of the time. Ask my passengers. 742 00:54:30,201 --> 00:54:36,772 And I got out to the freeway, and I just let go. 743 00:54:36,774 --> 00:54:41,710 And I cannot tell you the wonderful feeling 744 00:54:41,712 --> 00:54:44,213 of being on that machine, 745 00:54:44,215 --> 00:54:47,950 after four years overseas 746 00:54:47,952 --> 00:54:50,819 in some of the most hateful, angry places 747 00:54:50,821 --> 00:54:54,089 this world has to offer, you know, and all of the sudden 748 00:54:54,091 --> 00:54:55,758 I'm moving on my machine again. 749 00:54:55,760 --> 00:54:59,895 What I felt was something that was so far beyond words, 750 00:54:59,897 --> 00:55:02,765 I can't tell you, you know. 751 00:55:02,767 --> 00:55:06,802 And all of a sudden something hit me in the top of the head and say... 752 00:55:06,804 --> 00:55:08,737 It was a vision. 753 00:55:08,739 --> 00:55:11,640 It said, "Why don't you ride... you need to ride this thing 754 00:55:11,642 --> 00:55:16,045 around the world for those that are more unfortunate than you, 755 00:55:16,047 --> 00:55:19,715 especially in the Third World countries where they don't have access 756 00:55:19,717 --> 00:55:22,885 to positive examples, like we do in the United States." 757 00:55:22,887 --> 00:55:26,388 [overlapping] I left in the rain, for western France... 758 00:55:26,390 --> 00:55:29,525 - ...across Northern Europe... - Three days later I made it to the Atlantic Ocean... 759 00:55:29,527 --> 00:55:31,827 - ...Russia, Siberia... - ...to the UK, and from there... 760 00:55:31,829 --> 00:55:33,662 I went north to the Arctic. 761 00:55:33,664 --> 00:55:36,598 - And headed east... - Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda... 762 00:55:36,600 --> 00:55:39,702 ...and onto Tunis, the North Cape, Marseilles... 763 00:55:39,704 --> 00:55:42,504 The bottom of one continent, to the very top of the other. 764 00:55:42,506 --> 00:55:46,408 And rode back into this driveway, into this garage, 765 00:55:46,410 --> 00:55:50,012 and the journey around the world, 766 00:55:50,014 --> 00:55:51,914 three years, seven months, 767 00:55:51,916 --> 00:55:56,719 83,000 ridden miles, was over. 768 00:55:56,721 --> 00:56:00,689 That was to be the establishment of a Guinness World Record, 769 00:56:00,691 --> 00:56:03,692 something that no one in recorded history had ever done, 770 00:56:03,694 --> 00:56:06,829 and it had nothing to do with my disability. 771 00:56:06,831 --> 00:56:13,001 I am 160 percent disabled and I did what no one's done. 772 00:56:13,003 --> 00:56:15,437 It became more than a motorcycle. 773 00:56:15,439 --> 00:56:21,276 It was a vehicle for me to take an idea 774 00:56:21,278 --> 00:56:24,146 about commitment and attitude, 775 00:56:24,148 --> 00:56:29,485 and rising above, out to the world. 776 00:58:11,988 --> 00:58:15,891 Each motorcycle has its own soul. They're alive. 777 00:58:15,893 --> 00:58:19,795 I still find it incredible that I can push that motorcycle out here, 778 00:58:19,797 --> 00:58:21,964 and hit a button, and it goes, vroom! 779 00:58:21,966 --> 00:58:24,466 [engine roaring] 780 00:58:33,409 --> 00:58:37,045 [Michael Baer] Once you get out of the town, out on some country road, 781 00:58:37,047 --> 00:58:41,583 putting along and taking in all that energy from all the trees budding, 782 00:58:41,585 --> 00:58:45,087 all the bright greens coming in, it's... it's awesome. 783 00:58:48,291 --> 00:58:53,195 [Kanter] I love riding first thing in the morning when the sun's coming up. 784 00:58:53,197 --> 00:58:59,468 It's a magic time, the light's warm and inviting, and the air is crisp and clean. 785 00:59:01,004 --> 00:59:04,072 I can't imagine a better way to experience that 786 00:59:04,074 --> 00:59:06,775 than on a beautiful motorcycle. 787 00:59:11,581 --> 00:59:14,583 [Brian Klock] There's a love and a passion that can bring people together, 788 00:59:14,585 --> 00:59:16,818 they can have incredible rides, incredible experiences, 789 00:59:16,820 --> 00:59:20,122 incredible adventures, but there's always that one common bond. 790 00:59:20,124 --> 00:59:22,925 You're riding down the road, there's another biker, 791 00:59:22,927 --> 00:59:27,229 and suddenly you guys decide this next leg, this 350 miles, 792 00:59:27,231 --> 00:59:29,197 you're going to do it together. 793 00:59:29,199 --> 00:59:31,433 You may have just found a friend for life. 794 00:59:33,836 --> 00:59:35,671 [Cory Ness] A lot of times when a guy buys a motorcycle, 795 00:59:35,673 --> 00:59:38,073 there's nothing more then he wants to meet someone 796 00:59:38,075 --> 00:59:40,609 and find a buddy to ride with. 797 01:00:00,563 --> 01:00:02,698 [Tim Baer] You just roll in on a motorcycle, 798 01:00:02,700 --> 01:00:06,001 amongst other cyclists, and they treat you like an equal. 799 01:00:06,003 --> 01:00:09,037 [Hansen] You can go to the Rock Store on a Sunday and see 800 01:00:09,039 --> 01:00:12,441 a wide swath of demographics of people. 801 01:00:12,443 --> 01:00:16,378 [Lamb] Everybody that's in motorcycling, they're there because they wanna be. 802 01:00:16,380 --> 01:00:18,780 They love it, and they understand that love 803 01:00:18,782 --> 01:00:21,617 when they run into another motorcycle rider. 804 01:00:33,229 --> 01:00:36,632 [Simon] Your point of reference is always with the people that you're meeting, 805 01:00:36,634 --> 01:00:38,233 and the place where you are, 806 01:00:38,235 --> 01:00:42,437 and I think there is a degree of respect that comes from that. 807 01:00:45,041 --> 01:00:47,976 [Bodden] Bike night is a night where there'll be a place, 808 01:00:47,978 --> 01:00:50,178 it might be a restaurant, might be a bar, 809 01:00:50,180 --> 01:00:52,848 might be a coffee shop, might be a parking lot, 810 01:00:52,850 --> 01:00:56,084 and for whatever reason, bikers meet there. 811 01:00:57,220 --> 01:01:00,088 You park your bike, you talk bikes with other people, 812 01:01:00,090 --> 01:01:04,559 you plan rides, maybe go out for a ride. 813 01:01:05,662 --> 01:01:08,263 You know what I love about going to a bike night? 814 01:01:08,265 --> 01:01:11,900 I don't have to explain why I have four motorcycles. 815 01:01:13,503 --> 01:01:16,304 [McCall] A lot of that heart and soul of the motorcycling community 816 01:01:16,306 --> 01:01:19,141 comes from the gatherings, and you get everybody together, 817 01:01:19,143 --> 01:01:23,078 you think, really, could you put customizers in with road racers? 818 01:01:23,080 --> 01:01:25,013 Are they really gonna talk to each other? 819 01:01:25,015 --> 01:01:28,450 Come to find out the common denominator of two wheels 820 01:01:28,452 --> 01:01:31,119 is so much deeper than any of us could have ever guessed. 821 01:01:31,121 --> 01:01:34,823 We all do indeed share the same passion. 822 01:01:41,864 --> 01:01:43,899 I think some of these club events to me, 823 01:01:43,901 --> 01:01:46,268 they're the real heart and soul of the sport and the hobby. 824 01:01:46,270 --> 01:01:50,238 [Swing] My husband's in a motorcycle club. It's like a family. 825 01:01:50,240 --> 01:01:54,376 They all know each other, they all ride together, 826 01:01:54,378 --> 01:01:55,777 they all they all watch out for each other. 827 01:01:55,779 --> 01:01:58,280 [Brian Klock] It's passion, passion fuels 828 01:01:58,282 --> 01:01:59,948 everything about motorcycling, 829 01:01:59,950 --> 01:02:02,851 and camaraderie is the glue that holds it all together. 830 01:02:02,853 --> 01:02:05,420 When they come to a major event, like Daytona, 831 01:02:05,422 --> 01:02:09,191 there's a connection and I think they lack that the rest of the year. 832 01:02:09,193 --> 01:02:14,696 The first Daytona Bike Week I ever went to, I was just like, "What is this?" 833 01:02:14,698 --> 01:02:19,701 I just couldn't believe the sheer number of motorcycles and motorcycling people. 834 01:02:19,703 --> 01:02:22,404 All brands, all styles, all ages. 835 01:02:22,406 --> 01:02:27,142 If you look in that scene in Star Wars, the bar scene, that's Bike Week. 836 01:02:36,953 --> 01:02:38,854 [laughing] 837 01:02:38,856 --> 01:02:43,658 I enjoy going to Daytona, but for me Sturgis is... Sturgis is my homecoming. 838 01:02:43,660 --> 01:02:46,161 [Coe Meyer] Sturgis is Mecca for motorcycles. 839 01:02:46,163 --> 01:02:48,029 If you own a motorcycle you have to come here 840 01:02:48,031 --> 01:02:49,965 at least once, if not all the time. 841 01:02:49,967 --> 01:02:52,601 Upwards of a half a million people having a good time. 842 01:02:52,603 --> 01:02:55,070 [Christine Paige Diers] Sturgis is a lot of different things to a lot of different people. 843 01:02:55,072 --> 01:02:58,940 To some people it's where they take their vacation every single year. 844 01:02:58,942 --> 01:03:01,610 This year will be the 41st year in a row. 845 01:03:01,612 --> 01:03:03,478 To some people it's an opportunity 846 01:03:03,480 --> 01:03:07,449 to meet up with friends who they don't see any other time. 847 01:03:07,451 --> 01:03:09,117 [Cory Ness] We have a big block party every year. 848 01:03:09,119 --> 01:03:10,952 People come visit us from all over the place. 849 01:03:10,954 --> 01:03:12,921 It's a good time surrounded by motorcycles. 850 01:03:12,923 --> 01:03:15,824 For some people, it's about the racing. 851 01:03:19,962 --> 01:03:23,331 Sturgis started out as racing, but it stayed successful 852 01:03:23,333 --> 01:03:25,834 because the riding in the Black Hills is fabulous. 853 01:03:25,836 --> 01:03:27,969 [Lichter] To me it was made for motorcycling. 854 01:03:27,971 --> 01:03:31,206 I think there's a reason why Native Americans held it sacred. 855 01:03:31,208 --> 01:03:35,210 There's something about the Black Hills that is absolutely magical. 856 01:03:35,212 --> 01:03:37,546 [Meyer] Guys come in from all over the country. 857 01:03:37,548 --> 01:03:39,714 [Jack Hoel] Over 30 different nations. 858 01:03:39,716 --> 01:03:43,785 Getting there is just beautiful. 859 01:03:43,787 --> 01:03:46,788 [Cory Ness] We go and ride with friends from all over the country, 860 01:03:46,790 --> 01:03:51,993 sometimes the world, we've got buddies from Italy and Australia riding with us. 861 01:03:51,995 --> 01:03:54,362 [Arlen Ness] You're almost sorry sometimes when you arrive, 862 01:03:54,364 --> 01:03:56,731 because the ride's over. 863 01:04:00,803 --> 01:04:02,904 Every time you get on a motorcycle you feel grateful. 864 01:04:02,906 --> 01:04:06,208 You just feel grateful that you've got the ability 865 01:04:06,210 --> 01:04:08,944 to get on a motorcycle and go be free. 866 01:04:08,946 --> 01:04:11,246 And I think with a lot of that gratefulness 867 01:04:11,248 --> 01:04:15,016 comes the thought of, you know, I should be doing something about this. 868 01:04:15,018 --> 01:04:16,985 Let's help. 869 01:04:16,987 --> 01:04:20,922 I just think it's a byproduct of how the bike makes you feel. 870 01:04:22,992 --> 01:04:27,495 The motorcycle community is the most open, inviting 871 01:04:27,497 --> 01:04:29,197 community that I've ever known. 872 01:04:29,199 --> 01:04:32,567 [Rick Baer] They're always raising money for charities, 873 01:04:32,569 --> 01:04:36,004 and almost every time they get together, they're doing something for somebody else. 874 01:04:36,006 --> 01:04:40,342 [Dave Barr] There's millions of motorcycles come together for different toy runs, 875 01:04:40,344 --> 01:04:43,912 for burn camp runs, cancer runs, you name it. 876 01:04:43,914 --> 01:04:47,682 It's a spirit thing, and to be charitable, uh, 877 01:04:47,684 --> 01:04:49,651 it comes from within, it comes from the soul, 878 01:04:49,653 --> 01:04:53,088 it comes from the spirit, and I think that's a common thread 879 01:04:53,090 --> 01:04:56,024 is that a lot of us ride motorcycles. 880 01:04:58,561 --> 01:05:02,097 Once we started getting records, we got opportunities to go speak to women, 881 01:05:02,099 --> 01:05:04,599 and I got a chance to speak at a troubled girls' home 882 01:05:04,601 --> 01:05:06,368 in Mitchell called the Abbott House. 883 01:05:06,370 --> 01:05:10,005 It's a residential treatment facility for girls ages 7-17, 884 01:05:10,007 --> 01:05:12,540 and I spoke to these girls and got hooked on 'em, 885 01:05:12,542 --> 01:05:14,943 and I thought, what if we take a damaged motorcycle, 886 01:05:14,945 --> 01:05:18,179 literally parallel to what's happening in their lives, 887 01:05:18,181 --> 01:05:21,850 into the classroom, and help them face and repair the damage, 888 01:05:21,852 --> 01:05:25,220 transform it into something incredible, 889 01:05:25,222 --> 01:05:27,122 which is what they're doing with their lives. 890 01:05:27,124 --> 01:05:29,925 And the Abbott House gave me a chance to do that. 891 01:05:29,927 --> 01:05:32,427 Now I wrote a curriculum in my kitchen, 892 01:05:32,429 --> 01:05:37,132 and have other places licensing, so we've got, like, five of them running now. 893 01:05:41,804 --> 01:05:46,074 [Lawwill] Mert's Hands is a nonprofit group where I'm able to take donations 894 01:05:46,076 --> 01:05:48,910 and then help people that can't afford a hand. 895 01:05:48,912 --> 01:05:51,112 This attention that he's put into these prosthetic devices, 896 01:05:51,114 --> 01:05:54,950 ways to find amputees to get back on motorcycles 897 01:05:54,952 --> 01:05:57,185 and go out and feel the wind again in their face, 898 01:05:57,187 --> 01:06:01,222 is just, you know, if that isn't passion, I don't know what is. 899 01:06:01,224 --> 01:06:03,625 [Lawwill] Jake McCullough, he was born without a hand. 900 01:06:03,627 --> 01:06:08,196 He was a guy that was trying to motocross and the kids are making fun of him, 901 01:06:08,198 --> 01:06:10,765 "What are you doing today, gimp?" You know, and stuff like that. 902 01:06:10,767 --> 01:06:14,436 And it caused him to be real withdrawn. 903 01:06:14,438 --> 01:06:18,139 And so they called me and purchased one of my hands. 904 01:06:18,141 --> 01:06:22,711 Well, in about eight months he was on the podium. 905 01:06:22,713 --> 01:06:26,514 It has completely turned his life around. 906 01:06:26,516 --> 01:06:31,119 Getting anybody back on wheels is a real pleasure for me. 907 01:07:01,117 --> 01:07:03,251 [Emde] To me, going out the to desert is such a release, 908 01:07:03,253 --> 01:07:05,453 you know, you can just kind of get away from things. 909 01:07:05,455 --> 01:07:07,856 [Kerry Petersen] We go out there with a bunch of recreational bikes, 910 01:07:07,858 --> 01:07:11,726 usually 30, 40 people, extended family, cousins, aunts, uncles, 911 01:07:11,728 --> 01:07:14,029 and we just have a ball. 912 01:07:14,031 --> 01:07:17,098 [Jules Hawkins] If you go together, it's the best thing, 913 01:07:17,100 --> 01:07:19,300 because you're camping together. Everybody's involved. 914 01:07:19,302 --> 01:07:21,269 [Jimmy Hargraves] Dad's putting the gas in your bike 915 01:07:21,271 --> 01:07:23,505 while Mom's making you a sandwich. 916 01:07:29,745 --> 01:07:32,881 [Jim Hargraves] Made a whole weekend out of it, a whole family thing. 917 01:07:32,883 --> 01:07:36,484 [Michael Baer] Nowadays there's a product almost for everyone in the family. 918 01:07:36,486 --> 01:07:39,788 You could get a dirt bike, you could get a couple quads, 919 01:07:39,790 --> 01:07:42,123 and then just all go out and have fun. 920 01:07:44,427 --> 01:07:49,197 I get all my gear and warm up the bikes and then I'm gone. 921 01:07:51,167 --> 01:07:57,005 [Swing] There's nothing better than watching your kids absolutely play all day. 922 01:08:15,524 --> 01:08:19,928 [Forstall] All my sons and my daughter all rode motorcycles. 923 01:08:19,930 --> 01:08:23,264 We went with my dad out to the desert, riding, 924 01:08:23,266 --> 01:08:27,102 and my husband, and we all... took off. 925 01:08:27,104 --> 01:08:29,704 It was the best time ever. 926 01:08:29,706 --> 01:08:33,875 [Ed Kretz, Jr.] Wind in your face, bugs in your teeth. [laughs] 927 01:08:33,877 --> 01:08:38,446 That's how you tell a happy motorcycle rider, how many bugs in their teeth. 928 01:08:48,724 --> 01:08:52,327 I love riding, it's just the best feeling in the world. 929 01:09:03,005 --> 01:09:07,208 [Paris] When your children are young, you have a chance to shape their world. 930 01:09:07,210 --> 01:09:10,478 You get to tell them what's cool and what's exciting. 931 01:09:23,259 --> 01:09:27,462 [Eric Hargraves] Family time is always good, and when you're in the desert barbecuing at night, 932 01:09:27,464 --> 01:09:33,701 hanging around the fire pit at night, that's always fun. That's always good times. 933 01:09:42,344 --> 01:09:46,314 When a child rides, the whole family is involved in motorcycling. 934 01:09:46,316 --> 01:09:51,219 Riding motorcycles, for my son, is more than just having fun. 935 01:09:51,221 --> 01:09:55,757 In our home it is an absolute tool 936 01:09:55,759 --> 01:09:58,660 for every single avenue in his life. 937 01:09:58,662 --> 01:10:02,230 If he doesn't do well in school, he's not gonna ride. 938 01:10:02,232 --> 01:10:05,333 If he's not polite, he's not gonna ride. 939 01:10:05,335 --> 01:10:07,769 I use it as a parenting tool. I don't know how else 940 01:10:07,771 --> 01:10:10,905 I could have taught them what they've learned on their motorcycle, 941 01:10:10,907 --> 01:10:13,875 as far as challenging themselves, and working as a team, 942 01:10:13,877 --> 01:10:18,746 and handling success correctly, and handling failure. 943 01:10:21,350 --> 01:10:23,184 [Lee] It's affected my kids' eating habits. 944 01:10:23,186 --> 01:10:25,086 Now he's wanting to be a racer, so he's like, 945 01:10:25,088 --> 01:10:27,255 "I'm not gonna eat that," you know, I'm like, 946 01:10:27,257 --> 01:10:30,525 "Wow, that motorcycle is changing his eating habits at 13." 947 01:10:35,598 --> 01:10:38,733 It changed my life, it has to change a kid's life. 948 01:10:55,951 --> 01:11:01,089 My dad gave lessons all the time to kids 949 01:11:01,091 --> 01:11:05,026 all over the world that wanted to ride a bike. 950 01:11:05,028 --> 01:11:06,961 I think parents, for the most part, are scared 951 01:11:06,963 --> 01:11:08,896 of what's gonna happen to their kids if they ride a motorcycle. 952 01:11:08,898 --> 01:11:11,466 You can't just get on the motorcycle and be a perfectionist. 953 01:11:11,468 --> 01:11:13,701 Educate people to how much fun it is to ride. 954 01:11:13,703 --> 01:11:16,337 You can do a lot of things to make it as safe as possible. 955 01:11:16,339 --> 01:11:18,973 - Get him the right gear. - Rider education classes. 956 01:11:18,975 --> 01:11:21,809 The biggest thing you can do is get 'em the right training. 957 01:11:21,811 --> 01:11:26,814 We've recently started a MiniMoto school for little guys. 958 01:11:28,350 --> 01:11:31,386 A miniature, legitimate, road race machine. 959 01:11:32,655 --> 01:11:34,455 [Judy Code] These guys are, like, five years old, 960 01:11:34,457 --> 01:11:36,691 and they are just so jazzed, 961 01:11:36,693 --> 01:11:38,059 and they have race face. 962 01:11:38,061 --> 01:11:41,562 I mean they... they're going for it! 963 01:11:42,731 --> 01:11:44,632 [Stoney Landers] Creating safer riders 964 01:11:44,634 --> 01:11:46,367 is gonna be good for the industry, 965 01:11:46,369 --> 01:11:49,671 because it keeps riders in the industry longer. 966 01:11:49,673 --> 01:11:53,041 I felt like a lot could be done with MiniMoto racing here in the States, 967 01:11:53,043 --> 01:11:57,278 to make it more known and make it more of a way of life for people, 968 01:11:57,280 --> 01:12:00,381 like it is over in Europe. 969 01:12:00,383 --> 01:12:03,885 I just wanted to contribute to the road racing scene. 970 01:12:05,220 --> 01:12:06,821 [Judy Code] If you give kids a playground 971 01:12:06,823 --> 01:12:09,624 where they can learn these skills while they're playing, 972 01:12:09,626 --> 01:12:13,394 in a racing competition or a school or whatever you have, 973 01:12:13,396 --> 01:12:18,333 an event, then the whole sport will grow even more. 974 01:12:18,335 --> 01:12:21,836 [Landers] That's the best way I've actually observed the kids improve. 975 01:12:21,838 --> 01:12:23,971 Last one that we did, the kids were blown away 976 01:12:23,973 --> 01:12:27,008 with how much fun they had and how much they learned. 977 01:12:27,010 --> 01:12:30,611 It's so much fun to ride a motorcycle. 978 01:12:35,351 --> 01:12:37,218 [Judy Code] Parents that are involved are really jazzed, 979 01:12:37,220 --> 01:12:40,154 and everybody wants to make it grow. 980 01:12:48,197 --> 01:12:51,299 [Keith Code] Getting kids on motorcycles is one of the coolest, 981 01:12:51,301 --> 01:12:54,769 coolest, coolest, coolest things that there is. 982 01:13:03,812 --> 01:13:08,383 [Kenny Alexander] When I was growing up, my favorite place was Indian Dunes. 983 01:13:08,385 --> 01:13:10,017 They just don't have places like that anymore, 984 01:13:10,019 --> 01:13:12,186 and you know what, we need to find someplace like that. 985 01:13:12,188 --> 01:13:18,693 We need to recreate that feeling so we can, you know, turn it onto our kids. 986 01:13:18,695 --> 01:13:22,029 Back in '98, a stunt buddy and I, Jimmy Roberts, 987 01:13:22,031 --> 01:13:26,167 we looked at each other and said, you know what, let's put on a race. 988 01:13:26,169 --> 01:13:30,004 Let's put on a Grand Prix like the old days. 989 01:13:30,006 --> 01:13:31,873 Let's call it "A Day In the Dirt." 990 01:13:40,749 --> 01:13:43,351 When we started A Day in the Dirt, we wanted it to be fun. 991 01:13:43,353 --> 01:13:46,888 - I love Day in the Dirt. - You're so excited because you're going to go there, 992 01:13:46,890 --> 01:13:48,956 you're going to have fun with all your friends. 993 01:13:48,958 --> 01:13:51,392 [Kenny Alexander] Before the truck stops, the kids have jumped out, 994 01:13:51,394 --> 01:13:53,428 running to go see what the track looks like. 995 01:13:53,430 --> 01:13:54,896 We're talking about a Grand Prix track. 996 01:13:54,898 --> 01:13:56,964 We're talking about a good three-mile track. 997 01:13:56,966 --> 01:14:00,134 So these kids humping around and they come up and they ask 998 01:14:00,136 --> 01:14:01,803 the tractor drivers what's going on. 999 01:14:01,805 --> 01:14:04,205 [Anthony Hargraves] It's Grand Prix style racing, 1000 01:14:04,207 --> 01:14:08,209 where you don't actually go out of a gate, it's a flag start. 1001 01:14:08,211 --> 01:14:09,944 [Eric Hargraves] A lot of guys are out there, it's a big race, 1002 01:14:09,946 --> 01:14:11,946 a lot of people are watching and, you know, 1003 01:14:11,948 --> 01:14:13,981 when you line up on the gate, you got 20 guys to your left, 1004 01:14:13,983 --> 01:14:18,920 20 guys to your right, it gets a little nerve-racking. 1005 01:14:18,922 --> 01:14:22,723 [Kenny Alexander] It doesn't matter if you finish in 27th place, 1006 01:14:22,725 --> 01:14:26,661 as long as you finish in front of your friend, you won. 1007 01:14:38,173 --> 01:14:40,908 [Swing] Kids don't have to worry about who's gonna win, 1008 01:14:40,910 --> 01:14:43,711 or who's gonna lose, or who's gonna make the hole shot. 1009 01:14:43,713 --> 01:14:45,646 [Jim Hargraves] All these kids, all of them get along. 1010 01:14:45,648 --> 01:14:47,915 [Swing] Somebody's gonna win and somebody's gonna lose, 1011 01:14:47,917 --> 01:14:50,451 but they're gonna come off, and they're gonna shake hands, 1012 01:14:50,453 --> 01:14:52,286 and then they're gonna go roll around in the dirt again. 1013 01:14:52,288 --> 01:14:54,489 [Chelsea Saylors] It's really cool to seem them out racing 1014 01:14:54,491 --> 01:14:56,924 and how good they are at such a young age, 1015 01:14:56,926 --> 01:14:59,794 and even if they aren't good, just seeing them out on the track 1016 01:14:59,796 --> 01:15:05,533 going two miles per hour they're still getting out there and they're still going for it. 1017 01:15:07,369 --> 01:15:10,738 [Josh Hargraves] The last lap, you are so tired because you get the white flag, 1018 01:15:10,740 --> 01:15:13,674 and you're like, "OK, just one more," and you give it all you got, 1019 01:15:13,676 --> 01:15:18,479 and then when you see that checkered flag, you're like, "Yes!" 1020 01:15:18,481 --> 01:15:21,048 [Caleb Hawkins] They have a race at Day in the Dirt called the Wild Child race. 1021 01:15:21,050 --> 01:15:23,351 It's really cool, 'cause you do a lap and then your partner does a lap, 1022 01:15:23,353 --> 01:15:26,454 and every time you come in you've gotta switch a wristband. 1023 01:15:26,456 --> 01:15:29,023 My dad helps me and then Trevor's dad helps him. 1024 01:15:29,025 --> 01:15:33,628 I'm kind of nervous when Trevor comes in and it's my turn, and it's like, 1025 01:15:33,630 --> 01:15:37,131 "OK, gotta do this, gotta do this, just gotta do your best." 1026 01:15:37,133 --> 01:15:39,567 [Kenny Alexander] It creates a friendship between the two racers, 1027 01:15:39,569 --> 01:15:43,838 a bond that they'll have for the next 30 years that they'll remember. 1028 01:15:43,840 --> 01:15:47,475 "I raced with Johnny in that one Wild Child race." 1029 01:15:47,477 --> 01:15:50,144 On Saturday night, you have this big party, 1030 01:15:50,146 --> 01:15:54,048 and everyone goes out and they just have fun no matter what. 1031 01:15:54,050 --> 01:15:57,018 [Anthony Hargraves] Every year we end up meeting new people 1032 01:15:57,020 --> 01:16:00,788 and just keep building our family, of moto. 1033 01:16:00,790 --> 01:16:04,625 I'll be there just as long as Day in the Dirt's there probably. 1034 01:16:04,627 --> 01:16:06,527 Probably have to bury me out there. 1035 01:16:06,529 --> 01:16:09,597 Hopefully my kid will take it over. 1036 01:16:09,599 --> 01:16:13,868 We have a passion and we share that together and there's nothing like it. 1037 01:16:15,737 --> 01:16:18,906 [Anthony Hargraves] Teaching your kids how to do something that you enjoy, 1038 01:16:18,908 --> 01:16:21,976 and then seeing them enjoy it, it's priceless. 1039 01:16:21,978 --> 01:16:26,881 I just think it's the best experience, like a father-son riding day. 1040 01:16:26,883 --> 01:16:29,050 You can talk about the track with your dad, 1041 01:16:29,052 --> 01:16:32,386 and he knows what you're talking about because he's riding with you. 1042 01:16:32,388 --> 01:16:34,488 [Anthony Hargraves] We don't have the most money in the bank, 1043 01:16:34,490 --> 01:16:37,391 but, uh, we have the most memories. 1044 01:16:51,039 --> 01:16:53,908 The day that Scout was born, I found out 1045 01:16:53,910 --> 01:16:57,912 that I had advanced breast cancer. 1046 01:16:59,681 --> 01:17:04,285 It was a tough battle, just surviving. 1047 01:17:04,287 --> 01:17:09,724 And my husband said, "Is there anything that you want to do?" 1048 01:17:09,726 --> 01:17:12,727 And I said, "Actually, I wanna go on a motorcycle ride." 1049 01:17:19,267 --> 01:17:24,405 And I was going through chemo, and I was really, really sick. 1050 01:17:24,407 --> 01:17:28,676 And I just needed to get out of the house, and I couldn't be around people... 1051 01:17:29,745 --> 01:17:32,713 ...because my immune system was so weak. 1052 01:17:32,715 --> 01:17:34,982 And he got me up and he got me dressed, 1053 01:17:34,984 --> 01:17:37,084 and he put me on the back of his bike, 1054 01:17:37,086 --> 01:17:38,886 and he rode me to the beach. 1055 01:17:40,722 --> 01:17:44,392 It was one of the absolutely the best days of my life. 1056 01:17:44,394 --> 01:17:47,461 I knew that I was gonna be OK after that. 1057 01:17:47,463 --> 01:17:52,566 Motorcycles made it... made it OK for me. 1058 01:17:55,671 --> 01:17:59,640 You get everybody together and we're all talking about the same stuff, experiences. 1059 01:17:59,642 --> 01:18:04,478 You know, that's what we're all doing with bikes, is we're experiencing something. 1060 01:18:04,480 --> 01:18:07,715 Take advantage of these blessings that we've been given with our health 1061 01:18:07,717 --> 01:18:10,484 and live 110 percent in the moment. 1062 01:18:10,486 --> 01:18:13,487 [Dave Barr] The people that are out there doing it, they're out there, 1063 01:18:13,489 --> 01:18:17,258 and they're living their lives, not intrinsically, they're living 'em. 1064 01:18:17,260 --> 01:18:22,430 They're living the adventure, the competition, the adrenaline, the excitement. 1065 01:18:22,432 --> 01:18:25,933 [Kenny Roberts] I still ride motocross, I still ride dirt trackers. 1066 01:18:25,935 --> 01:18:28,736 You know, it's in my blood and it's never left. 1067 01:18:28,738 --> 01:18:31,972 [Bodden] I ride because there's nothing like it in the world. 1068 01:18:31,974 --> 01:18:34,675 It's a passion, it's something that I absolutely have to do, 1069 01:18:34,677 --> 01:18:38,245 and I could never imagine not doing it. 1070 01:18:38,247 --> 01:18:40,414 [Hayes] Whatever it is you're passionate about, 1071 01:18:40,416 --> 01:18:44,385 go at it and make sure you do it the best that you can possibly do it, 1072 01:18:44,387 --> 01:18:46,854 so that you're proud of what you've accomplished with it. 1073 01:18:46,856 --> 01:18:49,356 [Talon Hawkins] Say you go out on a track for the first time 1074 01:18:49,358 --> 01:18:53,627 and you're a little bit nervous, don't be nervous, you got it. 1075 01:18:53,629 --> 01:18:56,797 Just believe in yourself. 1076 01:18:57,833 --> 01:19:00,468 [Rocco Landers] Don't be scared, it's fun. 1077 01:19:00,470 --> 01:19:02,937 I'll help you and I'll cheer you on. 1078 01:19:04,606 --> 01:19:08,309 [Paris] When I see little girls racing, it's... To me, that's awesome, 1079 01:19:08,311 --> 01:19:10,945 'cause I wanna see where she is in ten years, 1080 01:19:10,947 --> 01:19:14,582 not even just as a motorcycle racer, but as a person. 1081 01:19:16,818 --> 01:19:18,919 [Kenny Alexander] Some of us were born into it, 1082 01:19:18,921 --> 01:19:20,888 and others find it along the way, 1083 01:19:20,890 --> 01:19:24,925 and it is just a love affair like no other. 1084 01:19:27,562 --> 01:19:34,068 [Forstall] Once you try it, if you like it, you'll never leave it. 1085 01:19:35,604 --> 01:19:37,938 Some people have it inside, it's a seed, 1086 01:19:37,940 --> 01:19:40,474 and it's never sprouted, but the seed sits, 1087 01:19:40,476 --> 01:19:42,476 and if you ever put the water on it, 1088 01:19:42,478 --> 01:19:44,712 if you ever get on that bike and you roll that throttle 1089 01:19:44,714 --> 01:19:46,881 and you feel the sensation, it's done, 1090 01:19:46,883 --> 01:19:48,849 the seed has sprouted and it doesn't go away, 1091 01:19:48,851 --> 01:19:51,285 it doesn't die till the day you take your last breath. 1092 01:19:51,287 --> 01:19:54,855 So you enter this thing basically trying to follow a trend, 1093 01:19:54,857 --> 01:19:57,124 but what happens is you become a purist, 1094 01:19:57,126 --> 01:20:00,528 you are a biker because the seed was always there. 1095 01:20:00,530 --> 01:20:04,698 [Keith Code] It carries with it a whole universe of experiences. 1096 01:20:04,700 --> 01:20:11,238 There's nothing that connects you in that special way to an environment. 1097 01:20:13,141 --> 01:20:18,679 I says I've had the most interesting and amazing and adventurous life. 1098 01:20:19,881 --> 01:20:22,116 I'm 87, and I'm still riding. 1099 01:20:22,118 --> 01:20:26,153 I'm aiming for 100, because I don't think anybody's ever done it, 1100 01:20:26,155 --> 01:20:29,356 and I'm always up to a challenge. 1101 01:20:29,358 --> 01:20:32,526 Like my mother taught us, no such word as "can't." 1102 01:20:32,528 --> 01:20:34,595 Two great kids, 1103 01:20:34,597 --> 01:20:38,065 a few good grandchildren, great grandchildren, 1104 01:20:38,067 --> 01:20:41,669 what the hell else can an old man want anyway? [laughs] 1105 01:20:41,671 --> 01:20:44,805 [Rick Baer] The greatest memories I got are happening right now. 1106 01:20:44,807 --> 01:20:47,908 They're happening right now. I just rode with my dad today. 1107 01:20:47,910 --> 01:20:52,446 So, to me, this was a great day. 1108 01:20:52,448 --> 01:20:57,751 I totally see myself teaching my kids if I have any, which I do want some. 1109 01:21:00,322 --> 01:21:03,858 Can't wait for my kid to have a kid and we all go ride together. 1110 01:21:11,366 --> 01:21:15,035 [Kretz] He was a... not only a father, but he was a good friend. 1111 01:21:15,037 --> 01:21:18,005 We did get along very good. 1112 01:21:20,041 --> 01:21:23,878 Motorcycles have put me in touch with wonderful people. 1113 01:21:23,880 --> 01:21:26,914 As a result of that, I have an elevated idea 1114 01:21:26,916 --> 01:21:30,284 about how good everybody in the world is. 1115 01:21:30,286 --> 01:21:34,088 It makes you feel like you belong in this world. 1116 01:21:43,265 --> 01:21:45,599 [Swing] My whole life has revolved around riding, 1117 01:21:45,601 --> 01:21:50,371 and the best memories of my life are from those times. 1118 01:21:50,373 --> 01:21:54,909 And I would not trade absolutely anything for those. 1119 01:21:58,413 --> 01:22:00,748 [Dave Barr] I remember her telling me not long ago, 1120 01:22:00,750 --> 01:22:02,483 "Dad, I gotta ride the motorcycle with you, 1121 01:22:02,485 --> 01:22:04,551 so I can learn to ride it, so when you get old, 1122 01:22:04,553 --> 01:22:06,153 I can ride you on the back." 1123 01:22:06,155 --> 01:22:08,222 What a great thing that would be. 1124 01:22:08,224 --> 01:22:12,026 I took her for her first, maybe she takes me for my last. 1125 01:22:17,599 --> 01:22:21,201 To share that with my little girl like I did today, 1126 01:22:21,203 --> 01:22:26,240 is just wonderful, it's just wonderful. 1127 01:22:27,909 --> 01:22:31,078 Motorcycles and family, it's life. 1128 01:22:31,080 --> 01:22:35,249 I don't know anything but it, we've done it... 1129 01:22:40,422 --> 01:22:41,989 They just go together. 1130 01:22:56,438 --> 01:22:59,807 [Barr] The one thing I can tell you, having lived the life I have, 1131 01:22:59,809 --> 01:23:03,077 tomorrow, my friend, is promised to no one. 1132 01:23:32,374 --> 01:23:35,009 Kenny Roberts, first 500cc World Champion, 1133 01:23:35,011 --> 01:23:39,213 and the first father to ever have a son who is 500cc World Champion. 1134 01:23:39,215 --> 01:23:42,649 Mert Lawwill, I was the national champion, in 1969. 1135 01:23:42,651 --> 01:23:44,752 Don Emde, I won Daytona in 1972. 1136 01:23:44,754 --> 01:23:49,757 Dave Ekins, best known for opening the trail from Tijuana to La Paz. 1137 01:23:49,759 --> 01:23:52,359 Al Lamb, AMA FIM world record holder, 1138 01:23:52,361 --> 01:23:54,361 as the fastest man on a sit-on motorcycle. 1139 01:23:54,363 --> 01:23:56,697 I'm Jason DiSalvo, Daytona 200 winner. 1140 01:23:56,699 --> 01:24:00,067 I'm Joey Pascarella, I'm the 2012 Daytona 200 winner. 1141 01:24:00,069 --> 01:24:02,302 I'm Josh Hayes, AMA Superbike Champion. 1142 01:24:02,304 --> 01:24:04,505 Melissa Paris and I race motorcycles. 1143 01:24:04,507 --> 01:24:06,106 I'm Troy Lee and I'm an artist. 1144 01:24:06,108 --> 01:24:08,642 Brian Klock, and my wife and I and my daughters 1145 01:24:08,644 --> 01:24:10,110 own Klock Werks Kustom Cycles. 1146 01:24:10,112 --> 01:24:12,112 Laura Klock, I'm a land speed record holder 1147 01:24:12,114 --> 01:24:14,048 on the Bonneville Salt Flats with my daughters. 1148 01:24:14,050 --> 01:24:17,251 My name is Erika, and I'm a bike freak, too. 1149 01:24:17,253 --> 01:24:21,088 - I'm Karlee, I'm the youngest, and I have no fear. - [laughter] 1150 01:24:21,090 --> 01:24:23,190 Gordon McCall, and I'm a motorcycle enthusiast. 1151 01:24:23,192 --> 01:24:26,193 I'm Keith Code, and I'm the director of the California Superbike School. 1152 01:24:26,195 --> 01:24:29,096 I'm Judy Code, I make people happy with my food. 1153 01:24:29,098 --> 01:24:30,998 Michael Lichter, I'm a photographer. 1154 01:24:31,000 --> 01:24:33,167 Arlen Ness, we're in the motorcycle business, 1155 01:24:33,169 --> 01:24:34,601 in almost every aspect. 1156 01:24:34,603 --> 01:24:36,804 Cory Ness, I'm president of Arlen Ness motorcycles. 1157 01:24:36,806 --> 01:24:40,240 Zach Ness, I design and build custom motorcycles and custom parts. 1158 01:24:40,242 --> 01:24:42,543 Hi, I'm Alonzo Bodden, I'm a stand-up comic. 1159 01:24:42,545 --> 01:24:46,113 [Michael Baer] My great-grandfather, Fritzie Baer, his son, Butch Baer, 1160 01:24:46,115 --> 01:24:50,851 Butch's children, Rick, Timmy, and Chrissy, 1161 01:24:50,853 --> 01:24:53,087 and then I am Rick's son, Michael. 1162 01:24:53,089 --> 01:24:55,456 Buzz Kanter, I publish American Iron Magazine, 1163 01:24:55,458 --> 01:24:57,524 Motorcycle Bagger, and Roadbike. 1164 01:24:57,526 --> 01:25:01,095 [speaking Spanish] 1165 01:25:01,097 --> 01:25:03,697 I'm Damian Doffo, and I'm the winemaker at Doffo Winery. 1166 01:25:03,699 --> 01:25:07,101 Valerie Thompson, five-time land speed record holder. 1167 01:25:07,103 --> 01:25:09,603 I'm Ernie Alexander, I opened Indian Dunes. 1168 01:25:09,605 --> 01:25:11,939 Kenny Alexander, I put on A Day in the Dirt. 1169 01:25:11,941 --> 01:25:16,343 My name's David Hansen, I own a company called The Shop in Ventura, California. 1170 01:25:16,345 --> 01:25:18,412 Johnny McClure, I'm the mechanic at The Shop. 1171 01:25:18,414 --> 01:25:21,415 Stoney Landers, I am a dad to a bunch of kids who love to race. 1172 01:25:21,417 --> 01:25:25,519 Rocco Landers, I will ride until I make it to MotoGP. 1173 01:25:25,521 --> 01:25:27,754 My name's Guerin Swing, I'm a designer. 1174 01:25:27,756 --> 01:25:30,958 My name's Scout Swing, I ride, that's really all I do. 1175 01:25:30,960 --> 01:25:35,729 I'm Taye Swing, I will ride until these bones won't hold me up anymore. 1176 01:25:35,731 --> 01:25:39,032 Caleb Hawkins, I love motocross and I love my family. 1177 01:25:39,034 --> 01:25:41,468 Talon Hawkins, and I like to ride with my dad. 1178 01:25:41,470 --> 01:25:44,404 Jules Hawkins, and I'm passionate about my family. 1179 01:25:44,406 --> 01:25:47,908 Jim Hargraves, motorcycles and family is family unity. 1180 01:25:47,910 --> 01:25:51,678 I'm Anthony Hargraves, I'm in the dry cleaning business, and we're a motorcycle family. 1181 01:25:51,680 --> 01:25:54,348 My name is Patty, and my family eats, sleeps, and breathes motorcycles. 1182 01:25:54,350 --> 01:25:58,452 Eric Hargraves, been a journeyman carpenter now for 15 years. 1183 01:25:58,454 --> 01:26:01,121 Jimmy Hargraves, I've been racing ever since I was little. 1184 01:26:01,123 --> 01:26:03,824 Josh Hargraves, I'm 14 years old and I love to ride. 1185 01:26:03,826 --> 01:26:06,560 Tanner Hargraves, I'm 11 years old and I like to ride. 1186 01:26:06,562 --> 01:26:10,364 Zach Hargraves, and I wanna be a pro motocross rider when I grow up. 1187 01:26:10,366 --> 01:26:15,435 Kerry Petersen, awarded title of Greatest Hillclimber of all time from Dirt Rider Magazine. 1188 01:26:15,437 --> 01:26:18,505 Debbie Petersen, I'm married to Kerry Petersen. 1189 01:26:18,507 --> 01:26:21,642 My name is Bret Petersen, three-time National Champion. 1190 01:26:21,644 --> 01:26:25,812 Chelsea Saylors, 2012 Women's Champion for the NAHA Pro Hillclimb. 1191 01:26:25,814 --> 01:26:29,449 Pam Saylors, administrative assistant, Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base. 1192 01:26:29,451 --> 01:26:32,419 John Saylors, and I drive Team Petersen's big rig. 1193 01:26:32,421 --> 01:26:34,555 Johnnie Saylors, been riding my whole life. 1194 01:26:34,557 --> 01:26:37,491 I'm Austin Fox, and I'm a professional hillclimber on Team Petersen. 1195 01:26:37,493 --> 01:26:42,963 Jack Hoel, my mother and father are given credit for starting the Sturgis Motorcycle Event. 1196 01:26:42,965 --> 01:26:47,000 Christine Paige Diers, I'm the Executive Director of the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum. 1197 01:26:47,002 --> 01:26:51,138 Coe Meyer, and I'm the owner of Gypsie Vintage Cycle here in Sturgis, South Dakota. 1198 01:26:51,140 --> 01:26:53,607 Jay Allen, I am here to carry this tradition on. 1199 01:26:53,609 --> 01:26:58,212 Gloria Struck, in the Motor Maids 67 years already. [laughs] 1200 01:26:58,214 --> 01:27:02,382 Ted Simon, in 1973 I set out on a motorcycle journey, 1201 01:27:02,384 --> 01:27:04,351 and wrote a book called Jupiter's Travels. 1202 01:27:04,353 --> 01:27:08,589 I'm Donna Jean Kretz Forstall, and I love to ride motorcycles. 1203 01:27:08,591 --> 01:27:11,725 Ed Kretz, Jr. Racing was my life. 1204 01:27:11,727 --> 01:27:14,461 I'm Dave Barr, if you have sense of destiny, 1205 01:27:14,463 --> 01:27:18,732 don't let anything stop you from making it a reality.