Daytona 1997

Daytona 1997

A Report From the Trenches

By Troyce Walls

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Our arrival at Daytona International Speedway was early Monday morning, 3 March at about 0630. We were four, my neighbor Bob Quigg, fellow CB160/CA95 owner Paul Enz, subject of recent OBJ article Doug Swick, and myself.

We were informed by the track personnel that in order to go over the track instead of through the tunnel to the infield with our big trailers we would have to be there before practice started at 08:00. Waiting in a huge field next to the track several dozen folks came over and looked at our trailered machines. That's when I heard the first, "I usta have one a them!" the first time that week. If I had, say, ten bucks for every time I heard it in the next two days I could have bought that police CB450K1 at the auction!

They routed us through the East Gate, which led us over the east straight and through the chicane. That was pretty neat in itself, imagining myself as S. Russell out braking DuHamel and spouting up on to the north banking.

Well prior to the event, I had asked the track bureaucracy for a corral area located along the straight before the dogleg. Note here that a "Display" in the infield is Five Thousand Dollars, US, which is what they thought we might have there, but I finally convinced them it was just a "Corral," no charge. Well, we never found our corral, although there was a tiny unmarked roped off area way out in the boonies next to the CBX corral, so we just moved our wagon train up to the straight to the location I'd asked for. The CBX guys did the same.

Our first day in the infield, that's the Winston Tower in the background past the pit area. Doug Swick and Billy Orazio are checking out the nice unrestored CB77.

We unloaded and lined the bikes up out front of the canopy of Doug's Trailer and stood back. By 10:00, probably four or five dozen folks had been by and most had good stories about their experiences with one or other of the models on display. I'll try here to list them all, starting with the most diminutive. Unfortunately, despite my urgent requests that someone bring something else to the show, they were all Hondas. I realize now that I should have taken individual shots of each of the bikes, but I didn't, so next year I'll do better.

ĄZ50K0, blue, non-US w/directionals, speedo, detachable front end, etc.
ĄCD175 Sloper
ĄCA77 Red
ĄCB77 White
ĄCB77 Black, near perfect unrestored
ĄMT250 built to Japanese domestic w/Japanese decals, etc.
ĄCB450K0 with 1250 mi.
ĄCB450D
ĄCB450K3
ĄC95 "Tokyo Rose"
ĄCB160 Blue
ĄSL350K1
ĄS90 non-U.S., black, with full chain guard, rotary shift, etc.
ĄCL350K0
ĄCL77 Red
ĄCB450K1 Blue
ĄS90 Red

Mid-morning, the incredibly understanding and long-suffering wives of Doug and myself, Becky and Laurie respectively, showed up and lent their much more attractive presence to the event. Both fine ladies are riders themselves; Laurie's primary bike is a Cagiva/Ducati 650SS. Everytime someone comes by the house and sees the H-D hummer parked in the living room, they point out that they couldn't get away with that, so here's a heartfelt thanks to Laurie for putting up with me and my habit.

Several dozens of bikes pulled up and parked in the rows temporarily, so they're not listed here, but we appreciate everyone who brought their bikes for even the shortest while. In that category there were another couple of CL77s, a CT90, and so forth for Hondas, plus we had Yamahas - RDs and a Big Bear, Kawasakis - couple of early triple 500s and a late A7, and Suzukis - GT250 and T500. If I missed anyone, please understand the hectic nature of the days for me.

That night the four of us went to Quigg's country estate (a very nice cabin on acreage adjoining a lake) in the fern growing part of Florida and had spectacular BBQ ribs, corn-on-cob, and lots of poot-inducing beans, all prepared by our host. The results of the beans provided quite a lot of entertainment for us "Grown-ups" for the rest of the evening. Next year, I hope to have some sort of get-together somewhere near the track, if we do the event there, and invite all who come by.

For the second day, Doug convinced me that we could set up anywhere we chose, so we put down near the International Horseshoe parking/grandstand area.

The second day at a different location near the International Horseshoe grandstand. Doug and Tom Shaw, who has written and photographed several articles for Old Bike Journal are sitting under the canopy. The traffic was much greater there, and by the end of that day I was so hoarse I could hardly speak, which could be considered not a bad thing for some of my buddies, I imagine. I got between one and two dozen prospective members in the two days.

Another view of day 2, Doug's nice black trailer (he owns a business building drag car chassis). Great fun was had by all, and the only thing missing were non-Honda bikes as far as I'm concerned. Y'all plan to come down next year and bring us some fresh J-bike faces!

Laurie and yours truly (suckin' it in). Quigg is the fellow in the blue shirt/red cup.

I went to the auction on Thursday and Saturday, but bought nothing because the bikes in which I had an interest went higher than I was willing to pay once Florida sales tax, buyer's premium, and transfer fees are added in. Included are images of the CB450D K1 that sold for around $1.5K, I think. But no matter, I love the excitement of the auction. Click here to see the CB450D K1.

The attendance to the classic race days fell off considerably this year due primarily I believe (based on an informal survey) to the exorbitant entry fees to the infield. Twenty-five buckos for one rider and bike. It's too bad, but Daytona in general has gotten really greedy in the past few years, as evidenced by lodging prices at 2.5 to triple rates with a SEVEN day minimum stay for Bike Week. We may decide to go to DeLand next year where Jerry Wood sets up. For that, we would do the event in the latter part of the week, which is probably better for most folk who come for the big weekend only. Stay tuned.

Something that we may try to do is organize next year's event as a national show, maybe even paying to set up a flea market for J-bikes along with it, and get some experts in to do a bit of judging. This may be a bit much for now, but we're going to look at it.

Thanks for your attention, and y'all come!

Troyce