The NOLA Vintage Grand Prix
NOLA Motorsports Park, Avondale, Louisiana
By Barry Tanner Sr.
March 18 - 20, 2016
Louisiana has a long history of Motorcycle
Racing and has produced some really tough guys to
beat on the track, on either pavement or dirt. Back in
the 60s and 70s there were race tracks dotted all over
the state and every weekend brave men and women
showed up to do battle in hopes of bringing home
a trophy or some cash and of course the glory that
comes along with doing everything in your power to
be a winner. For some it was just a fun social event,
but for others, it was an opportunity to do battle with
friends and foe and if you were daring and skilled
enough, you could emerge victorious in a world
where gallant jousting Knights clad in armor once
competed. This time, clad in leather, mounted upon
a fire breathing machine with only two wheels, they
would twist and turn, slide and jump through the air
in hopes of being number one.
There are several ways you can race
motorcycles. There are drag strips, there are dirt
tracks, where you go round in ovals, or dirt tracks
where you go left or right and fly over jumps. Then
there are races up mountains and races where you run
thru the woods and forest in the wilderness. There are
even road race tracks where you get to go so blinding
fast that the idea is to keep the grey blur between the
green blurs and leaning into the turns means scraping
elbows and knees at such high speeds that you have
to wear special pads to protect the skin. Some people
prefer street racing and every night you can hear
motorcycle engines turning ten or eleven thousand
Revs per minute as they run thru the gears.
I used to race back in the 70s, and when I quit, I
took up flying airplanes as a hobby and even landed
a flying job where I racked up over a million miles
on Pipeline Patrol at 500 feet altitude in a Cessna
172. After I retired, I got the Motorcycle bug again
and found a very nice Suzuki Gsx R600 Telefonica
Movistar. Its the Kenny Roberts Junior edition
that Suzuki only shipped 500 to the United States,
to celebrate His winning of the Moto Gran Prix
Championship in 2000. So now I play “street fighter”
on it and am having a blast. When “Woody” from
Louisiana Biker Magazine asked Me to cover the
NOLA Motorcycle Racing event, I was happy to do so.
I went last year and would not miss this years event
for anything.
To start off, the weather was going to be
problematical. Radar showed showers and two out
of the three days of the event, and boy were they
right! Friday was light drizzle most of the day with
some very hard rain in the evening, but the practice
sessions for the road racers still went OK after
everyone went to rain tires. The newbies to road
racing were escorted along the track with veteran
riders along to help coach and offer advice on how
to improve their skill level. Even with a lot of water
on the track, the guys and gals went very fast. I spent
some of My day working with the promoter to get the
flat track going for the friday night races. Ever walked
in Louisiana gumbo mud? I gave up trying to clear
sticks off the track when my poor boots got so clogged
up I couldn’t walk. They tried to disc the track, but the
hard rain ruined the hard work and the decision was
made to cancel the friday night flat track race. The
ARMA awards banquet was Friday night.
Saturday morning started out pretty good,
weather wise, and it was pretty obvious from the get
go, that the flat track was still not going to be ready
for the planned races at eight PM. The race guys
looked at the drift track and we made a pitch to have
the races there on asphault. That idea was shot down
but the riders were determined to race and finally
a place to race was found and the NOLA guys did
a fantastic job moving spectator stands , lights and
everything they needed in place, for a race Saturday
night over by the go-cart track. With that done, I
got a chance to interview the Grand Marshall of the
weekend, legendary Motorcycle Racing Champion,
Dave Aldana.
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