Jon K.
~SPONSOR~
- Mar 26, 2001
- 1,354
- 4
Tony Eed’s thread “Great Memories” got me to thinking about great motorcycle-related memories.
I will try to put one of them into words, and hope others will do the same. If I am clumsy, please forgive me.
February, 1972. I was 15 years old, and had never been more than a couple hundred miles from Chipola Louisiana.
My Aunt Louise has some friends in Houston, Texas, and offers to drive me over to see some “motorcycle thing” in the Astrodome. She had taken me to see “On Any Sunday” a few months before, and she thought it would be kinda cool.
Actually the “motorcycle thing” was the opening rounds of the AMA Grand Nationals. In the early ‘70s; this was as big as racing gets! :aj:
I begged out of school Friday, and we hit the road Thursday evening. Four and a half hours to Houston, and we stayed with friends Thursday night. To say that I couldn’t sleep was an understatement. The excitement was completely unreal. I was so excited that I was afraid I would wet the bed!
The weirdest thing was the sirens. We were in the middle of Houston, and the police car sirens, or ambulance sirens went on all night. Let me underscore how deep in the woods Chipola actually is. I had never heard a siren, other than at the St. Helena Parish Forest Festival parade, in my life. That may be an overstatement, but these infernal things went on all night!
Just as I finally dozed off to sleep, I was awakened; it was time to go to the Dome!! We were to see the practice for the TT that will run on Friday night. We got out of the house at about 7:30 or so that morning, and I was so disappointed that it was quite foggy that morning, so I couldn’t see much of anything.
We pull into the (Dome) parking lot, and still, the fog completely obscured the Astrodome. As we continue to drive into the parking lot, I have my face right up against the windshield, wondering where the friggin’ Dome is.
We have the windows rolled down, and I can hear the racing engines. British Twins mostly, for the TT. Quick revving, deep throated, and just bellowing like rabid bulls out of the fog!! And I still couldn’t see a thing! :eek:
Then; like some sort of conjurer's spell, the Dome just materialized out of the fog. The concrete of the Dome was the same color as the fog, and when we finally broke through, it filled the entire windshield. Top to bottom, side to side. Big!!! As I fell back into my seat; I actually gasped out loud.
Words cannot do justice to the emotion. Even now, writing this; I get goose bumps.
The remainder of the day was spend ogling the bikes, seeing the practice, and just wandering around the pits and the Dome. I got autographs that day from Dick Mann, Jim Odom, Mert Lawill, and I don’t remember who else. Sort of a sensory overload.
The racing that night was great, the following night was the short track, and it was even better.
But somehow what is so deeply etched into my memory is that immense, ghostly Astrodome emerging from the fog that February morning.
I will try to put one of them into words, and hope others will do the same. If I am clumsy, please forgive me.
February, 1972. I was 15 years old, and had never been more than a couple hundred miles from Chipola Louisiana.
My Aunt Louise has some friends in Houston, Texas, and offers to drive me over to see some “motorcycle thing” in the Astrodome. She had taken me to see “On Any Sunday” a few months before, and she thought it would be kinda cool.
Actually the “motorcycle thing” was the opening rounds of the AMA Grand Nationals. In the early ‘70s; this was as big as racing gets! :aj:
I begged out of school Friday, and we hit the road Thursday evening. Four and a half hours to Houston, and we stayed with friends Thursday night. To say that I couldn’t sleep was an understatement. The excitement was completely unreal. I was so excited that I was afraid I would wet the bed!
The weirdest thing was the sirens. We were in the middle of Houston, and the police car sirens, or ambulance sirens went on all night. Let me underscore how deep in the woods Chipola actually is. I had never heard a siren, other than at the St. Helena Parish Forest Festival parade, in my life. That may be an overstatement, but these infernal things went on all night!
Just as I finally dozed off to sleep, I was awakened; it was time to go to the Dome!! We were to see the practice for the TT that will run on Friday night. We got out of the house at about 7:30 or so that morning, and I was so disappointed that it was quite foggy that morning, so I couldn’t see much of anything.
We pull into the (Dome) parking lot, and still, the fog completely obscured the Astrodome. As we continue to drive into the parking lot, I have my face right up against the windshield, wondering where the friggin’ Dome is.
We have the windows rolled down, and I can hear the racing engines. British Twins mostly, for the TT. Quick revving, deep throated, and just bellowing like rabid bulls out of the fog!! And I still couldn’t see a thing! :eek:
Then; like some sort of conjurer's spell, the Dome just materialized out of the fog. The concrete of the Dome was the same color as the fog, and when we finally broke through, it filled the entire windshield. Top to bottom, side to side. Big!!! As I fell back into my seat; I actually gasped out loud.
Words cannot do justice to the emotion. Even now, writing this; I get goose bumps.
The remainder of the day was spend ogling the bikes, seeing the practice, and just wandering around the pits and the Dome. I got autographs that day from Dick Mann, Jim Odom, Mert Lawill, and I don’t remember who else. Sort of a sensory overload.
The racing that night was great, the following night was the short track, and it was even better.
But somehow what is so deeply etched into my memory is that immense, ghostly Astrodome emerging from the fog that February morning.