Riders line up for the Race of the Century exhibition race for bikes 100 years old or older at the 2008 Barber Vintage Festival
Heads up! October’s just around the corner, and that means the 5th Annual Barber Vintage Festival is coming up fast! Motorcycle Classics will be there, hosting the Motorcycle Classics Café Bike Show sponsored by our friends at Dairyland Cycle Insurance. BSA or Beemer, Harley or Honda, if you’ve built a classic with a café twist it’s time to shine it up and show it off!
And believe us, you will get to show it off, as the Barber Festival is quickly growing into one of the largest, best-attended classic bike events in the country. What started as a fairly intimate, 5,000-person show in 2005 has grown exponentially every year; expect 30,000 to 40,000 classic bike fans to show up for this year’s event!
The show’s incredible growth is hardly surprising. Hosted by the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum, arguably one of the top – if not THE top – the show is held on the grounds of the Barber Motorsports Park, home to one of the finest race tracks in the country. Racing is a big part of the weekend, featuring the final round in the 2009 American Historic Racing Motorcycle Association’s slate of classic racing.
The museum will also host Friday night’s Motorcycles by Moonlight benefit dinner, featuring special guest Kevin Schwantz, who amassed an amazing 25 Gran Prix wins in his career.
The Motorcycle Classics Café Bike Show will run from 10a.m. to 5p.m., Saturday, October 9, with an awards presentation for Best of Show and People’s Choice at 4p.m. Glenn Bator from Bator International and Bator Auctions will guide the annual auction through its paces, this year in a new, dedicated space next to the swap meet area. Bikes for auction will be available for viewing all day Friday and the auction will be held Saturday night.
Returning events include the Race of the Century, the AeroShell Aerobatic Team and the Rhett Rotten Wall of Death stunt show. Seminar speakers this year include Matthew and Big Sid Biberman, John Healey and Don Hutchinson. Don’t miss it, ’cause it’s gonna be huge! – Richard Backus