This is pretty much just a placeholder to help jog my memory for next year. Not spell-checked or anything, just a quick brain dump. I spied a 350F cafe style bike in Lot B. Anyone's?
I purchased the three-day ticket deal and since my kids were 12, I got them in for free. 12 was the cut off. The three day ticket package was still cheaper than an individual Saturday and Sunday ticket. I missed Friday because the kids had school so by the time I got there it was about 11:00PM Friday night. There were a total of 3 gates; one on the main road coming in and two more on the ”loop” around the park, one near the museum/main ticketing area and another over at the entrance by the parking lots. At the main gate on the road coming in, a guy was there and I showed him my lot B tent camping printout. I don’t remember him asking for my ticket (remember this later). A short right turn later we passed lot A and found lot B but we needed to use the restroom and hoped we could get a shower. The shower I saw on the event map was in the paddock area. So I drove over there and was met by a guy at the entrance that asked to see my wristband. This would be the first on a couple “wristband issues” I had. I told him I just got in and I didn’t get any wristbands but I just wanted to use the restroom and shower. He let me by but noted the showers were closed.
After the restroom break, we get back to lot B. On the way in, I note porta-johns in the lot. Oh well, now I know… I asked the guy at the front of the parking lot about a wristband. He told me I only got one if I left the park and had to come back. There wasn’t much rhyme or reason to the parking and camping. There were no markings in lot B but later I would notice some painted lines in other parking areas. I drove around the tents and vehicles and ended up all the way at the back of the camping area. Rather than try to get back out, I just found a little corner and popped out tent up, trying to be as quiet as possible. It got a little chilly at might. Coming from Pensacola I wasn’t really prepared like I should have been. It was in the low 50s I think Friday night. The next morning I woke up and saw the guy next to me had an old Indian with sidecar. I talked to him a bit and ate cereal we had in the cooler (the cooler was WAY bigger than the max 12x12x12 size limit as described on the tickets but nobody said a word about it).
I decided to drive to the main ticket area near the museum and get a wristband. I knew I would need one at some point anyway. Along the way, I would stop and ask “official looking” people about the wristbands. Along the way, one of them told me to park at the main ticket area and ask them. At the ticket window I showed my tickets and asked about a wristband. They told me they would scan my ticket at the gate and I get a wristband there. So back to my truck I go. By that time, there is a swarm of oncoming vehicles so to the back of the line I go. When I got to the gate, they scanned my Saturday ticket (remember Saturday ticket later) and told me I only got a wristband when I LEFT the park. At that point, I’m like “F this” and drove back to the camping area. We got on the tram and talked to a guy that told us where to sit to see the races. That worked out pretty well. We caught the air show and some races. We walked over to the swap meet and again I see wristbands. Different colors too. I can’t help but think I’m going into places I’m not supposed to be. I finally found a guy that explained it to me. The colored wristbands are to control vehicular traffic in and out of areas. On foot, you can go wherever the hell you want OR ride your cycle to the bike parking areas and walk in. Ah! The light comes on… Got it! I also noted some non plated bikes riding around the park. So I guess my non titled CT90 is fair game next year.
Later, I stopped by the VJMC booth to see if I could see any SOHC4 forum guys. Nobody really stood out so we got in the truck and headed out to a Chinese place called New China Buffet. That was some good food. We stopped back again the next day on our way back to Florida. So now I’m going to get my wristband so I can get back in the park. I pass the gate near the camping sites and don’t see anyone in the booths. We decide to go to the main ticket area and ask them. I go up to the window with all my tickets and ask for a band. The lady sitting there looks at me like I stole something and says, “You should have gotten one on the way out. Where did you come out at?” I pointed over to where the camping areas are and kind of stood there waiting for them to help me. The 5 or 6 of them in there started talking back and forth. At this point, I’m getting pissed off. Finally one of the women pipes up and says, ”They’ll let him back in.” A couple of the other ones we like, “I don’t know… no guarantees.” So I figured I’d save my wrath for the gate guy when I got back if I had any trouble. As it was, I had no issue at all at the gate when I got back. Just showed my camping printout.
We got back to the park about 8:00PM and NEEDED showers by this time. Figuring the showers at the paddock would be closed again by this time we headed for a shower area down by the auction site. The tram was still running and when we got off, I asked how much longer they would be running. He said he was running until 9:00PM. Just enough time to hit the showers and get back. Good guy on the tram. He stopped at the entrance for us rather than the actual tram stop. We were the only ones on the tram as it was. There were 4 individual showers at this site. They are in the same area as the bathroom. After the adventure of getting me and the kids showered, we get back on the tram and back to the camp site.
At this point, I’m kind of wondering about my tickets. The only reason they scanned my Saturday ticket was because I went looking for a wristband. I wondered how they would know I had I Sunday ticket. I guess they wouldn’t as I was there Sunday and never “scanned in” at the gate. Saturday night was a little warmer than Friday night but it was overcast and colder on Sunday. Definitely more people there on Saturday.
I spotted a set of CB400F carbs on Saturday and I left them because I really don’t need them. I took my kids back to the racetrack Sunday and stopped back at the swap meet hoping to low ball the guy on those carbs. Apparently, someone else had the same idea… they were gone. I watched a little of the racing and saw a few guys take a spill. Nothing serious though. We stopped by the motocross area in lot D and watched some of that before seeing a little but of the air show again. That morning, we had packed everything up so we were ready to go when we got back to the truck.
Some highlights and lessons:
- Swap meet: COOL! Could have spent all day weeding through stuff but my kids aren’t as patient as I am. Lots of stuff from sub $200 parts bikes to prices in the $1000s. Found a head for my CT90!
- Need a “pit bike.” Forget trying to drive, you’d need to get a wristband to get into the areas anyway (though I think they let guys into the swap meet that bought stuff). Tram was cool and free. Was in operation well after the museum closed too.
- The racing was cool. My kids now know how to tell a 2 stroke from a 4 stroke!
- The Wall of Death. We loved it!
- We didn’t get into the museum unfortunately but had plenty of other things to do.
- The wristband thing for getting back into the park was annoying. I really don’t like being “non compliant” and went well out of my way to try to get one. Why not just give one to everyone when they scan their tickets?
- The kids had a good time. Nothing rowdy there, it was truly family friendly from everything I saw.
