Old timer... holy crap do I fit in that category?
When I lived in Vancouver, B.C, Westwood was the local roadrace track (an hour away and in the sticks) and I rode there just about every Wednesday night to practise. I only had limited sponsorship from the shop where I worked and only had use of the old beat up pick-up truck for race weekends. Wednesday was bike guys night, no ambulance, no corner marshalls just on our own most of the time. I raced production class so just removed the lights, etc. and put in as many laps as possible, reinstall all the goodies and rode home. I had picked up an RD 350 for my wife with the understanding she would ride it during the week and I'd go through the tuning ritual Friday night, then flog it on weekends. Shoe-string all the way. I had just moved west, was broke and my 73 CB750 had an 810 kit with a lot of hard racing miles from back east and was my onlt transportation so I concentrated on having fun on the RD. Club racing stuff but on race weekends there would be guys from everywhere. Steve Baker was world GP champ that year, and lived in nearby Bellingham. He & tuner Bob Work were at Westwood often. Steve was from Bellingham good times for sure.
Cut to this past weekend. I rode to spectate only at the Canadian Superbike final at Shannonville, Ontario and toured the pits. Gone are the days of travelling from track to track in some old beatup van, sleeping on the ground in a tent and making do with what you could afford. It is remarkable the money even amateur racers spend on new trucks pulling huge trailers with all the finest.
It's great to see, but I suppose it doesn't mean that they are having any more fun than the rest of us did "back a ways"
