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Motorcycle Racing: MotoAmerica and the DawgHouse goes to Pittsburgh

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In August by buddy Phil and I, representing the DawgHouse Motorcycle Radio show, attended the MotoAmerica race at Pittsburgh International Race (PittRace) complex. This was our second MotoAmerica race for the year, we attended the race at Virginia International Raceway a few months earlier.

ijustwant2ride.com We parked about as far away from the action as possible, just the luck of the draw. But during the long walk we did see a lot of vehicles from out of state (Wisconsin, Michigan, New York, Minnesota to name a few). When we did make it to the gathering we found that MotoAmerica had again set up events and activities for folks to enjoy between races. A globe of death, and stunt shows among other things were ready to go. The State of Pennsylvania even had their Motorcycle Safety team out giving away stickers and yard sign promoting motorcycle safety.

Watching the race while watching the race!

The racing facility was very nice, well laid out and easy to get from point A to point B.
Food truck were located near the viewing area and were serving some good eats. The only issue with we had with the Pittsburgh Race Complex was that there was only one place from which to watch the race, Spectator Hill.

From Spectator Hill it is possible to view about 40% of track as well as a jumbotron. You could walk and see bits and parts of the track from a few other locations but really nothing more then flashes. As far as attendance our best guess is that there were 2500-3000 people there that day. Spectator Hill was not crowded but if you doubled the number of the folks there, it would be quite well packed.

Josh Herrin crossing the finish line

The racing, just like VIR, was great! We watch the Liquid Molly race as well as the Super Stock and Superbike races. We watched the Super Stock race from Spectator Hill and the Superbike race from the pits, the starting grid and the media center. I am not going to detail the races, that you can get from multiple sites as well as MotoAmerica.

The week leading up to the race we were not sure if were going to be issued media credentials. Phil and I (primarily Phil) got into an argument with some of the folks associated with MotoAmerica including one of the owners. Our “discussion” was about the “coverage” of the sport. Long story short, we believe that MotoAmerica is not getting the product out to enough eyeballs. We have said, on multiple occasions, that the product (racing) is very good now, that the on-site activities are good, but beIN is killing them on viewership.

We had a great time at Pittsburgh Race Complex and look forward to attending next year’s race as well!

Caroline Olsen post race

Bryce Prince post race

Valentin Debise after morning test run

From the media center

Motorcycle Ride to a Harley Davidson Factory.

Posted: September 23, 2013 in Motorcycle Rides
Tags: Battlefield Harley Davidson, blog, CVO, globe of death, Harley, Harley Davidson, Harley Davidson Vehicle Operations York PA, Harley Owners Group, HD, HOG, Honda, Kawasaki, Motorcycle, motorcycle blog, Motorcycle Ride, New Oxford, Open House, PA, Pennsylvania, pin stop, Route 15, Softails, steel toe tour, Suzuki, The Lincoln Highway, Touring, Trikes, US Route 30, VA, VIN, Virginia motorcycle ride, wordpress, Yamaha, York

Harley Davidson Vehicle Operations, York, PA Open House

Debbie and I decided to ride to the Open House at the Harley Davidson factory in York, PA on September 19th. The factory, which is officially known as the “Harley Davidson Vehicle Operations, York, PA”, has an annual open house and allows the public a chance to see how HD Softails, Trikes, Touring and CVO are built.

We left the house a bit later then we wanted but hit the road mid-morning. Taking US Route 15 North to Gettysburg (after stopping at Deb’s favorite, Chick-fil-a for breakfast). The ride on 15 between Frederick, MD and Gettysburg is nice smooth, picturesque trip through Farm County. But, you need to be alert on this road as there are many, many crossroads that require attention!

When we reached Gettysburg we turned on to US Route 30, also known as The Lincoln Highway, which is the third longest route in the US. The exit for Route 30 is also the exit for Battlefield Harley Davidson. I was surprised at the number of motorcycle related small businesses were along the road between Gettysburg and York. While we did not stop, we were running a bit later then I wanted, I counted at least 5 bike related stores including Battlefield Leather and the Iron Horse Repair Garage.

The worse part of the ride occurred just outside the town of New Oxford. The major crossroad in the town is being repaved and had traffic backed up at least 5 miles. The GPS showed no way around without a lot of back tracking and Deb would not allow me to skip traffic by riding on the shoulder. Once we reached the city limits I was able to ride through the back streets and bypass the traffic and construction. All in all the road worked added another 30 minutes to the ride.

We arrived at the factory a bit before noon. There were all makes and manor of bikes there, even for a Thursday afternoon. After registration we were issued safety glasses and told to stay inside the yellow lines.

Debbie having lunch outside the factory!

During the walk through we witnessed the birth of a Harley (the VIN stamped onto the frame), fenders and tanks stamped from sheet metal, fairings and saddlebags attached, and bikes tested then loaded into trucks.

We talked with a few of the workers that were assigned to keep us on the path and out of the way of the robots moving the bikes and parts along the assembly line. They all like working at the plant and enjoyed having us walk through and see what they do to make the bikes.

The walk though ends with you in the gift shop, of course. There were many “Vehicle Operations” labeled items including the ubiquitous t-shirts. Because this was an open house the factory had invited several local dealers to “setup shop” in the parking lot along with some food vendors and the “Globe of Death”! In a different part of the factory campus there were demo rides of the new 2014 bikes as well as the HOG (Harley Owners Group) Pin Stop.

All in all we had a great day (with the exception of the town of New Oxford), so much so that we are considering going back for the “Steel Toe Tour”.