The Weekend Experience - 2021 AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days
The grounds of the Mid Ohio sports car course really come alive each year during the AMA vintage motorcycle days with every square inch of soil being utilized to its fullest for multiple forms of racing, camping, swap meet vending, live entertainment and and a list of other fun activities. Whether you've come to cruise one of the countries largest vintage swap meets for hard to find bikes or vintage parts or whether you are getting suited up for a chance at finish line glory in one of the many forms of off road and on road racing there is something to keep everyone's blood pumping every second of the day. We devoted some time on our blog to just the Old bike barn crossroads area of vintage days a few weeks back so now we would like to dive deeper and show you a little bit more of the event from all four corners of the fantastic mid Ohio grounds.
This year the swap meet was packed full of great vintage bikes for sale from every make and model you can think of, however the vintage Japanese bikes usually make up the bulk of what you'll find throughout many booths offering restorable complete bikes or piles of patina covered parts to work on completing whatever your latest project is. Simply wandering the booths and talking bikes with all the different vendors can easily be a whole day's worth of fun in itself. The grounds for the swap meet are so vast and impressive that it will certainly take you a full day to see every booth and every box of parts. As an example we set out this year with our own vintage scavenger hunt looking to find deep within the swap many Honda CB350 and CL450 parts and ended up coming home with a carload full of much more than we even imagined to find. You never know just what you'll find each year and that's what makes this swap so much fun.
For the more avid thrill seekers the racing at Mid Ohio is really where it's at with competing classes in offroad motocross, hare scrambles, and trials racing on various dirt tracks throughout the grounds or some serious moto GP style racing on the incredible paved road course track. The hare scrambles and motocross racing have several classes ranging from vintage and evolution 1, 2 and 3 and revolution 1 and 2. The scrambles runs on Friday morning, then moto cross on Saturday and trials on Sunday. They also have some good natured natured pit bike racing in classes ranging from 50CC up to 125 CC.
After a long day of fun many retired back to the campgrounds area to find shade in tent, RV or pop up canopy kicking up their feet and having a drink with friends. One such corner of the grounds stayed wild a bit later than everyone else though inviting their own home grown "run what you brung" burnout competition that stretched on for hours into the night. Everything from Mini bikes to dirt bikes to inline 4 superbikes took to their barbaric slab of wood to kick up some smoke one after another. The festivities led by the microphone toting man referred only as "the captain" the shenanigans stayed a constant source of late night entertainment both Friday and Saturday.
Each day Friday Saturday and Sunday on Sunday in the morning riders had a chance to participate in the lap for history out on the 2.4 mile road racing circuit track of the Mid Ohio sports car course. This year's grand Marshall Dave Aldana, who led several group discussions in our Old bike barn crossroads area over the weekend, was leading the lap on Saturday and kept a great pace for the hundreds of riders gracing the track with their fantastic variety of vintage bikes.
If you've ever been to the Old bike barn crossroads area of the grounds you've certainly seen the towering big top of the American motor drome Wall of Death standing tall and majestic bringing the element of real dangerous live entertainment with a classic death defying feel that absolutely has to be seen to get the full vintage days experience. This year the troop of Jay "Lightning," "Hobo" Bill and Miss Corinna really put on an incredible show for everyone and even though they do a multitude of shows throughout the entire weekend they work hard at making every single show a very unique and enthralling experience for every patron looking down upon the towering planks of wood.
No matter what your thrill if you are a vintage enthusiast of any brand you wont want to miss the AMA vintage motorcycle days.
Photos and words- Mike Vandegriff
This year the swap meet was packed full of great vintage bikes for sale from every make and model you can think of, however the vintage Japanese bikes usually make up the bulk of what you'll find throughout many booths offering restorable complete bikes or piles of patina covered parts to work on completing whatever your latest project is. Simply wandering the booths and talking bikes with all the different vendors can easily be a whole day's worth of fun in itself. The grounds for the swap meet are so vast and impressive that it will certainly take you a full day to see every booth and every box of parts. As an example we set out this year with our own vintage scavenger hunt looking to find deep within the swap many Honda CB350 and CL450 parts and ended up coming home with a carload full of much more than we even imagined to find. You never know just what you'll find each year and that's what makes this swap so much fun.
For the more avid thrill seekers the racing at Mid Ohio is really where it's at with competing classes in offroad motocross, hare scrambles, and trials racing on various dirt tracks throughout the grounds or some serious moto GP style racing on the incredible paved road course track. The hare scrambles and motocross racing have several classes ranging from vintage and evolution 1, 2 and 3 and revolution 1 and 2. The scrambles runs on Friday morning, then moto cross on Saturday and trials on Sunday. They also have some good natured natured pit bike racing in classes ranging from 50CC up to 125 CC.
After a long day of fun many retired back to the campgrounds area to find shade in tent, RV or pop up canopy kicking up their feet and having a drink with friends. One such corner of the grounds stayed wild a bit later than everyone else though inviting their own home grown "run what you brung" burnout competition that stretched on for hours into the night. Everything from Mini bikes to dirt bikes to inline 4 superbikes took to their barbaric slab of wood to kick up some smoke one after another. The festivities led by the microphone toting man referred only as "the captain" the shenanigans stayed a constant source of late night entertainment both Friday and Saturday.
Each day Friday Saturday and Sunday on Sunday in the morning riders had a chance to participate in the lap for history out on the 2.4 mile road racing circuit track of the Mid Ohio sports car course. This year's grand Marshall Dave Aldana, who led several group discussions in our Old bike barn crossroads area over the weekend, was leading the lap on Saturday and kept a great pace for the hundreds of riders gracing the track with their fantastic variety of vintage bikes.
If you've ever been to the Old bike barn crossroads area of the grounds you've certainly seen the towering big top of the American motor drome Wall of Death standing tall and majestic bringing the element of real dangerous live entertainment with a classic death defying feel that absolutely has to be seen to get the full vintage days experience. This year the troop of Jay "Lightning," "Hobo" Bill and Miss Corinna really put on an incredible show for everyone and even though they do a multitude of shows throughout the entire weekend they work hard at making every single show a very unique and enthralling experience for every patron looking down upon the towering planks of wood.
No matter what your thrill if you are a vintage enthusiast of any brand you wont want to miss the AMA vintage motorcycle days.
Photos and words- Mike Vandegriff