Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127957
50fh-anniversary.Peoria IT FEATURE . (Left) Attabo y: The hard-working group of individuals that makes up the Peo ria Motorcyc le Club outd id its elf to ensure that the 50th-anniversary Peo ria TT weekend was a successful one . Their hard work and dedication paid off. (Above, seated left to right) Dan Sta nley, Chris Carr, Rich King and Joe Kopp took part in the Friday morning press conference that preceeded the celebrity golf tourname nt at the Weaver Ridge Golf Course and Country Club. PEORIA, IL, JULY 3I-AUG. 2 o C h r is Ca r r ca me b a ck to h is roots and won his 10th Peor ia IT during the 50th anniversary of the AMA Grand National classic, bu t th e Peoria TT w as more than jus t ano ther ver sion of the fab led IT scra mbles. It was an epic ha ppen ing. By the time the IT too k p lace on Sunday, the city of Peor ia had been rock ing and ro lling for two days straight, than ks to the tremend ous effort pu t forth by the Peor ia Motorcycle Club and a few others to ma ke the 50th-anniversary Peo ria IT weeken d one to reme m ber. "Wha t it comes d own to is that we' re not jus t in the bu sin ess of putting on a mot orcycle race, w e're in the en ter tai nmen t bu siness," Peor ia Motorcycle Club member Ber t Sand ers said . "We sell fun, a nd if p eople a re n' t having fu n•..th enthey aren' t g<;>ing to .wa nr to come back .. the-next time. Thi s wa s the 50th runnin g of the longest-ru nning d irt track race in Ame rica, and we put in a lot of time to make it so that p eople left there say ing, 'Man , I d on ' t ever w ant to miss that not ever." Those efforts includ ed sev eral attraction s to make the event - not just the race - a successfu l one. The festi vit ies began with a p ress conference on Friday, July 31, at the Weaver Ridge Golf Course and Co u n t ry Clu b in Peoria . T h e Peo r ia Motorcycle Club invited all the local television crews and newspaper rep orters to ch a t w it h a s elec t group o f G ra n d National riders, each of whom had a better-than-average sho t at taking the Peoria IT win. Among the rid ers at the press co nfere n ce were n ine-time Peoria TT witm er Chris Car r, defen di ng Peoria IT Cham p ion Joe Kopp, Rich King, "loca l fa vorite" Dan Sta nl ey, a nd eig h t-time a n d r ei gning AMA G ra n d Natio n a l Champ ion Scott Parker . Though nobody kn ew it a t th e time, Ca rr, Pa rk er a nd Stanley wo uld run 1-2-3 on Sund ay. The even t was followed by a celebrity golf tou rn am ent on the Weaver Rid ge course that includ ed several top rider s m ixed i n w ith fans a n d su p p o rte rs. Although he didn' t ha ve low sco re of the round, Chris Ca rr led all celebrities wit h an 83 on the beautifu lly groo med, cha llengi ng 18-hole lin ks. O n Sa tu rd ay, th e Peo-Taz A BATE , gro up s w u ng into a ction , h o s tin g a lOOO-bike mo tor cycle parade fro m the , Peoria Mot orcycle Club c1ubgrou nd s to the streets of d owntown Peoria , w here an a n ti q u e- a n d cu s to m- b ike s how , swap meet and street party too k pl ace ' all d ay and into the night, cu lminating -~ --- - -- - - - --- (Above left) AMA dirt track manager Bruce Bober drives off the tee during the tournament. (Above right) Dan Sta nley goes for par. A more accomplished motorcycle racer than golfer, the Washington rider, who seems to have had no trouble establis hing himself in the Peoria area , adm itted to having a blast during the weekend. (Left) Saturday's swap meet, bike s how and street party was the larges t eve r, claiming several city blocks in downtown'Peo ria. (Right) The payoff: All the hype made a difference, as the hillsides of the Peoria Motorcycle Clubgrou nds were jammed with people before anyone even tu rned a tire on the track . Over 19,000 were on hand to witness Carr take the checkered flag for his 10th win. a w it h an appearance by roc k reco rdi ng artists Molly Hatchet. On Sunday morning, the hillsides of the Peoria Motorcycle Club clubgrounds were jammed well befor e practice even b egan , as so me 19,200 people came to witn ess history in the making , Carr took the win, w hich a rg ua bly mad e eve rything as it sho uld be. Bu t m or e im po rtan t ly , th e Pe o ria Motorcycle Club was also a wi nner, as this particular Grand Na tional even t . : wh ich was more tha n a motorcycle race - will likely go down as one of the best t:'< in d irt track history.