The Indy motorcycle show went by in a blur and both Chris Denison and I survived. I’m not sure yet I can say the same about our publisher Sean Finley, who apparently licked something on the airplane and caught an evil bacteria that dwells at 35,000 feet. Sean spent most of the show locked in his hotel room, sending out instructions to Chris, me, and the Dirt Rider sales force, through messages. It was kinda like working for Howard Hughes.
But the show must go on, and Dealer Expo 2009 was Finley-less but still a success. The dealers were there in strong numbers, based on the exhibitors I spoke with, though the lookie-loo numbers were down, so the aisles had fewer people bumping into one another from display to display.
Good for Chris and I, since we had a lot of ground to cover in a just a few days. I think we did a good job of finding the great new products and sharing them with you in our daily blogs from the show. Our internet connection was about as healthy as our publisher, but we got it done.
We had a lot of fun with the ad sales guys. Well, most of them. Brad Banister had a tantrum when Fly Racing wouldn’t let him keep the child’s size chest protector.
Some of the displays were pretty creative, others dangerous. Scoprion brought their mascots, two live scorpions. Why? Because it wouldn’t have made sense for them to have dolphins.
Dubach Racing had a familiar looking bike on display – the Bradshaw bike that was ridden by Ryan Orr in a Dream Ride in the April issue of Dirt Rider. Oh, maybe I should also mention it was raced by none other than Damon Bradshaw at last year’s US Open grudge match between Bradshaw and Jeff Matiasevich. How cool is that?
Fulmer Helmets had a great display with a 1960’s groovy theme to show off their open face helmets with the bubble shields. They had some great graphic schemes on the cool retro helmets and a fun vibe going during the show.
And who didn’t make the show this year (besides our publisher)? The RCA Dome. Yep, it was demolished and half trucked away. It was sad to see it gone, with all the supercross history it’s had over the years, but it’s been replaced by the impressive Lucas Oil Stadium on the next block, and that big arena looks like a great place to begin a new racing history. I think they also use if for some other sport called football or something.
Okay, our Indy show coverage is nearly wrapped up, but we need your help to make it complete. We have one more blog to post, where Chris and I will take our five top products and pit them together to go head to head for your votes. Be sure to check that blog when it goes up Wednesday evening, and add a comment to that blog (your way to vote) on which product you think should win as the show’s all around coolest product. I’m calling this vote “Indy-cision 2009.”
Also look for appearances by these cool products in the pages of Dirt Rider as we get our hands on, well, a handful of them and DR Test them so you know what you’re getting. I hope you had some virtual fun with this virtual trip through Indy!