Dome Alone

Part 2 of my Tradeshow Odyssey. By Dave Brozik

I left the comfort of the Dome for about an hour to see what’s going on in the rest of the 750,000,000,000 square foot exhibition center. My feet are killing me and I still haven’t seen about half of all the stuff here. Well, I guess that’s job security for tomorrow and Monday. I gotta add, I’m in heaven typing this afternoons segment. I returned to the Dome to find a comfy seat in Section 101, Row F, Seat 109. Right up from the Utopia booth pumping out the good stuff like Poison, Crue, Ratt, and now Rick James. Thanks U.

Right before I left the Racer Productions booth, GNCC ATV legend William Yokley stopped by to wish us well, and to let us know he’s ready for the first GNCC in Florida at the beginning of next month. If you ever get a chance to hang out with William, do it. You’ll split your sides laughing.

I ran literally ran into Sherry Russell from Cycle News on my way to say Hey to Li’L D at FMF. Sherry informs me that she greatly enjoys communicating with our new girl Heather from the office on all matters that involve getting our GNCC, Loretta Lynn’s, High Point and Steel City ads to Cycle News on time. Unlike the guy she used to deal with. Me. Thanks, Sher.

Did I mention Li’L D? Here’s the mixmaster himself working on their next winning combination. Donny will be performing karaoke tonight. He gave me the list of the 4 places he’s headlining, but I only have so long to type this before my batter dies. Rock on.

Ogio has a cool two-story display; business downstairs and munchies and Red Bull on the roof. Our old pal Waldo was earning his keep, at least for today. We’re not sure what he does during the week. I think he’s in charge of metal-detecting the Ogio Compound in Utah for twisited bike carcasses. Then he hocks the “famous” pieces on Ebay for lift tickets at Snowbird. (Hi, Gina. We’ll look after him. You can trust us!)

Ronnie Renner was signing autographs at the Ogio booth. He was telling me he just got back from doing a show in Australia and the he’s not sure if he got 2^nd or 3^rd. Damn jetlag. Looks like he was in one piece, so we’ll celebrate with Steak & Shake at 3:30 tonight.

Speaking of freestyle, Travis was here hanging over Parts Unlimited’s Jeff Fox’s shoulder. Okay, it was Travis’s stunt double, but I bet it’s a toss-up of who’s been put together more times.

Matt Davis of Throttle Jockey had his eyes on the prize. Prize was unspecified.

PivotPegz looks like a cool product. That display boot showed that the pegs roll back and forth with your boot to keep constant contact. I watched the motorized boot for about seven minutes.

Check this out. That weird piece in the front wheel of this beach cruiser is a two-stroke engine. The motor, carb, gears, and flux capacitor all spin inside the hub at propel the bike to 17 MPH. The wheel only weighs about 20 pounds (I’m guessing).

This is the smallest ATV I’ve ever seen. It’s an AIM-EX. I think my shoe is longer than the seat.

The Oneal girl was kind to flash a smile. I didn’t get her name. Some guy ran his cart into my Achilles right after this shot. I made a dying hounddog yelp and decided to slither away before the tears started.

Rejuvenated, I gave the booth girl photo-op another try. Here’s Carrie and Rachael jazzing up the Castrol booth.

Our fellow West Virginians from the Hatfield-McCoy Trails in southern WV were on display. Make a weekend of it and blaze a few hundred miles in the Appalachian Mountains this summer.

Here’s an old CZ at the Ohlins booth. I was in another guy’s shot and didn’t stick around to get the specs.

Sara and new girl Jodi were womanning the Moto-Tees/Gear booth. They print all of our Racer X shirts and hats. They also make plaques, Tuffblock covers, event shirts, and just about everything else. Sara bails us out almost 3 times each month.

Here’s a different variation of a snowmobike from this morning. This one is more of a full-size snowmobile belt drive. Keep your feet on the pegs.

Custom bike guru Roland Sands signed posters for his fans.

These are just some random badass bikes.

High Profile P.R.’s/Racer X hockey coach Pat Schutte dropped by the main booth for the pre-game ramp up. PS smells victory tonight. Either way Corona is providing the pre/during/post celebration livations.

I found another favorite booth. This time it’s Fox Shox. I did not actually participate, I swear, but I did have three mentally.

Last but not least, I made it to the Throttle Jockey booth. Robert and Matt Davis make all- things stickers and graphics. This year, they’re unveiling the Mugen Honda graphics kit. Killer. Thanks to Roberto to taking care of us at the Pub last evening.

Gotta go. See you at the big game. USA. USA. USA.