10 MOTORCYCLE CLASSICS September/October 2017
VIEW FROM THE
SIDECAR
Gearing up for the Barber Vintage Festival
and new Evel Knievel museum opens
We’re making final prepara-
tions for our annual pilgrimage to
the Barber Vintage Motorsports
Museum near Birmingham,
Alabama, and the 13th Annual
Barber Vintage Festival, Oct. 6-8,- The 2016 event had an esti-
mated attendance of 73,000 bike
fans, making this the largest vin-
tage motorcycle event in North
America.
The event’s almost explo-
sive growth is easy to under-
stand. To begin with, there’s the
world famous Barber Vintage
Motorsports Museum, an amazing
collection of 1,400-plus motorcy-
cles spanning every decade of the
industry from its humble begin-
nings more than 100 years ago to
today, all housed in a spectacular,
state-of-the-art, 144,000-square-
foot building. And it just got big-
ger, thanks to a new five-story,
86,000-square-foot addition.
Then there’s everything else
happening during the Barber Vintage Festival, including the
American Motor Drome “Wall of Death” — a 15-foot-high
wooden bowl that daredevil riders run on vintage Indian
and Harley-Davidson motorcycles. Over at Turn 17 is the Ace
Corner, an event within the event, packed with custom builds
and cool café bikes — not to mention food and the only beer
sold on site! — while on the other side of the park you’ll find
the AMCA and VJMC shows. Motorcycle manufacturer KTM will
host demo rides in Lot D, and new this year is a Ferris wheel
that’s going to be set up in the Fan Zone, giving attendees a
chance to take in the event from high in the sky. Oh, and did
we forget to mention the regular motorcycle stunt shows and
the Globe of Death?
Metal Rescue is back as the title sponsor of the annual swap
meet, Mecca for owners looking for parts for their vintage
bikes, whatever the make. There’s also the annual Century
Parade, an exhibition race for motorcycles 100 years old or
older, and AHRMA racers fill Barber’s famed 2.3-mile track the
rest of the weekend as they compete in rounds 19 and 20 of
the National Historic Cup Roadrace Series. Meanwhile, the
surrounding fields and woods will showcase AHRMA vintage
motocross, observed trials and cross country races.
We’ll be there as ever, hosting the 13th Annual Motorcycle
Classics Vintage Bike Show, this year featuring the Norton
Commando to celebrate 50 years since the model was first
introduced at the 1967 Earls Court Show in London, England.
We’ll award a trophy for the Best Norton Commando, plus tro-
phies for Best Restored and Best Rider in five other categories.
Barber restoration expert and former Norton employee Brian
Slark will join us as this year’s special judge, and we’ll hold
technical seminars throughout the weekend.
If you can make only one event this year, this is the one. For
more info and event updates, go to barbermuseum.org and
MotorcycleClassics.com/2017-Shows — see you there!Last call for Barber
A sweet Ducati 900SS in front of the Motorcycle Classics tent at last year’s Vintage Festival.Evel Knievel museum opens at Historic Topeka Harley-Davidson
It all began with a set of leathers
worn by Evel Knievel in 1974. Purchased
in 2012 by former professional skate-
boarder and actor/director Lathan
McKay, those leathers set off a world-
wide hunt — “Evel Archaeology,” as
McKay calls it — for Knievel memora-bilia. Now, just five years later, Historic
Topeka Harley-Davidson in Topeka,
Kansas, is home to the new Evel Knievel
Thrill Show Museum. Attached to the
Topeka Harley-Davidson dealership, the
16,000-square-foot museum features
two floors of everything Evel that onecould imagine — and then some.
The trip through the museum starts
on the lower floor, beginning with the
story of how Robert Craig Knievel went
from working in the copper mines of
Butte, Montana, to traveling across
the country jumping motorcycles over