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Barber Vintage Festival 2019

Published on 12/6/2019


By Keith Kizer
Photos by: Albert Hicks


The crown jewels of the AMCA are our National Meets and Road Runs. Milk is the drawing card for all grocery stores. Milk is placed at the very back of the store so you are forced to walk past all the things you didn’t come there to buy but are usually enticed to purchase something else during your retrieval of milk.

No pun intended but the Barber Vintage Festival, in October of each year, is our milk. A unique event oddly enough that grew from milk. Let me explain. If you have never been to Barber Motorsports Park I can simply describe it as an 880-acre botanical gardens with a world-class race track and museum in the center of it.

First and foremost none of this would exist today if it were not for George Barber. His father, George Warren Barber founded Barber Dairies in the 1930’s. As a transplanted Alabama boy, I can assure you Barber’s milk is the milk of the South.

Mr. Barber, as his staff refers to him, was once a racecar driver. He became a real estate developer and started collecting cars and motorcycles. The fortune of the family business, the real estate ties, racing and collecting gave birth to one of the most fascinating motorsports wonders of world.

Thankfully we get to take part in this motorsports utopia every October after the completion of the AMCA schedule. The AMCA has been invited each year since it’s opening to represent the club and our chapters. 

This event is unique to our own meets. First, this is geared as a spectator event. This is why we participate. Each year over 75,000 paid spectators make a pilgrimage to the Barber mecca to experience, well, the experience! 

The event is comprised of AHRMA vintage racing, a 400 space swap meet, a fan zone dedicated to the latest commercial products, bike shows, seminars, motorcycle entertainment and of course the museum. Those lucky enough to have snagged a hilltop motorhome spot overlooking the paddock or one the tent camping spots have a home away from home for four days.

The AMCA is graciously provided a 21,000 square foot area in Lot A to showcase member’s bikes to the general public giving us the opportunity to introduce who we are and what we are about. On any given day we are potentially exposed to twice as many people as we have members. 

The event is sometimes more about just being there than participating in any one or multiple events. You could literally have a fulfilled weekend just riding around the perimeter road looking at all the sights. For art lovers, the complex is filled with dozens if not hundreds of sculptures. Heck, even the numerous gates are themselves sculptures. 

If you don’t want the inconvenience of finding a parking spot for your bike, you can always jump on one of the numerous trams that continually circle the complex. It truly is the Disney of motorsports. And yes, I said bike. Don’t even think of bringing a car into the facility. There is no room for them. 

Due to the mass movement of people, like Mackinaw Island, cars were forbidden a few years ago. Cars have to park outside the facility and shuttle into the park. Again, very Disneyesque. This has made it much easier to get a round. If you are on a bike, you can get anywhere on the grounds in minutes. A lap on a shuttle takes a bit longer. 

This family friendly event centers and starts with its museum. Barber’s rotating stock of more than 1,600 immaculately restored and running motorcycles, plus quite an impressive collection of Lotus cars, are the obvious focal point of the park. 216 different manufacturers from 20 countries represent the collection. 

Aurora, Colorado has 368,000 residents. That’s how many people visited Barbers in 2018. It is the 4th leading tourist destination in the state of Alabama. If you only measured this by out of state visitors, it would only be surpassed by Huntsville’s Space and Rocket Center; Home of NASA.
The question is frequently asked of the value of the collection. Not an answer that is given because it’s complicated. But if you only valued the average motorcycle at $20,000 each that’s thirty-two million dollars. That’s a lot of milk.

But we’re not here to just talk about a building full of motorcycles. The event is the drove of fans outside the museum. An aerial glimpse of the event would show rows crisscrossing the swap meet, the plush trackside hills, the paddock, camping areas, VIP parking lots packed to capacity with people.  
Unique to AMCA are four events. First a weekend long display in the AMCA Vintage Garage featuring pre-1930 machines. Outside the massive tent is an eclectic collection of motorcycles ranging from 1930 to 1984. A plethora of Harley’s, Indian’s, Honda’s, BMW’s and everything in-between make up the AMCA Bike show presented by our Music City Chapter from Nashville, Tennessee. 

What’s unique are the nearly 100 bikes on display. They are a balance of high scoring AMCA restored and unrestored bikes to daily riders. Unlike other clubs, rust is welcome on the AMCA field. They’re not all trailer queens. Many are ridden to the event, especially those from the local home chapter of the Smoky Mountain members.

The winner’s of the people’s choice bike show were as follows: 1920’s and older – Rick Tidwell / 1928 BMW R62; 1930’s – Newell Wright / 1939 Indian 4; 1940’s – Bobby Smith / 1948 H-D FL; 1950’s – Donnie Eatherly / 1955 H-D FLH; 1960’s – Charles Noble / 1967 BMW RD60; 1970’s – Michael Fair / 1976 BMW R90S; 1980’s – Mike Hereford / 1983 Honda CB1100F; Competion – Ron Anderson / 1974 Bultaco Pursang; and Custom – Tommy Harper / 1962 H-D FLH. For a full list of 1st through 3rd place winner, see “Barber’s Bike Show” on the AMCA News on the Home Page at www.AntiqueMotorcycle.org.




BVF Bike Show Results 2019

The winner’s of the people’s choice bike show were as follows: 

1920’s and older Winner - Rick Tidwell / 1928 BMW R62; 
2nd Place - Gordon Bass / 1906 Indian
3rd Place – Erik Bahl / 1913 Excelsior

1930’s Winner  – Newell Wright / 1939 Indian 4; 
2nd Place – Bob Selph / 1933 Harley-Davidson w/ sidecar
3rd Place – Mike McCloud / 1938 Harley-Davidson ULH

1940’s Winner – Bobby Smith / 1948 Harley-Davidson FL; 
2nd Place – Gary Barker / 1946 Indian Chief
3rd Place – Robert Fuller / 1946 Matchless

1950’s Winner – Donnie Eatherly / 1955 Harley-Davidson FLH; 
2nd Place – Peter Hoshyla / 1957 Triumph 3TA
3rd Place – Kathy Smith / 1958 Harley-Davidson

1960’s Winner – Charles Noble / 1967 BMW RD60; 
2nd Place – John Traub / 1964 Harley-Davidson FL
3rd Place – Myke Schwartz / 1966 Suzuki X6

1970’s Winner - – Michael Fair / 1976 BMW R90S; 
2nd Place – Mike Hereford / 1978 Harley-Davidson FX
3rd Place – Craig Corato / 1973 Kawasaki Z1 900

1980’s Winner – Mike Hereford / 1983 Honda CB1100F; 
2nd Place – John Kennedy / 1982 Triumph
3rd Place – John Perez / 1982 Honda CBX1000

Competion Winner – Ron Anderson / 1974 Bultaco Pursang; 
2nd Place - Ron Anderson / 1978 Bultaco Astro;
3rd Place – Ron Anderson / 1973 Bultaco Pursang;

Custom Winner – Tommy Harper / 1962 Harley-Davidson FLH. 
2nd Place – Troy Coleman / 1972 Honda Chopper
3rd Place –  Glen Colleps / 1953 Harley-Davidson


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