MORE PENTON PICTURES

[Larry Perkins]

We sure have seen alot of Pentons in pictures this year.  Now another one.  Not quite as cool as the Vintage Views covershot Paul spoke of but cool none the less.  In the new 2002 AHRMA Handbook check out page 105 on the top left.  It is the Penton Man doing that jumping thing.

 

[Mark Annan]

Larry congratulations on the dual titles this year and on getting your picture in the rule book.  I notice that there is a vintage MX bike on the cover also.  I have been wondering about the how many active AHRMA participants race MX verses Road Race?  I have a feeling that week in and week out there are more MX competitors than Road guys.

 

[Larry Perkins]

Thanks, Mark.  Actually I'll mention just to help my head swell a bit more that they left out my third National title which was in Historic class in Cross Country.

I am bad at telling the same stories over and over so if you have heard it forgive.  When I was like 17 or 18 I won a National Schoolboy title in MX at the Atrodome.  It was a give me with the first place rider dumping it in the last corner on the last lap.  I was amazed and elated.  I remember thinking that day, "I will do this again."  On the motorcycle it never happened.  The bicycle yes, but not on the motorcycle.  Then Vintage comes along for me 25 plus years later and I snag 3 titles in a season.  I appreciate the moment now more than I did then.  

In the course of this season I got to share the experiences and the races with Jesse Livingston who is my longtime girlfriend's son.  Jesse is 16 and is as close to a son as I will get.  I watched him have a great time and fight through struggles in the cross country season.  I watched him learn the hard way that when the old guy says a spark plug wrench and spare plug are handy in a rainstorm that they are.  In the end he snagged the 250-Open Novice Championship.  He knows he won it but it really doesn't seem to be a big deal at the moment.  He probably thinks it is an everyday deal since he did it in his first season of racing.  Perhaps he will snag many more and maybe he will have to wait for time to fix it so he can do it again.

Okay enough rambling from the writer in me.  To answer your question Mark.  Unfortunately for us MXers the Roadrace program at AHRMA brings in tons more dollars than MX.  They put the stats each year in Vintage Views.  Perhaps if more of the big events like Mid-Ohio had two or three days of MX classes that included Post-Vintage the stats might tighten a bit.  If participation were counted for State and Regional MX it might be different too.

Anyway thanks again Mark and if I forgot to say at the ISDT Reunion, congrats on your first motorcycle competition endeavor. When you jumped in you jumped in deep.