LIVING THE CROSS COUNTRY LIFE with Becky Hayes

from AHRMA MAG March-April 2023, Vol. No. 5, Issue No. 3

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INTERVIEW BY STEPH VETTERLY

PHOTOS BY KEVIN MCINTOSH & STEPH VETTERLY

Having the right staff in the right positions can make all the difference. Since 2015, Becky Hayes has been working to make a difference, specifically in the cross country races as the discipline’s Coordinator. While Becky has been riding motorcycles since she was young, she didn’t start racing until the age of 46. With experience in motocross, trials, and cross country, and a passion for old motorcycles, it was only a matter of time before she joined AHRMA.

While she has decided that 2023 will be her final year as officiate, we got a chance to learn more about her start with motorcycles and with AHRMA, got some behind-the-scenes look into what goes into her position, and asked the all-important question: what next?

HOW DID YOU GET INTO MOTORCYCLING?

My dad rode and raced back in the day. When I was 11, I asked my dad to teach me how to ride. We had this little 80cc Yamaha. He said, as soon as you can start the bike, I’ll teach you how to ride. So I went out and practiced starting it, and when I was finally able to start it, I told him and you could see on his face, “oh, I have to teach her now.”

I was pit crew for my brother and John Martin for a while at the national enduros. That’s how I knew racers like Terry Cunningham and Jeff Fredette and all those guys. At some of the enduros, I was the gas truck.

At one race, I was carrying gas for like 20 some riders because they knew I would always go to the gas stops. During those years, I really didn’t get to ride a lot.

AFTER BEING AN AHRMA MEMBER FOR 11 YEARS, WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE TO STEP UP FOR THE CROSS COUNTRY COORDINATOR POSITION? I was always helping at the races anyway, either with sign-up or scoring or whatever. Len Burton at the time said that he had had enough years and he didn’t want to do it anymore. I asked him what the position was all about and what it entailed? He just kept saying,” Oh, it’s easy.” [chuckles] He wouldn’t really tell me a lot. And at that time, Tim and Polly

Gro were doing the scoring with Mototally; they were taking all the transponder stuff and everything to every race and doing all the scoring. At that time, the coordinator position didn’t have to do as much. When I took over, Polly was like, “Well, we’ve done this for five years. We don’t want to do the scoring anymore.” So I was like, “Oh great, I get everything all at once.” But that was okay; we worked it out.

WHAT CHANGES/IMPROVEMENTS HAVE YOU MADE TO BRING THE CROSS-COUNTRY SYSTEM TO WHERE IT IS TODAY?

Because the transponder scoring required boxes and boxes of stuff and set up, I trimmed down the scoring part to just hand entering on the computer. It still gives everybody their lap times, but it’s so much simpler.

I have developed promoter packets which help to explain to promoter’s what we’re looking for and what their responsibilities are for the harescrambles and the ISDT format. We had our first time-keeping enduro; I would love to see another one of those, but they take a lot of manpower for a club to do.

We’ve set up rules for a Sprint Enduro. We haven’t had that yet, but the rules are set up for it. It would be nice to get the first one under our belt and see how it actually works.

I’ve also developed a pretty good group of volunteers who are willing to help out at the races for scoring and sign-up.

WALK ME THROUGH WHAT A TYPICAL RACE WEEKEND LOOKS LIKE.

Several weeks out before an event, I’ll get my volunteers lined up and listed, and get that information to the promoter. I print out the pre-entries and then when I go to the race, we do the registration, make sure the tech people are there to get tech done. Usually, I try to walk the course. The morning of the event, I go out and set up my row signs for the starting rows, do registration, get the scoring stations set up, and get my people in place. Lately, I’ve been doing the rider’s meeting also, then get ready for me to race because I’m in the first race.

When I get done with that, I usually just park the bike and go right to scoring, clean up any issues in the vintage race, and then get ready for the post-vintage race and do that scoring and then get results tabulated and up. If the promoter needs help handing out trophies, then usually that evening, if it’s a two day event, I go through all the entries, make sure everything’s entered, that the people that are doing both days are entered in the computer, tally the money and then do it all the next day to.

WHEN YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT GIVING THE PROMOTERS AN IDEA OF WHAT YOU GUYS ARE LOOKING FOR AS FAR AS A TRACK DESIGN, WHAT KIND OF THINGS? BECAUSE OBVIOUSLY YOU CAN’T RUN THE SAME TRACK DESIGN AS YOU WOULD WITH MODERN BIKES JUST BASED OFF THE LIMITATIONS OF THE MORE VINTAGE MACHINES.

I tell promoters that you lay out the course for a 60-year-old novice on a four-inch down-pipe bike. We want to make sure that the novice can have fun and not be frustrated by things that they can’t get over or a hill they can’t climb or whatever. That’s the big thing, getting and marking a trail is kind of regional and different areas of the country mark the trail differently. But I just try to get them to do an exceptional job of marking the trail. This isn’t a local race, it’s not a regional race, it’s a national and it needs to be of national caliber. So we’ve been working on getting promoters to step up and do better marking. And of course, course layout is different everywhere you go because everybody has different terrains. But the 60-year-old novice on the four-inch down-pipe bike is what I tell them to go by.

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE THINGS THAT YOU’VE ALWAYS WANTED TO DO IN THIS POSITION, BUT FOR ONE REASON OR ANOTHER, YOU HAVEN’T QUITE BEEN ABLE TO DO IT YET? WHAT’S YOUR VISION FOR THE CROSS-COUNTRY PORTION OF AHRMA?

I would just like to see more people getting involved, more people coming to the races because it’s a hoot! AHRMA racing is some of the most fun racing there is through all skill levels and all ages. It’ll be interesting to see what happens in the next couple of years.

IN YOUR TIME AS COORDINATOR, WHAT ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF?

I’m most proud of having a consistent program. People know when they come to the race what it’s going to be, how it’s going to be run; it’s kind of like McDonald’s, you know what you’re going to get.

WHAT WOULD YOU SAY IS YOUR FAVORITE PART ABOUT EITHER THE RACE WEEKEND OR YOUR POSITION IN GENERAL?

Seeing all the people. Most definitely seeing all the people and talking with everybody.

WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS AFTER RETIRING FROM AHRMA?

I’m still going to AHRMA races, maybe doing some more local racing and of course, the Moto Guzzis. I got the V7 Stone and Craig got the V85 TT, which is the adventure bike. I’ve already got a planned trip out to my niece in Crested Butte, Colorado, this summer to see her.

What kind of precipitated this whole thing was Craig and I were discussing what we wanted to do before we’re too old to do it. And more road riding came up, doing the Blue Ridge Parkway and doing the Natchez Trace, going up to Door County, Wisconsin, etc. You know, all this different little stuff, and since I’m now 63 coming up on 64 shortly, we figured maybe we’d better do some of this stuff before we can’t.

“Making History in the Age of COVID” originally appeared in American Motorcyclist in December 2021. It has been reprinted with permission from the AMA, Mitch Boehm, Jim Dohms, and Valerie Robinson.

I can attest to Bill Robinson’s assertion about Riding Into History being America’s premier, all-vintage motorcycle Concours d’Elegance — and a whole lot more. I was asked to be Grand Marshal of the 2012 event and gladly accepted, and during my three days in beautiful St. Augustine, Fla., saw firsthand what a fantastic event it was. —Mitch

Boehm

WR: A dedicated group of enthusiasts was determined to return RIH to the event thousands loved to attend, which raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for charity over the years. With an all-volunteer staff, and support from a loyal group of sponsors, the group began to revitalize the show. A key component was the recruiting of Wayne Carini, star of the popular TV show Chasing Classic Cars, as Grand Marshal. Carini is a well-known restorer and collector of motorcycles, and he enthusiastically joined the team.

MB: The charity Robinson mentions here — K9s For Warriors — deserves special recognition, as it does work that literally saves lives…the lives of military veterans affected by Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). For many vets thus affected, depression and thoughts of suicide are constant companions, and the K9s For Warriors program has been effective in bringing such vets back from the brink through the use of companion — and rescuedthemselves — dogs.

WR: Chairman Bill Peterson, a long time RIH committee member and leader, spearheaded the effort to garner financial support, recruit Concours entrants, and reach out to patrons who would attend the Grand Marshal’s Historic Ride as well as the Grand Marshal’s Banquet — both of which happened on Friday night before the Concours. Bit by bit, he reassembled the large group of volunteers needed to make it all work once again.

Fortunately, Florida was open for business. St. Augustine’s beautiful World Golf Village, which had served as the venue for 20 years, was now available to host 300 amazing vintage motorcycles. The inviting, tree-shaded walkway, circling the lake that forms the centerpiece of the property, is unrivaled for displaying motorcycles at the Concours d’Elegance.

Finally, after two years of angst and accomplishment, it was time. On Friday, April 23, Carini initiated the revitalized event by leading a group of 50 roadworthy vintage bikes through Florida farmlands and along the shore of the Atlantic Ocean to

The Reef restaurant.

Jack one the

For Warriors vets and his companion dog. The charity rescues dogs and has pro handlers train them to be companion animals for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder- and Traumatic Brain Injury-afflicted veterans.

Following the scenic lunch ride, the group returned to the World Golf Village to prepare for the Grand Marshal’s Banquet. A full-capacity crowd of 175 diners first perused the Silent Auction, featuring three motorcycles donated by generous supporters: Bart & Sally Maggio (vintage Yamaha), Mary Crawford (vintage BMW), Toby Jones (custom mini bike). Jason Snodgrass, COO of the RIH charity partner K9s For Warriors, gave a moving talk about rescuing dogs, which in turn rescue at-risk PTSD veterans. Carini then spoke of his love for motorcycling, which began before he was old enough to secure a driver’s license. Combining wit, adventure and poignancy, he wove a tale that kept the audience wanting more.

MB: When I filled in for Malcolm Smith in the Grand Marshal role in 2016 (Malcolm and I had just released his autobiography, he wasn’t doing so well, and in his absence I told stories about Malcolm’s life and how the book came together), I witnessed an amazing speech by Shari Duval, founder and CEO of K9s For Warriors (www.k9sforwarriors.org).

Duval spoke of these rescued dogs, trained by professional handlers for months before being linked up with a warrior in need. These service canines are often able to help assist warriors return to civilian life with dignity and independence.

The need is urgent and real, too, as Duval explained that we lose 20 vets per day to suicide. I literally heard the assembled crowd take a deep breath when she uttered those words, and over the next few minutes, as she explained the organization’s activities, there were plenty of tears. Duval told stories about some of the warriors they’ve helped, and how well these vets are doing now, and everyone in the room felt proud; proud of Duval’s organization, of course, but also of the hundreds of Riding Into History volunteers, all of whom were putting on this great event to raise money to help K9s For Warriors operate.

WR: The following morning patrons arrived to see a spectacular show, set up by entrants and volunteers, many who began working long before sunrise. A half-mile lap of the lake brought you in close contact with unique and stunning motorcycles every step along the way. Here would be a 1917 Indian Powerplus, there you would find a 1920 Clyno Lightweight, and under the shade of the next tree rested an amazing 1917 Harley-Davidson Model J – Military.

MB: There is no doubt; things get crazy on the World Golf Hall of Fame grounds on Saturday morning. Hundreds of the country’s nicest vintage machines are arranged around the perfectly circular lake that forms the focal point of the manicured facility. They’re grouped according to class, so all attendees and judges need to do to see everything is stroll around the lake, take out their cameras and take in the sights. There are retrothemed vendors arrayed around the lake, too, including photographers, sponsors, shops and restorers, and the K9s For Warriors folks, of course. The

RIH folks also have posters and items to sell, the proceeds of which all go to K9s For Warriors.

WR: This year you might have taken special note of Alan Berry’s breathtaking 1935 Triumph 6-1 Twin Val Page, named Best in Show. And what about the all-original 1885 Quadrant Tandem Highwheel Tricycle? Carini gave this motorcycle predecessor the Grand Marshal’s

Award, noting that this type of vehicle led to powered bikes being born. Then it was time for everyone to head home, tired yet pleased, and looking ahead to the 2022 event.

MB: Like AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days at Mid-Ohio in July, the Riding Into History concours has become a don’t-miss sort of event for thousands of enthusiasts. The organizers, the fans, the bikes themselves and the excellent work the K9s For Warriors group does for America’s vets…you just can’t beat it.

WR: So after nearly two years of COVID-inspired cabin fever for enthusiasts everywhere, Riding Into History is back, illustrating that what doesn’t kill you often makes you stronger. For more information about this historic and entertaining event, go to ridingintohistory.org. AMA

Opportunity for top riders from across the country to compete in a premier event