Sun, Rain, And Races At The Season Opener

and man, the Spoke was a sea of ‘em. Warren prides himself on a loose schedule and hands out some awards basically for bikes he likes. It’s a refreshing twist on bike shows, and everyone enjoyed the day. At the Speedway the other Lane, Billy was unveiling his Cool Hand Speedco bikes. These limited edition motorcycles will be like hens teeth by the time they are ready for the streets. All will be titled as Harley and Indians and modeled after his Crocker.

What we thought was gonna be a long end of every day was actually one of the best parts. We had taken up an offer to stay at the Spring Garden Ranch out by Deleon Springs. This 20-minute drive was well worth it as we spent dawn each day watching trainers exercise the Harness Racing horses. It was the best way I’ve ever started the chaotic work days of Daytona. Monday was the Torque Performance Show at the Spoke. It was very well attended despite there being another show that same day. Big thanks to NAMZ, Spectro, Klock Werks, Law Tigers, Twin Power, Toce, Sawicki, and S&S for their support. Best of Show was Tom Keefer with his bitchin’ little FXR-T. Later that night, we unveiled the Dennis Kirk Ride-AWay Give-A-Way bike, still fresh off the stand. Special thanks to Steve Broyles and Dan Toce for the lastminute hustle in helping me get the final details tied up.

Tuesday was a long one. We had our bike Show at the Spoke, where Brandon Keene took top honors. The joint was packed again, and it seemed like we gave away a dump truck full of hardware and prizes. That night, Toce’s place on Beach Street was the spot. We had advertised Tacos and Burnouts, but it was just supposed to be a small gathering of friends and family. At first, it seemed just like that until the flood gates opened, and we ended up at his shop until the wee hours watching everything from the latest innovations in performance to old slungback seventies choppers roll in and out of the lot. Even a group of the Hamsters rolled in to put the OG stamp on our first shindig at the Toce compound.

I should mention that a host of events were going on at the Speedway. An unnamed corporate sponsor was paying big money to get influencers to bring new shows

to Daytona, but we missed most of those, so look for other reports about that. To be fair, there is almost nothing worth the hassle of getting in and out of that venue for me so.....

Wednesday was the Perewitz Paint Show at the Spoke. Since we had not stopped to do anything for our own motorcycle habit and we had a reporter at that show, Heather and I agreed to meet Roadside and his daddy at the Volusia Swap Meet. There is one thing to be said for just snooping around the Dayton Swapmeet, quite another when you get to do it with Mr. Shelton Davis. That man has forgotten more about what fits what than I’ll ever learn, and he hasn’t forgotten much. Of course, I had to get the mandatory hamburger at the swap meet, and Heather got ice cream. In other words, it was a banner afternoon. We made it back to the Paint Show for awards, and they got them off just as the skies opened up. It seemed odd to me at first. I can’t

remember the last time we had a rainy Daytona, but sure enough, proof that God is a biker, every day it seemed that just after the show of the day was over, it would rain like hell, then clear up for the night. It was like they did it on purpose to chase us all off the streets for a big reset.

Thursday, there is only one thing to talk about in Daytona: Willie’s Tropical Tattoo’s Chopper Time. Despite another day of threatening storms, attendance was anything

but lackluster. The front lot was full of bikes, and the back was groovin to music by Big Rick and the boyz. The whole thing almost went off without any rain, but right near awards, it started to come down. To their credit, nobody left. Yeah, it’s that kinda crowd! As a matter of fact, most people stayed way longer than they typically do. We hurried and popped up some extra easy-ups, and everyone huddled together to hear Roadside Marty insult the winners. It was officially Daytona!

Friday brought the Dennis Kirk Garage Build Show, and man, it does my heart good to see that this show has taken its place as a staple of the big rallies. A show just for the garage builders and as diverse as the motorcycle community is today. The winners for that and our bike show can be seen in this very issue.

By the end of the week, we were beat up from the feet up, just like a good Daytona should do to you. You need to take in as much of this as you can since no matter if you are going home to sunshine or if you, like us, have to go back to the freezing ass cold, it’s the memories you make at Daytona that will get you through the next few weeks of work and family bullshit you have to endure for taking time off.

We were lucky as hell that our host back at the ranch, Phat Phill, is a master at the Low Country Boil. Sunday night, he treated us to a five-star version of this simple meal, and when I tell you the shrimp were buttery soft and so full of flavor, ok, now I’m hungry.

Before we knew it, we were saying our goodbyes. That usually consists of meeting up with different groups outside Willie’s to bid each other a safe journey until we meet again. That has to be the hardest part of these gatherings; as the years go on, you never know who may or may not be at the next one. There’s something to take away from that. These are the best days of our lives, with each other, doing motorcycle shit! In the immortal words of Jay Allen, there will only be One Daytona ‘22. I hope you didn’t miss it!

aking your own spark plug wires is easy and very cost effective. Here I’m using a set of crimpers from RM Stator. These m come with jaws to do double crimps on wiring terminals; there just like crimps on a factory wiring harness. With a little searching on the web, I found some replacement jaws from MSD that crimp plug, and coil wire terminals and they do a fantastic job.

I am using solid core plug wire from NAPA and terminals and boots from Taylor Products. I smear some dielectric grease on the plug wire, which helps the coil boot slide easily about 4-6 inches from the end.

These crimp dies also have a stripper so you can expose about ½” of the solid core wire and then bend it back over the outside of the wire.

I then place the coil terminal in the crimper and ratchet to hold it in place. Insert the plug wire with the bend to the outside facing down and continue ratcheting until the crimper releases. A Beautiful Crimp!! Just like factory wires! Now, slide the boot over the terminal, and you’re done!

The beauty here is having the right tools to do a proper job. You can do this whenever you need a set of plug wires and make them the exact length you need. Changing the crimp die is very straightforward, remove a couple screws, remove the dies, and install the other dies. Then put the screws back in. It’s a piece of cake.

These crimp dies come with the RM Stator crimpers and will do a double crimp. This means they crimp the wire and the PVC wire coating in one action (Double Crimp).