What a beautiful day THIS turned out to be… I missed the motorcycle world lately and had to just get away from reality and hit this event! As most of you know I love ‘old school’ everything so I sure was feeling at home at Billy’s race today…
Thank you Daddy for getting me out of my head for a while I needed it! I hope y’all enjoy my take on the day 😀
RIDE SAFE AND ENJOY!
Valgal
Well, I gotta say one thing, the weather at New Smyrna Beach Speedway on 3-5-22, was picture perfect for Billy Lane’s SONS OF SPEED, and when chief flagman Bubba Blackwell dropped the green…well, the action just never stopped…!!! It took over 15 heats to reach the finals, which were run after a short breather for both fans and racers.
Plenty of food and drink was available to the rear of the grandstands.
The finals were, as always, pretty exciting. Watching those old machines run the way they do, gets you wondering just how well they were designed and built…!!! Several of them were 100 years old…!!!! I’m wondering if today’s machines will last THAT long…???
Anyway, the:
Hot 45 class was won by #13, E-Bay Jake,
stock 45 …won by #26,
Stock 61, won by Michael Lang,#25,
Hot 61, won by (who else)…E-Bay Jake,
and the Singles class by #46…check me on that one. One rider in the 45 Class went down on the 4th. Turn…he also had the #13.
All in all, it was an exciting day at the races. ValGal covered the pit action, and I stayed high up in the grandstand…gettin’ too old to wander in the pit area all day…Val did a fabulous job.
Thanks to Billy Lane and the whole crew for their hospitality…hope to see ya next time..!!!
Miserable George & ValGal…Old School Biker Magazine
Well, once again, Old Man Weather put the “blocks” to us as far as HEAT was concerned. Sat., Oct. 16 was BRUTAL at New Smyrna Speedway in Samsula, Fl. for Billy Lane’s 2021 Biketoberfest edition of the Sons of Speed Old Time Motorcycle Races!! Nice crowd on hand for a Biketoberfest event.
Rev, Al gave the Invocation, we pledged allegiance to the flag, and, they were off. I tried my best to keep up with scoring, but didn’t do a very good job!!! There was just one mishap as the riders were returning to the pits after a heat. Jody Perewitz was bumped by another rider, and she went down. Thank the Lord, she was OK, but her bike was damaged to the point where she couldn’t continue…the throttle control cables were rendered useless. She told me…”That’s Racing…!!” What a girl…!!!!The program ran straight through without an intermission, and these were the results as I got them: Michael Lange-Stock 45…EBay Jake-Hot 45…Single-Winner-take-all-Billy Lane…Stock 61-Michael Lange….Hot 61-Michael Lange…Wildcard-Winner take all-Michael Lange . So, that was IT!!!! Race was over just after 4PM. I was BEAT…had to have help getting up the high bank on turn 4 to get through the gate!!! I think next race, I’ll just sit in the Grandstand and do what I can from there!!
Thanks Billy Lane for your hospitality…Miserable George
I’ve known Billy Lane for quite a few years now, and when I heard about his “Sons of Speed” project, I knew it would be a success!! It’s been in operation for over 3 years now, and is growing steadily. We always catch the racing out at New Smyrna Speedway in Samsula, Fl….a half mile, with a fair amount of banking, providing plenty of action. Several lady racers have also joined in the action!!!. The pictures you see here are from the first race, up to the last one during Bike Week, 2020. No information as yet on the plans for Biketoberfest…stay tuned…ride safe…enjoy the photos…
Miserable George
The action at this year’s Biketoberfest Billy Lane’s Sons of Speed vintage Motorcycle Races, at New Smyrna Speedway, began on a note of sadness, at the announcement of the passing of racer Mark Hanna this past June…the race was dedicated to Mark…
This race was held under the lights, which caused a “slight” problem for me, in as much as I didn’t want to use my camera flash shooting the riders in action on the track. Making adjustments to the different race situations proved to be quite a chore, so I set what I figured would be a good “mean” setting…BUT…I was wrong, so some of the action is a bit blurred…please bear with me…OK?
There was yet another touch of sadness at the news of Brittney Olsen’s retirement from active motorcycle racing…always loved to watch that little girl race…she was GOOD too, although this last time out…she failed to score a final win. Good luck, Brittney…!!!
It was touch and go with the weather all evening, as we experienced some drizzle during the race…an all-out shower coming just after the final lap!!!!
The winners were:
45” Class…E-bay Jake
Stock 61” Class…ROXY HANNA!!!
Hot 61” Class…E-bay Jake.
It was a safe event…no spills. Air was a bit cooler, so the bikes ran a bit better too.
AS always, I wanna thank Billy Lane and his wife Erin for their awesome hospitality, as well as some of the crew members for their information during the action. Looking forward to Bike Week, 2020 and the next Sons of Speed event…
Miserable George
Well, here it is…Bike Week, 2019…thought it would never get here!!
For ME, this means action at NSB Speedway, in the form of Sons of Speed Old Time Motorcycle Racing. Billy Lane created this type of competition several years ago, and it is growing into something serious!!! It involves Board Track type bikes, some as old as 100 years!!
The speeds aren’t really excessive, but, it’s the thought of these historic machines still able to roar around a racetrack, and, roar they do!! There are 3 basic classes: Stock 45”, Stock 61”, and HOT 61”.
Unfortunately, in the stock 61” class, Ken Curtis nipped the wall going into turn 4, and went down. Luckily, he was OK( according to the info I got).
Of course, the girls are getting into it too; there were 4 active lady riders out there today: Jody Perewitz, Brittney Olsen, Roxie Hanna, and, Shelly Rossmeyer Pepe. No lady winners this time out, but, they rode hard, and very competitive.
The weather was good…warm, with high clouds, making for good racing conditions! The winners, (as I got it) were:
45”…Billy Applegate;
61” Josh Owens;
hot 61” Billy Applegate.
If we made any mistakes, we’re certainly sorry. OK Gang, we’ll see ya at Biketoberfest in Oct.
Miserable George
We are expecting more infor on the “Twins” and we will post it here when we get it, so check back…
that is until Sat. Mar. 18, at New Smyrna Speedway, in Samsula, Fl. True, they didn’t run on the boards like back in the teens and twenties…BUT…they ran, on the asphalt at New Smyrna.
Although, the old board trackers ran at speeds in excess of 100MPH, the Sons of Speed machines clocked in at between 65 and 70 MPH, but, still gave the nearly packed house of avid fans, a very exciting day of racing!!
Yes, there were a few “first time gliches”, but, this is to be expected for an inaugural event. Despite some minor setbacks with the machines….EVERYONE was given an opportunity to get out on the track…much to the satisfaction of the fans…!!
Those bikes have a sound all their own; it kinda took ya back a few years, to the thrilling days of the Boarders..!! I was high up in the grand-stand, and, ValGal covered the pit area, so, we hope we’ve given you an interesting view of the event…as we saw it…!!
Brittany Olsen…yes, a lady rider, was the over-all winner. Heat winners were: Billy Lane, Buzz Kanter, Brittany Olsen, and Shelly Rossmeyer. If I missed anyone, I ‘m sorry.
A big THANKS to Billy Lane and the Sons of Speed for a truly outstanding first-time event. Be careful out there…
Miserable George & ValGal
I had just moved here and was hanging with a few of my Dads friends. … So I ended up going to a party with them at a motorcycle shop in Melbourne, Florida. THAT’S where I met Billy Lane for the first time. I had no idea who he was or what he did, to me he was just another young guy with a shop. Well, come to find out after talking to him and looking at the bikes he built I was amazed at the uniqueness of his work. I knew then he would make it in this crazy biker world. He treated me with respect and was very patient with my (then) lack of knowledge of motorcycles. We have seen him numerous times over the years since then. We Love Billy and his talent for building some of the most awesome machines I’ve ever seen… I will always, NO MATTER WHAT, have respect for what he does and what he’s faced in life. It’s not always how we want it to be but if you deal with the cards the way they fall we ALL can make it through this crazy life.
The photos that were chosen for this article are from different events my father Miserable George Guignet attended, and a couple GREAT parties!
THIS is the Billy WE know!
Valgal
