Bike Week is one of “The Big 3” bike events of the year for me. Some people will argue there are others or which is the biggest, I prefer to say it is just one of “The Big 3.” Located in Florida and scheduled for the beginning of March, planning and dreaming about Daytona can help a biker from Michigan or Maine get through the long cold winter.
I started going to Daytona in 1982. In the twenty years I have covered it has gone through huge changes. Not that I would like to be old enough to have seen them racing the 200 right on the beach but I am glad I did see the sand drags in Ponce Inlet before they were axed. There were few scheduled events when I started going but lots of impromptu fun. Now, there are so many events that you can’t even go to a fraction of them. They have grown as the event has. It is all about sheer numbers and regardless of whom you want to believe, I would agree there are hundreds of thousands of people who come just for bike week.
To back up, this all started back in 1937 when the first Daytona 200 was held. At that time, it was a 1.5-mile race on the beach with a banked turn off it, onto the paved road for 1.5 miles in the opposite direction and then a banked turn back onto the beach. Hall of Famer Ed Kretz won that first year on an Indian. You can imagine how wild this must have been. You can also imagine how the spectators could have gotten all worked up about it and finally, how this could have led, over a half-century later, to quite a party! There was a big break during WW2 when the racing was cancelled but supposedly, some people still came for the fun. The course was moved further south to Ponce Inlet when Daytona Beach got too developed and eventually, in 1961, the race was moved to the now famous track where it has remained ever since.
That being said, most visitors who come during bike week have never gone to a race. There is so much else going on that you can’t possibly do it all anyway. Main Street is the traditional focus despite the long wait while you sit in traffic trying to get into it. There are all the famous bars, the boardwalk, the motorcycle only parking, the boardwalk with it’s beachside bike show and of course the now world famous Rat’s Hole Show. At least they have finally gotten it together to have a few days where only motorcycles can ride down the street (as they do for a full week in Sturgis.) Most of the week, it is open to four wheelers, which means tourists from everywhere come to gawk at the spectacle without having to get out of the cars. This is what creates the traffic nightmare that each of us should write to the city council to complain about.
Another approach is to just head down there, find a spot you like and park the bike. I’m sure there are some folks who find themselves in the Iron Horse Saloon in Ormond and never leave. What goes on there is like an event unto itself. Billy and Sally Stevens made the right move when they said in the early ‘80’s that the heat on Main was turned up too high and they headed out of Dodge. (I still remember the helicopter flying over the bar with the searchlight on!) Other bars like Jay’s Broken Spoke and Al’s Last Resort have the same loyal following. Even the downtown Main Street bars have there once a year regulars.
A more recent development is what has happened on Beach Street over the last ten years since Bruce Rossmeyer bought the Harley-Davidson dealership and moved it from Speedway to it’s current location. This is another Daytona must see. Not only is this the largest dealership in the world but he has taken over the beachfront property and put in a huge vendor area and stage for live concerts.