While many of us like to kick back on Memorial Day Weekend, I was reflecting on the sacrafices made by many to keep this country free. I was also enjoying the weather and excited about the opening of racing season. That’s right, I recorded the F1 Gran Prix from Monaco, the Indy 500 and the Coke 600 NASCAR race. But the best thing I did all weekend was traveling up the road to Glen Helen Raceway for the First outdoor Motocross race of the season, the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross series, which got underway in sunny So Cal.
I raced at Glen Helen some years ago and I have not been there for sometime. I was shocked the first time I saw those riders head up the hill and come down the other side at speed. My jaw dropped open, I couldn’t believe I ever raced on that track with my Yamaha YZ 250 in a champion frame with 4”of shock travel! Excited to attend her first race, my six year old daughter yelled out “Wow that was radical!” when the bikes left the starting gate and headed up to the first turn.
Most of the pros were there except James Stewart and I got up close with the Factory Suzuki of Chad Reed. I’m not the kind of guy to ask for a picture or an autograph, so I you won’t see that here, but I did get some good pictures of the pits, the starting line just before the first Pro Moto and the track.
On the way home we stopped at the Bass Pro shop in Ontario. My daughter had fun touching all the big game and looking at the fish, alive & dead. I enjoyed checking out the tracker aluminum boats and remembered the sales call I made as the Regional Sales Manager for Weldcraft. I hooked them up with a series of TIG torches and accessories to help improve their TIG welding quality and productivity.
So what does all this have to do with welding? Arc Zone supplies several of the aftermarket parts suppliers in the motorcycle industry including companies like FMF Racing, which build highly engineered exhaust systems for on and off-road bikes. Don Emler, from FMF, bought a Sharpie Tungsten Grinder and other products from us. While at the event, I had the opportunity to meet with other vendors like Jardine Headers, they have been around for years, primarily building headers for the automotive aftermarket and recently they entered the motorcycle and off-road market.
I spoke with one of their technicians, who was not aware of our hand-held tungsten grinder or the many other welding and fabrication tools that we offer. He was using a bench grinder, it was dirty and the tungsten was getting really hot in his employee’s hands. What I enjoy most is to see people light up when you talk about something that they have been doing for years. Something that they never really gave much thought to or received much input on how to improve weld-quality, lower defect rates and improve their finished part appearance with new tools and techniques. I enjoy teaching and helping people especially through the educational and informative content on this blog and my website.
