Sturgis Rally Attracts Celebrities, Flat Trackers, and Small Explosions
The Sturgis Rally is such a diverse event that your experience might be totally different than anyone else’s.
If you’ve ever attended a Sturgis Rally, you already know that it’s a virtual cornucopia of sights and sounds. There’s so much to do and see that you just don’t know where to start. And with every passing year, the legendary event just gets bigger and bigger. So we love hearing stories about the individual experiences that different people have in Sturgis. Often because they’re so incredibly different.
That certainly holds true with this recent Forbes article, written by Jim Clash. Clash spent quite the interesting weekend in Sturgis, during his very first rally. It also happened to be the first time that the American Flat Track series ran a professional race in town during the event. And watching the bikes fly around a makeshift track at the Buffalo Chip was quite the sight to behold.
Clash also got a chance to talk to American Flat Track chief executive Michael Lock before the race. And he sounds about as enthusiastic about the future of flat track racing as we are. “This sport has plenty of potential,” Lock told Clash. “Our races are short and exciting, matching today’s waning attention spans. We just need to convince the public that we’re more upscale than they might think.”
Quite a few celebrities obviously feel the same way. Clash spotted actor Tom Berenger, musician Pat Simmons of the Doobie Brothers, and motocross legend Casey Hart at the race, among others. But perhaps the coolest part of Clash’s trip was what happened just before the green flag dropped.
For years, Clash had wanted a chance to shoot some Tannerite, a stable explosive you can buy legally on store shelves. And he finally got his chance, along with a chance to shoot a number of firearms on a makeshift range. So a non-motorcycle riding journalist who doesn’t even own a gun or watch flat track racing got to enjoy an eye opening experience over the course of one weekend. And isn’t that what the Sturgis Rally is all about?
