Vulcan Bike Week goes off with a fizzle, tempers flare

Published on July 5, 2010 by Paul Cavanaugh   ·   5 Comments Share->

I went to Vulcan Bike week in the hopes it would be a savior to our sport. I wanted to see if the offering of a purse that had never been seen before in motorcycle drag racing was the Holy Grail in tterms of motivating riders from across the country to travel in the hopes of winning some of it.

Back in January when the notice for the race first  posted to the internet the members of talk forums already started calling a card a card. I took the opportunity to call up Johnny Gibson Jr. and Johnny Gibson Sr. to get the story from the horse’s mouth. Johnny Jr. told me the money was already in place for the race if it was to happen that very day, he also told me they had the three motorcycles they were to give away; a brand new Hayabusa, a ZX-14 and a Harley Davidson. At the time the backing for the prize money was to come mainly from the City of Birmingham, O’Reilly Auto Parts as well as a few local sponsors.

The sentiment I heard over and over again when this race was discussed was, “If it is to good to be true it probably isn’t.”

After interviewing the Gibson’s on the phone multiple times usually to clarify what had been discussed on the forums, it was apparent the Gibson’s had no experience in running a potentially large drag race event. Knowing this, the Gibsons set up a vendors tent at the AMA Dragbike race in Valdosta, GA, Atlanta, GA and came to watch the last AMA event at Montgomery, AL.  While there they advertised their event as well as collect information as to how the staging lanes were handled, the pairing was done, how the bikes were tech inspected, the registration trailer, etc.

In the time from when the race was first announced to the time it was to be held there were multiple rule changes,two venue changes  for the race and purse changes to accomdate payouts to four places. Each time the Gibson’s had to post explanations to the racers who were following the event in the forums to ease the mounting skepticism.

On Tuesday June 29th, 3 days before the race, I once again spoke with Gibson Jr. and asked if they had everything in place. He told me he had hired Dee Vance of Busabikes.com a few weeks ago to run the race and that Dee had put on these races before.

Thursday night July 1st I was to meet with Vance at the track to discuss his plans for the race. Once I arrived at the track I called Vance whom had a lot going on at the moment and would not be able to make it that night to meet, although; he would be at the track on Friday for the test and tune session and we could talk then.

Friday morning at the gate Brian Ross of Beaver Creek Customs pulled up. He was out of Kentucky and came to Vulcan Bike week as a vendor to install lights on motorcycles. He told me the main event had gone bust as the city shut it down at the Birmingham Racecourse (Dog Track) parking lot where a majority of the event was to be held. A few minutes later Ken Cobb, a photographer out of Atlanta pulled up with his vendor rig and told me the same thing. Apparently the shut down had something to do with the permits not being in order.

Ken and Brian told me the parking lot of the Birmingham Racecourse was set up like a huge event was to happen. There were amusement rides for kids, a big stage for a band, vendors were set up and all that needed to happen was to have a bunch of bikes show up. Wednesday night a band set up on the stage and played to an audience of about 7 people, one being a biker and the rest vendors. After the band finished a crew of people came up and took the stage down. Brian asked what they were doing with it and was told it was going to be moved to another part of the parking lot in the morning.

The next morning at 10 am there was no stage crew setting up. Around noon band members started showing up with their equipment and still no stage. At 2 pm still no stage. The bands ended up leaving.

Next someone who owned the generators being leased for the event told the vendors they had an hour to use the power as the generators were being shut down and pulled from the event. As of Thursday evening the event in the city was toast.

After hearing all of this I dialed the Vance number  to make sure the race was still on and accidentally dialed Johnny Gibson Sr. who answered the phone, he told me was trying to get the permits in order and the race was still going on as planned. Next I called  Vance  again to ask  when the track would be open, he told me it would be around 2 pm.

Meanwhile Ken, Brian, his friend Marsha and myself were all admiring the Vulcan Bike week poster hanging on the fence with the word “Guaranteed” being spelled incorrectly on the 90K payout.

Around noon a sport bike showed up so we all started taking pictures of it since we were thinking it may be the only one. The guy was kind of freaked at all this attention and asked where everyone was; I told him he was it so far. Somewhere he had read the TNT was supposed to start at 11 am.

By this time I was receiving information from people who had internet access, the most disturbing of which was O’Reilly Auto Parts had pulled all of their sponsorship as of Friday morning.

At 1:30pm I placed another call to Vance and asked if he stilled planned on being at the track at 2pm. He told me the TNT was not supposed to start until 6pm. I informed him the track’s own website stated the TNT session for the event was to start at 4pm. Vance informed me he was going to contact the track owner and see if they could come open the gates early and would be there himself around 4 pm.

At 3:30 Jeremy, a track employee, came to open the gates. By now three other vendors had come and gone disgusted with the seeming disorganization.

4 pm rolls around and still no Vance, although I did get the pleasure of meeting one of his assistants by the name of Crystal (sp.?) whom was intent on getting the point across to me she was smart and not born yesterday. You go girl…

I decided to take a walk down the soon to be famous Alabama International Dragway to see what it is like. In all honesty the first 1/8th mile looks as good as any track I have ever raced on. It is polished smooth, has a nice layer of rubber on it with no peeling or bubbles and no waves. The second half looks like Baghdad shortly after we invaded it. The track owner Jason Curtis was originally told by the promoters the race was to be run on the 1/8th mile. Curtis was good with this as he admitted the back half was rough. The week before the race Curtis was told the race was going to be changed to the ¼ mile. Curtis informed the promoters he did not recommend this for the fast bikes even though he has had a few bikes run in the 7’s on the track. The promoters did not want to run 1/8th Jason was told.

At 6:30 pm bikes started showing up as well as a few cars and a TNT session actually began to happen. I originally thought the TNT was only for the Vulcan Bike Week event but it turns out this was the track’s TNT and they were merging the event with it.

About 7:45pm the Gibson’s rolled in to see what was going on. I took this time to talk with Johnny Sr. to find out what went on in Birmingham. First, Gibson Sr. was asked if the permits were indeed pulled. Gibson Sr. said, “There was a typo with my name on one of the permits, they spelled it Coibson instead of Gibson. This was what caused the problems to begin with.” Gibson Sr. showed me the permit and there was a misspelling of his name on it. He also showed me a stack of permits he had for the entire event.

I asked Gibson Sr. and Jr. what happened to the bikes they were supposed to raffle off. Gibson Jr. replied, “They were supposed to be displayed at the main event and they were never brought.” I reminded the Gibsons they had told me in Atlanta they had the bikes in their possession. Sr. replied, “They wanted us to have insurance on them if we kept them so I asked if they [whoever was donating the motorcycles] could just hold on to them and bring them to the racecourse instead. They never brought them.”

Next Gibson Sr. began to explain to me how much of his money he had put into this event to make it happen. “I put $300,000.00 of my own money up to get this rolling, I sold 3 muscle cars I had that were restored to get capital.”

By 10 pm I had been talking with riders in the pit as well as getting the internet information Joey Wilhite was giving me from Psychobike.com postings as he had an air card for his laptop. The main buzz was there were doubts as to the money being there and how it was to be paid. Taking the Gibsons to the side I asked Johhny Sr. directly, “Do you have the money?”

“Yes I do. The money is there.” Johnny Sr. replied.

I then asked how he intended to pay it because nobody I had spoke with would be excited about getting a check. Johnny Sr. replied, “I’ll pay in cash.” Because of the accusations being thrown around on Psychobike.com, a popular motorcycle drag racing forum. The Gibsons chose to make a statement there. The following are the posts that were made, no spelling corrected:

07-02-2010, 10:58 PM
“Hi everyone, I’m Johnny Gibson with Vulcan Bike Week. We are here at Alabama International Dragway, in Steele, Alabama about 40 miles from Birmingham. AL. The race is a go, we have bikes here test and tuning. The Vulcan Bike Week is something totally seperate from this dragrace. We were forced to cease operations in birmingham for various reasions, and have moved vendors form there to here. This is not a scam, we have been promoting this race too long, and to many people know us in this drag racing community for us to pull a scam. We will be at the track all night and all day tomorrow. We have produced and promoted a show for drag racers that is one of a kind, and dont deserve some of the flack that we have been getting for so long about this race. The money is in steele alabama july 3 2010. if you want a peice of it come and get it, but dont trash, discredit, and disrespect our show. After all, this is the only race that has even offered to give a prize layout that helps racers to the fullest. if you have any questions here is three numbers to call.
Johnny sr 205-542-6560
johnny jr 205-447-7094
d vance 205-965-1085”

Then later:

07-03-2010, 01:11 AM
“Hi this is the promoter again. We will be paying cash money to the winners. NO checks, money orders, Cash money……..…

Any questions, again, please give any of these numbers a call.

Johnny sr 205-542-6560
johnny jr 205-447-7094
d vance 205-965-1085 “

This seemed to calm the nerves of the 60 or so riders that came to the TNT. For me the writing was on the wall. If this was all of the bikes that had shown up to a 90K event to try an unknown track and set up for it, the Gibsons were in trouble.

I should also note that I finally did meet Vance that evening. He seemed worried about the race, probably more so since his name was associated with it. Vance seemed capable of running the event.

On Saturday July 3rd, a few vendors started setting up shop. Ken Cobb had his mobile photograph studio in place, which I have to tell you is unlike any trackside photograph set up I have ever seen. CJ set up shop with her Biker Swagg apparel along with Bike Paparazzi. Brock’s Performance had come in the night before to set up and hopefully sell a few parts. There was a virgin daiquiri vendor there also. There were rumors the virgin part varied based on which side of the camper you bought the daiquiri from.

In the morning a few cruiser bikes had been coming up to the gate then turning around and leaving once they heard about the 25.00 gate fee. Vance’s assistant, Crystal, pulled in around noon with a few of her friends to start setting up the VIP area and remind me once again she was smart.

There was to be a 2-hour TNT prior to the 90K race. At 1:30 Vance had not shown up and the Gibsons were starting to worry because they did not know anything about tech cards or how to register the bikes and thought Vance was going to take care of all it. At this point the track owner Jason Curtis offered up the use of their tech cards to get things moving.

Over the track radio there was a call from the gate stating the Birmingham News was there and wanted in. Gibson Sr. went to the gate to meet with them. Ultimately, he turned them away. A few hours’ later news crews from various stations were set up outside the fence in an attempt to get a story.

Finally the registration area was set up so Crystal and her group could begin selling tech cards. Once again Crystal felt compelled to tell me she was smart and not born yesterday also adding she had been around motorcycles for along time. You go girl…

By 2:25pm 10 bikes had bought tech cards, all but one for the 50-dollar grudge class to be run in between the 3 purse classes.

This was when I had a startling revelation about grudge racing. Structure or organization does not exist in their world.

Grudge racing does not conform to starting times and finishing times. Basically, the best thing to do is supply grudge racers a track for a 5-hour window and let them do what ever they want. About 45 minutes before the 5 hours is up 6 bikes or so will race each other. In the last 5 minutes 12 bikes will want to hurry up and race before the lights get shut off. Apparently, it takes about 4 and a half hours to negotiate a race and get the courage up to

go through with it.

Johhny Sr. nervously asked me how many bikes I thought were going to show up. Optimistically, I told him 10 or 20. Then he mentioned he was getting calls from people who said they were going to come to watch because of the article they read in the Saturday morning paper with the headline, “Promoters take 25,000.00 from city of Birmingham to St. Claire County.” He thought out loud if 5,000 people came at 25.00 each he would be all right. I was thinking to myself he would be lucky to get 100.

In the meantime Crystal had to run off because of a phone call she recieved that a trailer owned by Vance with a golf cart on it came off of the back of the truck pulling it and rolled into the front doors of a Love’s truck stop. Now the brains of the operation were gone.

The Gibsons made a decision to hold a riders meeting at 3:30pm. Vance had finally made it to the track after taking care of the trailer incident. The three of them stood off to the side and had about a 15-minute discussion as to what to do. Then Johnny Sr. came over to the group of ever growing impatient riders, “ I can’t take anymore losses and will not be able to payout the money.”

Immediately there was an uproar, questions were being asked as to how they were getting their money back, who was going to pay for their travel expenses, what happened to the $25,000 he got from Birmingham. Amazingly there were even some people using profane language.

Johnny Sr. explained he did not want to use the money from the City of Birmingham because he felt he might get sued if he did use it for the payouts in St. Claire County as it was given to him to be used in Birmingham. Someone asked how much did he have with him now he could put up? To which he replied, “None with me but I have some in Birmingham, only about $4,000.00.” This caused another uproar.

At this point the track owner Jason Curtis decided he needed to step in and try to make something happen for the racers and possibly cut off a riot. The suggestion was made to add the gate money they took in, 1,600.00 along with Gibson Sr.’s money, to the entry fees and have a race. One bystander got in Jason’s face and told him he was full of a few things that resembled dog excrement to which Jason got right back in his face and invited the much bigger person to leave his track right @#$%ing now. Later in the evening that bystander lost a large sum of money betting on the wrong grudge bike. Karma really is a bitch.

Gibson Sr. told Jason he would leave the track to go to Birmingham and get some money to add to the now severely anemic purse. It was agreed Gibson Jr. would remain at the track to ensure there would be no clean get away of the promoters.

A few hours later there was a hand off made off track with Gibson Jr. for the money. It turns out the only money paid was to cover the track announcer and the Tech inspectors fees with an extra $100.00 given to throw in for the purse. A source said theGibsons took off so fast they did not even wait for the light they were at to turn green.

With the added $100.00 there was now a $1700.00 purse for a formerly 90K race. There was to be single time runs made and whoever was the fastest in each class was to be paid. $1000.00 for the grudge run what you brung class, $400.00 for the 68” class and $300.00 for the 60” and below class. There were about 16 bikes total to compete for it. I would tell you who won but in the world of grudge racing I was told you could be killed for that.

My afterthoughts?

The Gibsons may have honestly started this whole thing off with good intentions. If they would have rented a track, offered the big purse and had all the vendors set up in one place where they could have had control, it may have worked. It was just a dramatic example of what happens when you do not plan properly for a big event.

Dee Vance had no chance to make things work, he took over control 3 weeks before the race happened and did the best with what he could. Good thing he had Crystal, she’s smart. Unfortunately, for Vance he put up $3,600.00 of his own money to make a very nice VIP section and will probably not see a dime of it from the Gibsons.

It is my hopes he receives no ill will from any of the racers as it is not his fault the money was not there. He was only telling everyone what he was told from the Gibsons.

Jason Curtis along with his crew consisting of Jeremy the starter, Matt in the waterbox, Denise in the tower, the person in the ticket booth whose name I did not get and Cole who educated me on the finer points of playing Sony Playstation Wrestling Legends are the true heroes of the event. Jason did everything in his power to keep the peace by supplying a good track (up to the 1/8th mile at least), making a purse by giving up his gate fees and keeping the track open until midnight so the racers could try to redeem some of their losses for traveling by grudge racing. If anyone ever wants to hold an 1/8th mile event in the south, I highly recommend this facility, the track to the 1/8th is truly the smoothest I have seen.

BTW I can tell you one bike ran a low 7.?? over the course of the weekend on the track. I can also tell you the back tire started spinning as soon as it crossed the 1/8th mile transition…

For the grudge racers and motorcycle drag racing in general, this is only another set back to the string of recent events in out sport. It is my hopes that someday when the economy turns we can all get back on our feet and get back to racing in a few solid organizations run by people who know what they are doing. photos courtesy p cavanugh,al.com

Paul Cavanaugh

7-07-2010  Retraction: A statement in the article concerning Councilor Valerie Abbott was incorrect and removed. Ms. Abbott does not own a promotional company.

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