Hi,
My name is Chuck and about 5 years ago I pooled a few hundred bucks with some friends and we started the Friday Night Steel program at Marion County Fish and Game. Since then it's really flourished, and we've seen a lot of folks improve their skills. I've even had one friend thank me personally after he was forced to kill an attacker, which likely saved his life.
Seeing this success and combining it with my love of motorcycles made me wonder if we could create something similar with motorcycles. I've been dying to try Motorcycle Gymkhana, which is basically an advanced form of parking lot practice. Here's Wikipedia's description:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gymkhana_(motorcycle)
A sample course:
Here's some video of folks doing it:
Folks trying to start this in Alabama:
[ame]http://youtu.be/H057oT7JCuo[/ame]
Awesome guy from Japan (where this originated):
[ame]http://youtu.be/nIRFXv7W5yE[/ame]
This reminds me a lot of Friday Night Steel for a couple of reasons:
1) A few of us could work together to get this started without much $
2) It could make us safer
3) I think there is pent up demand for something like this in Indy
4) It's a "run what you brung" event; you could participate with a wide variety of bikes, and they'd just be in different classes
5) It'd be a lot of fun, but it would be very difficult to start without a few committed people
6) If you practiced this regularly (i.e. monthly) you'd get a lot better at it
7) It's a gateway to other sports. At FNS we graduate a lot of shooters to other disciplines (USPSA, Steel Challenge, etc.).
8) It's a safe way to get started, with a controlled environment
9) It'd be great for sponsors / local shops. We've had competitors buy literally hundreds of guns for FNS just to compete at a higher level
10) It wouldn't have to cost much. Many of the competitors ride 250CC or 600CC crotch rockets. It'd be cheap to get a salvage bike, tear off the fairing and ride. Of course, your normal street bike would be allowed, and would be perfectly competitive in it's own division too.
11) We could create our own rule book to suit local bikes and our practice space. We wouldn't have to strictly use the rules that folks use in Japan.
So, what do folks think? Is there enough interest to start something like this in Indy? Here's the questions we'd have to answer:
Is there any place we can practice?
Can we get some cones?
Can we get a stop watch?
Would anybody come?
Could we keep scores and post them on a website?
Updated:
Insurance? Do we need it? Where can we get it?
What do you do about guys breaking a clutch lever and not being able to get home? (Parts for sale on site or make people bring spares?)
So, that's my idea. I'd be willing to help, and I'd love to make it accessible to new folks just like FNS has always been accessible to new shooters. Anybody want to participate? Anybody got a small parking lot where we could get started?
Thanks,
Chuck
My name is Chuck and about 5 years ago I pooled a few hundred bucks with some friends and we started the Friday Night Steel program at Marion County Fish and Game. Since then it's really flourished, and we've seen a lot of folks improve their skills. I've even had one friend thank me personally after he was forced to kill an attacker, which likely saved his life.
Seeing this success and combining it with my love of motorcycles made me wonder if we could create something similar with motorcycles. I've been dying to try Motorcycle Gymkhana, which is basically an advanced form of parking lot practice. Here's Wikipedia's description:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gymkhana_(motorcycle)
A sample course:
Here's some video of folks doing it:
Folks trying to start this in Alabama:
[ame]http://youtu.be/H057oT7JCuo[/ame]
Awesome guy from Japan (where this originated):
[ame]http://youtu.be/nIRFXv7W5yE[/ame]
This reminds me a lot of Friday Night Steel for a couple of reasons:
1) A few of us could work together to get this started without much $
2) It could make us safer
3) I think there is pent up demand for something like this in Indy
4) It's a "run what you brung" event; you could participate with a wide variety of bikes, and they'd just be in different classes
5) It'd be a lot of fun, but it would be very difficult to start without a few committed people
6) If you practiced this regularly (i.e. monthly) you'd get a lot better at it
7) It's a gateway to other sports. At FNS we graduate a lot of shooters to other disciplines (USPSA, Steel Challenge, etc.).
8) It's a safe way to get started, with a controlled environment
9) It'd be great for sponsors / local shops. We've had competitors buy literally hundreds of guns for FNS just to compete at a higher level
10) It wouldn't have to cost much. Many of the competitors ride 250CC or 600CC crotch rockets. It'd be cheap to get a salvage bike, tear off the fairing and ride. Of course, your normal street bike would be allowed, and would be perfectly competitive in it's own division too.
11) We could create our own rule book to suit local bikes and our practice space. We wouldn't have to strictly use the rules that folks use in Japan.
So, what do folks think? Is there enough interest to start something like this in Indy? Here's the questions we'd have to answer:
Is there any place we can practice?
Can we get some cones?
Can we get a stop watch?
Would anybody come?
Could we keep scores and post them on a website?
Updated:
Insurance? Do we need it? Where can we get it?
What do you do about guys breaking a clutch lever and not being able to get home? (Parts for sale on site or make people bring spares?)
So, that's my idea. I'd be willing to help, and I'd love to make it accessible to new folks just like FNS has always been accessible to new shooters. Anybody want to participate? Anybody got a small parking lot where we could get started?
Thanks,
Chuck
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) I can tell you that MOST venues will want to see your insurance for the event. Very few places will want to bear the liability. It's also a good idea from a promoter/organizers standpoint to have it for the same reasons.
