I campaigned bikes in the car and bike show circuit pretty seriously from January 1980 until Spring of 1986. I showed a bit after that, but not as hard as those years, showing almost every weekend from January through April or May.. Usually about a dozen or better shows a year. Mostly car shows with bikes in them. I did some after that for a few years, but not nearly as seriously. Any shows I did after that were usually hired features and a couple times I traveled to Germany, showing as feature bikes, not in competition.

Even though I spent pretty good chunks of money on these bikes, it was no comparison to what most of my competitors spent. Many of them had $8,000 or $10,000 just in their displays. Seriously.. thats the honest truth. If you knew how elaborate some of them were in the workings, it would make sense. Also, most of them paid to have everything done to their displays as well as their bikes. They'd try to sound like they did it all with some help... especially the bike work itself.. But ... they couldn't kid me .. or you if you saw them or heard them..lololol...  It was a joke really.. I know that some of them had financed or refinanced their houses to do it.. Some borrowed against life insurance policies.. Crazy things like that. When that car show fever hits ya.. and hits you hard, you'll do anything to beat the next guy.. I know many of them had $50,000 and $60,000 invested in just the bikes. Some had like $15,000 in engraving alone and $10,000 or better in chrome and gold plating. I ran against one 750 from Tennessee that had gold plated cases, cylinder and head.. and of course the covers and all the rest too...As I mentioned before, very few if any did any of their own work on the bikes. It was all hired out. Many of them had other bikes that they maintained, so they knew the basics.. but thats about it. Many of them got sooo into it, that they had shiny show car jackets made with the bike or cars name on the back,  made for everyone that helped or hung out with them..  Kinda gay I thought.. but if thats what floats their boat, I guess..

It was hard for me to keep track of my costs on the bikes because I'd do it as I could afford.. Get this engraved and plated.. then later .. get that engraved and plated.. It was always a work in progress for me... Also, I'd redo the bike completely the following year or two as well. I'd use the chrome motor and eventually the chrome turbo and the wheels with the gold spokes and engraving in the next build to keep my costs down..

The last rendition of of my show bike was Heavy Breathing thats in the gallery here at HC.com.  It has over 300 gold plated bolts and nuts (I stopped counting at 300..lol). I paid $3 each for 14k gold plating. That's better than $900 in just bolts and nuts.  Then there's the gold spokes, headlight rim, clamps, fittings, drive chain.. and on and on. That's just the gold.. then there's the chrome. The cases, cylinder, head, covers, hubs, magneto,  swing arm, turbo body and parts... and on.. and on.. Then there's the anodizing... YIKES.. this is killing me, talking about it.. lolol.. I'd guess I have maybe $3000 in plating and anodizing and maybe $5000 into engraving.
Theres engraving all over the parts that you don't catch at first glance ..  My shops name is engraved 8 times in the rims.. there's engraving underneath the triple trees and the oil pan is engraved. The bike always had mirrors under it to show the detail to the underside. Also.. I used the best engraver I knew of .. His engraving is very fine with super detail. Not flashy with overkill. That's the kind of stuff that impresses judges.. It probably would've helped me if I have more engraving.. but it just wasn't worth it to me. Then there's the rest of the bike..lolol.   My fabricator, Ross Noard, has been a great friend for over 30 years now.. so you know I got the long deal on that stuff..lol.. He was happy doing it because  he liked the fact that  my  projects always got finished and kicked butt against some heavy odds.  I was very fortunate to get that billet cam cover done in a trade for paint work with a different  friend of mine. The initial cut and fitting of the cover that is. Then Ross fit it to the frame and then I had it polished, anodized and engraved.. I did the design, body and paint work as well as the build itself. The gold leaf and striping was always done by my friend Dave Eckel, who is top notch in my book. A very gifted artist.

So... all in all.. I'd venture to say that I have about $12,000 invested in Heavy Breathing...  That's not accounting for any of my own time (of course) or the materials I used . That's just the money that I paid out..That's not counting the stuff I cut up or didn't re-use from the previous renditions either..

I used a turntable that a guy built for me pretty reasonable and my display was just carpet and signs with a chromed conduit barrier around it.. I maybe had $800/$1000 in my display, counting the turntable, having the Plexiglas signs made, and the plating.

This all gives you an idea of what it takes to do this sort of thing, if you're serious and plan on winning at it. This also helps give you an idea what I was up against, when I'd do a show. Its really a kool feeling to battle the big boys and sometimes beat them with a pretty thin wallet..lololol..

Back in  about  82, I was campaigning the bike when I called it Snatch.  I was showing it  pretty heavily and doing pretty well in the Midwest Division standings. I was staying in the top 10 in points in US  standings too.

A number of the heavy hitters in the show circuits hire someone (usually a family member) to trailer their car or bike around the country and do the laborious work of setting the turntables and elaborate displays up and detailing the bikes  .. Then tearing them down, packing everything up and moving on to the next show.. winning and gathering points. That year a Sporty out of Chicago was staying in first place in the Eastern division and national  point standings. The next show for me was here in St. Paul and I usually  won the gold here. (Thank God Donnie Smith never really got into competing in these things...lolol). The Sporty was scheduled to be here as well, just to pick up some extra points. When I pulled my van into the Civic Center in St. Paul, I could see that Sporty sitting on its turntable and the driver was polishing and detailing the bike. So.... this was it... we were going to go head to head. Not much doubt in my mind that I was gonna get my butt kicked. But.. WTF .. ya never know.. stranger things have happened..(to me anyway..lol) 

 The guy that owned the Sporty was so worried that it might not be as easy as he thought, that he actually flew in for the weekend just to be here if things actually didn't go his way.. lolol.. He was worried that my being a home town boy might influence the Judges...lol.  He tried protesting my bikes classification, also the fact that it should be a commercial display and not in competition because I had  the shops name the full length of the bike on both sides of the turntable (after all.. thats the reason I was doing this..lolol) . When those didn't fly he tried to challenge the bikes ability to function. They told him to go sit down..They said they knew how to class the bikes and that they had seen the bike run more than once.. lolol.. But.. his antics did bring up some speculation about the setup being a commercial display. I had to deal with that problem with the officials for a few weeks  (Why couldn't that prick just let it go..??  lol).. Nothing changed really, but it took a few discussions for them to let it be. If they were going to limit my advertising who built the bike.. then they better do the same with all the entries,. Nobody should mention any business then.. Well.. that wouldn't fly very well... so nothing changed.   He was sitting front and center during the awards and .. yes .. he did kick my butt.. lol..  But, I made him sweat.. and fly in from Chicago for the weekend.. lolol. He also kicked my butt 2 weeks later in Cincinnati on my way to Daytona that year.. I knew  he would be there because it was the division he was running in most of the time and had most of the points in.

Normally I wouldn't have done a show in Cincinnati because it was out of the division I was following. But, I wanted to pick up some prize money and travel money along the way to Daytona that year.. Also, I knew it would make him sweat too..lol.... and it did.. He camped out at the show all weekend and was always chattering in one of the officials ears... Who knows what he saying.. but I'm sure the name Summers was spread around a bit.. Hahahahaha..Nothing was brought up and the officials thanked me for traveling all the way from Minneapolis for their show.. I cherished every minute of it.

Plus .. another new and different city to party like a rock star in and try to impress the ladies..Hahahaha..

You could show anywhere you wanted to. But if you're chasing points on the circuit, you usually pick a division to concentrate on for points. Some of the guys that have drivers, have them going cross country every weekend gathering more national points.. Some of them have won 2 divisions in one year.. But thats hard to do..

Even though I didn't win the Gold that time..(lots of other awards there though..lol). It was a sweet victory for me.. Here's a guy with a $50K or $60K bike (maybe more..??) that this po' boy made sweat enough to fly in from Chicago and cover his ass... That was better than winning actually...

You know.. Both that weekend and the one in Cincinnati, he wouldn't come near my bike or say a word to me. When I was at the show .. I'd go over to his bike to take a look.. (I'm always  interested in the other bikes.. maybe I can get some ideas..lol).. I could see him notice me and make it a point to casually walk the other way. After all, I had a Honda.. and dirt and paint under my fingernails..Hahahaha..

But the happy ending is that I did win big at the Rats Hole Show  in Daytona that year right after that Cincinnati show... So.. screw him !!!..lolol..

Another good thing ..... those were the only two times I didn't win that year as well.. 

Car and bike shows are definitely a pain in the ass after a while.. but this just shows you the fun and enjoyment you can have experiencing other peoples personalities..

Link to Snatch

Link to Heavy Breathing