Last Friday the Packard Museum opened their "Motorcycles from Around the World" exhibit. The Packard Museum always has a VIP/Exhibitor/Media Party to open the six month exhibit. This year …well this year was different and special. I never dreamed I would have the opportunity to be a exhibitor. I have no antique bikes mostly 1991's and 1994's so I never considered the possibility of hanging out as an exhibitor until I got the call! Here's how it came about.  This year the stars aligned in June to allow me and my friends to have some fun and at the same time help the Aluminum Cans for Burned Children Firefighters Fund. You'll remember Slug-O's famous journey in June 2011 around Lake Erie taking first place in the Lake Erie Loop's moped class. Fast forward to September of 2011.  I received from Bruce Williams  one of the Museums Board of Directors an invitation for Slug-O be showcased under the banner of "Motorcycles from Around the World". Slug-O is a Tomos moped made in Slovenia which classifies it as "from around the world". Very cool huh! Well I humbly accepted on behalf of Team Tomos. These guys were awesome!

Roy Dyckman, Ken Sampson, Ron Craig, Thomas John, Ron Degnan, Doug Joseph from Tomos, sponsor Bob Davis owner of Fairway Ford and myself.

Ken Sampson took the time to really scrub Slug-O. I mean Slug-O looked like he was brand new! I was also fortunate to have the help of Kim Chaney to put together the pieces that comprised the storey of Slug-O's journey from when I bought him, to the evaluation of what parts was needed, to the sourcing of the parts and finally the road trials to determine gearing, speeds and actual motor break-in.

 Friday January 13th 6:00 pm the lights went on, the doors were opened and the very first machine to greet the visitors was Slug-O. Over 300 visitors trafficked the Packard Museum to see the Packard cars and motorcycle exhibit. I felt very good because my friends were there to participate in truly what I would consider a once-in-a-lifetime honor. Ole' Slug-O has a seat at the table yeah! All through the evening visitors crowded around Slug-O looking at him, the charts and mumbling something about the guy who rode this was crazy, insane or just plain stupid. During the 24 hours of the loop I sometimes wondered that myself :)  Midway through the evening Bruce Williams asked everyone to convene in the main auditorium where I along with the other exhibitors were presented with a beautiful Beer Stein with frosted engraving and a certificate to be framed. Check out the picture of Team Tomos!  I'd like to thank the Packard Museum for this honor, to Doug Joseph from Tomos for all his help and to my friends who unselfishly gave up an entire 3 day weekend to be a part of the race. In the end it is what motorcycling is all about…..good people coming together for a common goal.. In this case it was to be the first to get a moped around Lake Erie and second and most importantly to raise money for a terrific cause; Aluminum Cans for Burned Children.

 Here's the link to the Packard Museum. When you visit please take a moment to donate to the Aluminum Cans for Burned Children fund. There's a donation can/jar beside Slug-O…we both appreciate it!  Larry

Woooo Weeeee it's mid January and no big snow. Yeah sure a little bit here and there but nothing like the past two years. Geez I broke a snow blower last year finally giving up the ghost after throwing tons of snow, literally. Coming up in a scant three weeks is the Progressive Motorcycle Show at the Cleveland IX Center. The last three shows in January I'll be giving away a family fun packs of tickets to the motorcycle show!  Make sure you tune in and win your share! When we reach this point in January I'm pretty happy because I'm about 4 weeks away from leaving for Daytona Beach. This year because NASCAR's Daytona 500 has moved to later in February our Daytona 200 and Daytona Bike Week now officially falls on the same week as St. Patrick's Day. Green beer in Daytona! Now we'll be right smack dab in the middle of spring break…boy is it going to be crowded!

Slug-O is officially has a seat at the table or should I say at the museum..the Packard Museum that is. Friday January 13th will be his debut party as the exhibitors (me) and the VIP's (others) attend this gala party . I get to rub elbows with all the other exhibitors and share a tale or two. It should be a wonderful memory with all my buds attending; Roy Dyckman, Ken Sampson, Ron Craig and bob Davis will all be in attendance! Hopefully you too will have an opportunity to take a day and visit to this wonderful museum. Make sure to pay your respects to Slug-O the wonder ped!

 During this past year we've had the pleasure of covering many dirt and asphalt racing events. From local stuff like CRA to National races like the Daytona 200. We've made some great friends with some of the top level guys like 2 time AMA Super Bike Champion Josh Hayes and Foremost Insurance/Peagram Racing's Larry Peagram. We'll start our second show with Marc "the Mantis" Purslow AHRMA's Sounds of Singles National Champion for 2012. Below is a photo of Marc.

January 17th we'll have Nick form the Moped Army talking about his one of a kind build of a Puch incorporating perimeter braking designed from the Buells. I think you'll like what this guy has done and we'll follow up with pics too.

January 24th we'll catch up with AMA's Vance & Hines XR 1200 series racer Pete Cline who will give us the inside scoop on what it is like to race the XR 1200! I'm hoping to expand my Daytona 200 coverage by latching on one of these guys pit crew during the race week. Wouldn't that be too cool!

Stay tuned to the 2 Wheel Power Hour every Tuesday night at 6pm Eastern Standard Time and don't forget you can catch our show streamed world wide on the web at 570wkbn.com…

Hang in There  Larry