f Daytona’s Bike Week is the unofficial opening of the riding season—if not summer itself—then the just-completed Sturgis Rally is the destination du Jour. Mecca for Milwaukee motorcycles, a mythical journey for all things V-twin.
     For all of us at Drag Specialties, the annual stop in the Black Hills of South Dakota is a high point of both the riding and the selling seasons. Whether it’s the downtown street scene a la Lazelle Avenue or the competitions found at the half-mile circle track and eighth-mile dragway nearby, there’s something for everyone at Sturgis.
     Sturgis is ideal for taking in the scenery—whether the scene is bikes or bikers, buyers or the Black Hills. From competition to customs, from the condos to the campgrounds, it’s 100 miles of non-stop motorcycles and the people who love them, rolling in every direction.
We covered all the Black Hill bases at Sturgis, with two semi-trucks full of Drag Specialties product and personnel. We were out in force at the AHDRA Drag Races and the AMA Grand National Half-Mile flat track, and were also part of the throng of street riders that stretched from border to border, from the local bars to the busts carved in the side of that magnificent rock face (well, four faces, all presidential).
     Those famous Mt. Rushmore rock wall carvings were commissioned some 80 years ago, with work beginning in 1927 and stretching until 1941. The Annual Black Hills Motorcycle Rally is nearly as old, with the most recent gathering marking its 64th year.
It’s said that at that first get-together way back in 1937—jump-started by an AMA flat-track event—only nine racers competed and scarcely more than that looked on. Now, hundreds of thousands of riders pour into the approximately 40 acres situated between Exits 30 and 32, for a week making that stretch the single busiest section of Interstate 90 in the state, if not the entire country.
     The four figures carved in stone on Mount Rushmore represent the first 150 years of American history. The Black Hills Rally represents the past six decades plus of dedication to the idea that “if you carve it, they will come.”
     At Drag Specialties, we’ve been carving out our position as the preeminent American accessories supplier for over 30 years. Then, now, and always, our commitment is to provide the very best in products to the very best of dealers. And it was great to see so many Drag Specialties representatives and retailers at Sturgis—but the riding season doesn’t stop there, and our event trucks haven’t stopped rolling.
     There are still many more events scheduled across the country through the end of the year and beyond, and we’ll hope to see you there!