The 2012 Motorcycle Cannonball Run

[knife7knut]

Sometime back I mentioned doing some paint work on a 1928 Harley Davidson JD that was being prepped to participate in this run.I hadn't taken pictures because I didn't have my camera with me that day. Well I had to go over to Art's house to add a name to the bike as he was leaving tomorrow for Newburgh New York(the starting place of the run).A little background first:

Art has been involved with Harleys since he was about 14(he's over 60 now);working at a local H-D dealership and eventually going out on his own.His shop is the original location of the dealership where he worked as a kid.He has a sizeable collection of vintage motorcycles and also maintains a huge(over 200)of bikes for another collector. His wife is a Harley Motor Maid and has amassed countless miles on her own bikes.One of the requirements to be a Motor Maid is you have to ride your bike to all the official meets.She just got back last week from a meet in South Carolina(about 2000 miles round trip).

Anyway Art called while I was in Massachusetts attending my son's wedding and asked if I could paint a name on the bike before he left for the race.I said yes and we finally got together today(Sunday)to do it. The name he wanted on the bike was,"Grady". Turns out Grady was his good friend and mentor who passed away about two weeks ago from cancer. He wanted to honor his mentor by having his name painted on the front fender. There is more that I will get to shortly.

So we decided to do the letters in the same font and colors as the Harley Davidson lettering on the tank;namely bright red with a thin black outline and a thicker gold outline around that with quotation marks surrounding the name.It is not only a tribute to Grady but also a name for the bike.Tradition usually requires a racing bike to be named.

As I was finishing up Art brought out an album with Grady's picture in it and also a very worn Zippo lighter that had belonged to Grady. Turns out Grady was a collector of things;specifically Zippo lighters,guns and....(drum roll please) KNIVES! The Zippo was Grady's personal favorite and as you can see from the picture the worn area on the top was from him flicking the lighter open to light his cigarette that was constantly in his mouth.What is so special about the lighter now is the insides have been removed and a small plastic envelope inside contains a small amount of Grady's ashes.They will accompany Art on the trek across the country.

Art also invited me to a memorial service for Grady next month in which there will be a ceremony whereby some of Grady's ashes will be launched from a small black powder cannon that Grady owned.

Anyway that's the story so far.If any of you would like to follow the race as it proceeds across the country you can got to the website. The address is: http://www.motorcyclecannonball.com

And here are the pictures I took today.Enjoy.

[Unk]

Cool story...and beautiful bike

[philco]

Cool story...and beautiful bike

I agree on both counts.

[jmh58]

Cool story...and beautiful bike

John

[jerryd6818]

Another great job Ray. When I win the lottery, I want you to do my Marine Corps tribute bike.

[chetr1200c]

fantastic story. you do some amazing work too
i have done plenty of 1000 mile day rides and one 1500 mile day ride. i don't get into riding with others as it impedes mine and others style and interest when riding. but people always have a great time on rides like that. i wish him good times and keep the shiny green side up.........

[PigSticker]

Cool I'll checkin for pic's--RTW Doug is goin on that this year believe he's ridin a 27 Indian

[knife7knut]

Just checked the site again and Art is running in 11th place with one more stretch to go.Here is a picture taken from the site today of him on the road.In 1st place is a 1913-4 Henderson!