When I first moved to California, my first taste of the big city life was with a geeky friend that I raced with in the Dakota's. We did quite well there, he rode and I wrenched and consistency was the mantra that paid off. We took first in the state that year. Then came winter.
We moved to CA and the first thing that my friend did was tell me that we had two tickets to the AMA (American Motorcyclist Association) awards banquet being held in Anaheim. Yes, Ok, I think that's cool and let's go. There were no reservervations (other than the tickets) and we found a couple of empty seats with a group of people. They were friendly and we got along well.
It turns out they were from the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company and had come to present a world champion ring to Kenny Roberts, the first American road racing champion of the world. Goodyear was a major sponsor and their tires bested the likes of Michelin at the time. They passed around the ring, it was certainly impressive and heavy too. It's funny because Kenny is not a big guy anyway and the ring all but dwarfed his hand.
World champion Kenney and national champion Bob Hannah were on stage arguing about "their" Goodyear blimp. I had a lot of fun rubbing shoulders with motorcycledom's royalty and wished I had learned quicker how to talk to prospective sponsors.
It would have made my racing life easier, that's for sure. Still, it's a memory that I like.
