3rd Annual Barber Vintage Festival – Birmingham, Alabama

This year in preparation for the festival, Barbers began to expand and modify different areas in the park; one of which is where they set up for one of the largest swap meets in the southeast. The swap meet is part of the Barber Vintage Festival weekend, so it draws in a lot of antique parts, “one mans junk is another mans treasures!”

We made a couple of new friends this year with the Bruno Event Team and Zoom, one being John Place who hooked up some of our Hawgs & Dawgs bike night folks as well as a few from our St. Jude fundraiser with passes for this weekend. That Saturday we also met Ms. Rose G. Kausler who handled our credentials for the year. Rose is a very sweet, light-hearted girl who made our check-in a breeze. We thank her for that and look forward to working with her again in the future.

Friday the AHRAMA held road race practice sessions for Saturday and Sunday’s races, and the Antique Motorcycle Club of America (AMCA), the Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club, and the Veteran BMW Club were getting their bikes ready for the motorcycle show in the expo area. Also, they were preparing bikes for auction in the museum.

The AMCA Vintage Motorcycle parade rounded out the afternoon activities on Friday, and there was a reception at the Barber Motorsports Museum with special guest speakers on-hand for Saturday and Sunday's seminars. Chris Carr and Dennis Manning were present, who were scheduled to speak on Saturday and Sunday; as well as John Healy with “All Things British Bike” who was scheduled to speak on Friday and Saturday.

On our way in to meet up with Rose on Saturday, since it was on our way, we decided to roll into the freshly paved area that had been laid out for the swap meet. As we passed the packed-to-the-rim parking lot in front of the Barber Motorsports Museum, we knew there would probably be a record number of folks attending this weekend's festivities, so we weren’t surprised to see row upon row of vendors, but mostly swap meet people! It was a biker’s haven!

Long before we got there Saturday morning, the VJMC had a pancake breakfast to benefit the Make a Wish Foundation; and practice had started around 8 a.m. Registration was also taking place that morning for the Motorcycle Classics Charity Ride to benefit Camp Smile a Mile, which left around noon. The Off Road and Cross Country Vintage racing kicked off early Saturday morning and wrapped up that afternoon.

Around noon, Greg Koontz “wowed” the crowd with an air show. They didn’t try to blow up Charlotte this year, but they did do the show mid-day both Saturday and Sunday. Voting for the bike show took place from noon until 4 p.m. In the expo area, and award ceremonies started early in the evening, with an auction conducted by J. Wood and Company Auctions, which wrapped up the day in the Museum. Of course, we didn’t attend the Auction; TOO Many Temptations, you know what I mean?

Sunday's events started at 7:30 a.m. with more ARHMA road racing, more bike shows, motocross racing, and the swap meet people who took their time getting out, giving some a last chance at finding that special part they just had to have. It also gave us the opportunity to meet the people with Mountain Man Nut & Fruit Company where we got some pecans, sesame sticks, and Wasabi green peas that will defiantly open up your sinuses! I love 'em!

There were way too many racing results to publish here, so we thought it would be better to direct you to for you to go to www.ahrma.com so you can pick and choose the races you want to view the results for.

If you are into motorcycles and haven’t experienced this vintage weekend yet, you don’t know what you’re missing. The racing is awesome, Barber Motorsports Park is a beautiful place, and the museum will just blow you away. And, if you're traveling on your bike, there’s plenty of beautiful countryside and winding roads waiting for you just outside the park. See ya next year!

Write-On and Ride-On

Story and photos by Lynn Reynolds and Leigh Lilly - Birmingham, Alabama