Steve Matthes' Observations from Indianapolis
FEBRUARY 25, 2007

By Steve Matthes
Photos by Brett Dailey

Indiana Dome and the hockey game of death….

Are you the type of guy or girl who walks through their local dealer and ogles at all of the latest moto paraphernalia? Do you get excited when your dealer gets a clear helmet top extend-a-visor in stock? Well don’t ever go to the Indianapolis motorcycle dealer trade show because you might end up having a seizure when you see the never ending aisles of moto products.

Now in its 39th year, the Indianapolis trade show is a gathering of the latest and greatest products of today. Anyone who has anything to do with selling you some kind of widget for your dirt bike, scooter, street bike, quad, four wheeler, sidecar (even things for your monkey) is there. It takes up 849 million square feet of convention center, hotel meeting rooms and football stadiums. (While not an exact figure, I think it’s a good estimate!)  This is my second year attending the show and while I spend most of the day chained to my Parts Unlimited/FMF booth like the zombie in 28 days later, I do get a chance to walk around and talk to the movers and shakers of the motorcycle world every now and then.

The Racer X Canada guys were also down there along with some other canucks and I figured that since none of them have their own column, it would be up to me to tell you what happened, at least in my impartial world.

Fox Canada's Dave Hind shows off the new F3 boot.

When I arrived on Saturday, I immediately found my post and got busy setting up. The Racer X USA guys were close by and I did wander over a few times, mostly to discuss the hilarious, laugh-out-loud man friend story I did a few issues back. Billy Ursic and the lovely Julie Kramer were working the booth. “Bad” Billy was heading up a contest for the chance to win a free ad. The object was to find as many riders’ names possible in a sea of different letters—most in 30 seconds wins. I did as well as I could, although they didn’t have Rollerball in there no matter how hard I tried to find it. Billy said that I, Steve Matthes, would win an ad if I had the best time. The possibilities of what I could put in my free ad was mind-boggling. “Ross Pederson is the greatest motocross racer ever,” “Danny Brault likes dudes,” or my favourite, “Canadians do it better.” Unfortunately I didn’t win, so that will have to be my goal for next year.

Unfortunately, M2R/TCI's Rob Goth was not in Indy this year (yes, Brett Dailey was seen pouting when he found out) but fortunately "Slappie Tom" was happy to showcase M2R's Grant Langston replica gear.

Thor had a multi-level booth and had their new gear on display. Included in their new catalogue is a line made of denim—yes, that’s right, denim. You can now ride in your favorite sandpit, park the bike, and rock the local bar, all without changing your clothes.

One Industries had an all white booth with some cool things on display, but none cooler than the Ron Lechien replica helmet. It is homage to one of the most talked about riders ever. Great job ONE for recognizing that the sport didn’t start with Jeremy Mcgrath. I’d like to thank those guys for “keeping it real.”

FMF went with a mad scientist look, all the guys wearing lab coats and pocket protectors.  They had the flip up bottle glasses and actually, now that I think about it, they all looked a lot like the guy who owns ASV levers. The costume idea was perfect for founder Donnie Emler as he is a mad scientist type of guy. He’s wide open with concepts and thoughts on how to give the world more horsepower. They had some new street pipes and they are pretty much the best pipes ever made in the world. Also displayed was the mega-bomb header and cutaways to give the dealers an idea of what goes into making the pipes. FMF also showed their new line of slipper clutches, the factory secret that helps drop your lap times, along with all the new apparel, and a decibel meter for people to check out.

Pro Circuit was there too….

Troy Lee had a Honda supermoto bike all done up. It was causing me to drool as it had a dual system, powder-coated black frame and all the goodies. Plus it was street legal! I spoke with Karen Sorensen, a native of Saskatchewan whose husband Derek manages the Cernics Moose Racing Kawasaki racing team. Her brother-in-law happens to be the championship-winning mechanic Darrin “Rookie” Sorensen. Talk about keeping it in the family! Here is a group from the Rat Land of Canada accomplishing as much for that province as Gordie Howe (Floral, SK) ever did. When does the clan get a key to the city?  I told her about the Tragically Hip concerts coming up in L.A. and she is going to hit them with my wife and I.

It seemed that everywhere you looked there were models wearing skintight lycra suits.  The ironic thing is that none of these girls would touch 95 percent of the people at the show with a 20-foot pole. 

The lycra suits were even at the hockey game!

I stopped by the OGIO booth as I heard they had free food. However, when I sauntered up to find my fellow Canuck, Andy Bell, he was wayyyy too engrossed in playing the Playstation Guitar Hero game. It’s this ridiculous game where you hold a fake guitar and watch yourself on the screen duplicate your actual motions. Nothing like watching grown men do leg kicks and splits vying for the all important title of Heavy Metal Hero. I asked Andy how sales were going and he said “great” between episodes of holding the plastic guitar between his legs and thrusting his hips like a young Mick Mars. 

I also talked to my buddy Danny Massie at the Maxima oils booth. He is the General Manager of the oil gods and an all around great guy. While I was talking to him about the Canadian market, my job, and the free oil that I need, none other than the real Ron Lechien slapped me on the shoulder and asked how I was doing. Danny quickly faded into the background like the teacher in Charlie Brown as I couldn’t stop myself from thinking how cool it was that I was talking to The Dogger. I did pull it together long enough to do an interview with Ronnie for the web site. Look for it as soon as Brett Dailey figures you guys are worthy of his website work.

Steve Matthes talks to Ron Lechien. Wait 'till you hear this interview!

The Canadian exhaust conglomerate, Hindle, was in the house and I stopped to talk to Lee and Alison Hindle. They are sponsoring the OSTFF Suzuki team this year in Canadian moto along with the usual road race guys that they hook up. I like both of the Hindles and I hope they don’t think that I am serious when I told them they should put a bulge in the headers and call it a “Hindlebomb.”  They have a new design for the offroad mufflers this year and are pretty excited about the upcoming year. What struck me as strange was the muffler with a sticker on it that said “Giver 224?” Who is this mysterious Giver and why does he have a signature pipe?

Race Tech had a booth and although the displaying of valve stacks and dampening rods doesn’t give me chills, it was cool to speak with my friend Erik “The Rat” Hilton. Erik is a former mini cycle hero who now helps out one of the smartest guys I have ever met, Paul Thede. The Rat and I hung out a lot when I first became a mechanic in the U.S. as he was a good friend of Ty Birdwell. We reminisced about old times and it made me think about how some of these guys that knew me back in the day must be absolutely amazed that I am still around, giving hope to everyone that they too can hold a job in the motorcycle industry.

Parker Bros. Powersports' Dave Grummett.

I could go on and on about the booths and who was there and what happened during the show but the most important thing going on was the annual Racer X Canada vs. USA hockey game. I was lucky enough to get the call to play and had been training in the hockey hotbed of Las Vegas. [Note to Brett: Please insert video footage of me climbing mountains and running away from the KGB like Rocky right here].

When I got there, I quickly realized that this is serious stuff. We had forwards and defensemen and line combos and everything! I was put on a line with two dudes I didn’t know, but one guy didn’t have any front teeth, so I figured he had some hockey experience. 

Spot the shield: Team Canada vs. Team USA

Danny “Danbro” Brault was playing as well as other industry heavy hitters Dan O’Shea, Jason Griffiths, Dean “my team is the best” Thompson, the label-it guy, Rob McCollough, Fox’s Dave Hind and some other guys I don’t really know. The USA had Racer X’s Scott Wallenberg and Honda’s Bill Savino and nobody else I knew. We had Brett Dailey and “Dave” Stenning there to take photos and some French guy that was always standing with one foot on the bench and one on the rinks edge, thereby putting his crotch at my face level when I was sitting there. Hey French guy, I am not into that sort of thing.

The funniest part of the night was watching an unknown Canadian player forget to take his skate guard off and belly flop as soon as he hit the ice. (For the story’s sake, let’s call him Dave Hind). USA had some guy that was pretty good; he wore a blue helmet and was matched up against my line.

Dan O'Reilly also had some trouble staying up on the ice...

I say “my line” but really in effect I had very little to do with it. As a matter of fact my guys were incredible and left me in the dust. I nicknamed them Wayne [Suzuki’s Ian McKinstray] and Jari [Motovan’s Syl Marleau] and looked to play the role of Dave Semenko. Soon after the first shift or two, Blue Helmet Guy was making me look like a baboon out there. Wayne told Jari to switch wings with me. We were shadowing guys people!! This was no joke; national pride was at stake, it was similar to the MXdN. Canada won 8-3 and I got an assist and was plus 3 on the night. Wayne and Jari were great players and if had the puck on my stick for any longer than 0.3 seconds, one of them would take it off of me and skate away. I also outscored Danbro which made my night. I am not a very good player but didn’t want to be that guy that everybody whispers about while he’s out there, like “look at that guy” and “wow—does he suck.” My fears were realized when McCullough told me that I was the worst guy on the ice. Thanks Rob!

Jay Moore talks with Parts Canada's Joe Tsai.

After the thrashing, we all spread out to our different parties. Todd Kuli and I ended up at one bar, talking to Michelin’s Randy Richardson about splitting atoms and cold fusion.  Todd is a funny guy and he holds a good conversation with pretty much anybody, even that older cougar that was stalking him that night.

Overachiever Rob McCullough scored "a few" goals on Sunday. He filled a backpack full of bricks and jogged back to Burlington shortly after the game.

The San Diego Supercross was the same night and, when I was at the bar, I got word that my friend and old rider Tim Ferry got a second, thus continuing his miracle comeback season. Now, I am sure that most of the people reading this have in their life had a few pops and “drunk dialed” and ex girl or boyfriend. Well, I was that guy on this night, except I was drunk texting my ex rider. I am just very happy for him and also proud after all of the things he has gone through to get back to the front … so I expressed that to him at 3 a.m.

Toni Sharpless (centre), formerly of Machine Racing and now with Motovan, scored a goal!

As I was telling him how proud I was of him, about how they should make a TV movie of his story, why he should write a book, etc., etc., he replied back with a couple of laughs and when I compared him to Lance Armstrong, he said that I was out of hand and that cancer is more serious than a broken wrist. Then he stopped replying. God, I am so pathetic, I fully expect a restraining order when I get back.

The game even featured some fisticuffs!

The next day was more of the same: walking around and talking to people, except the eye redness and crackling of peoples’ voices was getting worse and worse. We had another hockey game on Sunday night and I made sure that Wayne and Jari were my linemates again.

Team USA had gone and recruited some ringers for the rematch. There were three ringers and their combined age was 25—one of them had a Sponge Bob sticker on his helmet … serious. These were the best guys mighty Team USA could find? They weren’t really a factor in the game, probably because their bedtime was 9 p.m.

Team USA rounded out their roster with a few young ringers.

The second game went great and we won 12-4. Our MVP was, without a doubt, Griffiths as he was a really good tender. Early on, he held us in there while Wayne and Jari were getting warmed up. Rob McCullough is also a very good player, not bad considering he is ninety years old. Dean Thompson even scored a goal, finally accomplishing something.  Dan O’Shea was a rock on the blueline and with his game-worn Toronto Maple Leafs gloves, he could do no wrong. The best was Blue Helmet Guy who was stopped on 18 of his 20 chances and then scored the fourth goal of a 12-4 loss, and skated to center ice and took his glove off with fingers in the air, letting us know he got three goals. “Hey Blue Helmet Guy, here’s to you—without you completing your hat trick your team would have only lost by nine.”

Blue Helmet Guy displays his goal count. (sorry about the photo quality by the way ... I'm just a sales guy!)

My stat line looked like this if anyone cares.

GP	G	A	PTS	+/-	SC (scoring chances)	TFD (times fell down)
2	0	2	2	6	4	436

After the beat down, all of us headed to the OGIO after party. Problem with this is that, in Indiana, the bars close down at midnight on Sunday and since the game was late, we had 20 minutes to get drinks. The limited schedule didn’t stop Danny Brault as he somehow acquired a bottle of Malibu rum and was sipping from it like Diddy. I saw Ron Lechien there and figured a meeting between the Danny “Dogger” Brault and Ron “The Dogger” Lechien was in order. After introducing them, I stood back and watched Danny shake his hand four times; fumble around in his pockets, finally producing a Giver RXC #224 shield sticker. Ronnie thought this was cool and asked if he could have the sticker, which caused Danny to nod and mumble. It was cool to see Danny so excited. 

Andy Bell was there and was feeling no pain if you know what I mean. In other related news the sun came up today. Other celebrities at this party were Davey Coombs, Shayne King,The Bostrom Brothers, Roland Sands, Ronnie Renner and Brett Dailey.

When the bar shut down, we talked to DC about his potential free trip to the Bahamas on the street. He mentioned he was going to bike builder, Roland Sands’, private party.  Unfortunately he didn’t invite us, probably because Danny kept insisting that he was the “DC of Canada.” Hey Danbro, nobody wants to invite creepy stalkers to private parties.

With all the cool people gone, Team Canada ended up at Steak and Shake for some fabulous late night dining. The group all took advantage of the house specialties except for Kuli, who must have thought the restaurant was called “Chicken Fingers and Water.” I wonder if Todd orders a burger at Subway? Meanwhile Jay Burke and I wondered what would happen if John Nelson and Rick Rundberg were locked in a room complaining—who would come out the winner? Thanks to Lee Hindle for picking up the tab and Danbro for showing up shirtless, causing a bit of a ruckus with the wait staff.

The final day of the show was like the walking dead for most of the industry. After three nights of late nights and bench racing, pretty much everybody was ready to go home. It was a weekend of fun and I had a blast playing in the game and hanging out with all the guys. Did I mention how proud I am of Tim Ferry?