The Vallee Report

Years ago, motorcycle gatherings were a little less informal. A few friends would meet in a parking lot and shoot the breeze as well as take some time to admire each other’s bikes. They would then set up another meeting and perhaps at the next one they may see a few newcomers join the group....

With the CSBK series recently visiting Atlantic Motorsport Park for the first time in a few years, it got me thinking about that time a few decades ago when I made a trip there myself. After hearing about the famous “Roller Coaster”, in my second year of road racing the decision was made to head...

So tickets have just been purchased for the AFT race in Port Royal Pennsylvania that is coming up this weekend. For those keeping track this will be our third race in three weekends and fourth race in the last five. Those races have taken place in two different provinces as well as two different states....

I’m not sure if it is an age thing or not but time really seems to be flying by. Here we are just a week into summer but given the fact that the last month flew by in a blur, I’m a little worried that fall will be here before I know it. It seems...

I would like to think that us racing announcers have our own little fraternity. This is not to say that we are going to be challenging the Alpha Delta Phi crew to a keg stand contest, but if push came to shove, we could surely hold our own. I am merely talking about how we...

My Aunt Lauretta is 82 years old. While that in itself may not seem remarkable, the fact that she looks and acts about ten years older than me at most is impressive considering that I am not even close to 72. With my mom being gone for over fifteen years now she is probably the...

I have said it in this column before, I am a fair-weather rider. I don’t do rain and I don’t do dirt roads either. The reason I don’t ride in the rain has nothing to do with a fear of traction or lack of confidence on wet roads. In fact, if you go way back...

After a forced two-year hiatus, my wife and I recently took a well deserved vacation in Mexico. After touching down the memories came flooding back such as the warm breeze, beautiful water, great drinks and oh yeah perhaps the biggest memory-drivers in Mexico are nuts! The bus ride from the airport to the resort certainly...

In 1991 there was a bit of a transition in Canadian road racing. After a six-year run at Sanair, the series saw the Quebec round move to Autodrome St.-Eustache. Although I had attended the race at Sanair the year before, I never actually got to race as I had suffered a hard get-off shortly before...

One of the drawbacks of flat track is that unfortunately if you are involved in the sport the weather will often dictate how successful your event is or even if it is able to happen at all. Every race weekend you are at the mercy of the weather gods, not only on race day, but...

The month of March usually signals the start of better weather back here at home but it is also the host month for something much more important in the motorcycle world. Every March Daytona Beach plays host to Bike Week which is a virtual carnival of two wheels for both motorcycle enthusiasts and racers alike....

Nicknames are part of our culture and I can only imagine they have been around since the beginning of time. Sometimes cool and sometimes cruel, many times they are made up because of a flaw or mistake that your buddies happened to catch out of the corner of their eye. Many times they are badass,...