Barber Vintage vs. AMA Vintage Days - Which One To Attend?

[kleindorf]

Just an informal straw poll regarding the two big vintage events. I've been to Barber Vintage in 2013 but wonder if the AMA Vintage event compares as a strong contender. Anybody wish to comment as I plan to attend one of them this year. Stand up and be counted.

[rwgibbon]

Barber's seems to have a smaller amount of used motorcycles and parts as compared to Mid-Ohio.
But the museum is great. I went back three times and always found something I missed.

If your looking for parts or vintage bikes for sale, Mid-Ohio is the place.

Randy

[farmerdl]

Haven't been to barber yet.  Go to Mid-Ohio every year as it's only 75 miles from me and I buy a season pass to the track.  In recent years I have seen a serious decline as far as vintage racing goes. A few years back it was an AHRMA and AMA event and there was a tremendous number of vintage race bikes.  All of the classes had a good number of entries.  A few years back AHRMA pulled out, there has been a lot of talk regarding this "divorce," and has a race back east the same time as Vintage Bike Days.  The flea market seems as healthy as ever.

[bsracer]

Haven't been to barber yet.  Go to Mid-Ohio every year as it's only 75 miles from me and I buy a season pass to the track.  In recent years I have seen a serious decline as far as vintage racing goes. A few years back it was an AHRMA and AMA event and there was a tremendous number of vintage race bikes.  All of the classes had a good number of entries.  A few years back AHRMA pulled out, there has been a lot of talk regarding this "divorce," and has a race back east the same time as Vintage Bike Days.  The flea market seems as healthy as ever.

AHRMA and the AMA were involved with a lawsuit with a member of both AMA and AHRMA. As a result AHRMA was dropped from being represented by AMA and all ARHMA events were no longer AMA sanctioned. Mid-Ohio had been an AMA event for a long time with AHRMA. When AHRMA was dropped the AMA tried to continue with the Vintage Days format the now have with WERA.

It's been many years since I raced or went to Mid-Ohio. The swap meet was huge. The racing event was huge. I even met Jim Pomeroy one year when he was the Grand Marshall. Barber's swap meet is gaining in size every year and the crowd size is reaching around 70,000 over the course of the weekend. The racing grids are almost too full for AHRMA to handle and you get to see (and meet in some cases)  some ex-pros race like Jake Zemke, Kevin Schwantz, Jay Springsteen and Jason DiSalvo. If you go to Barber you should allow more time to see the museum than just a day. They are expanding the new wing this year which will only make it harder to see if you don't have the time. I didn't get to race Barber in 2016 but still had a good time helping with Hiroshi Murata's Bridgestone 175 and my friends Yamaha DT250 road racer.

paul