The World’s Most Famous Beach is a joke and not a funny one. There used to be all-night parking, fire pits, real partying and now ─ nada! There used be 42 miles of drivable, race-able beach and now there aren’t 20 miles. And that 20 miles is actually in short stretches and barely useable because all the hotels didn’t want driving in front of their property. So it basically sucks to pay to drive a short stretch of beach.
I didn’t miss the wannabes, ustabes, neverwas, can’tbes, posers, lawyer referrals, T-shirt shops, beggars, and peddlers. In other words, pretenders looking for action where there is none. In my opinion, Willie’s Tropical Tattoo is the best happening during both Biketoberfest and Daytona Bike Week and it’s evident by the massive numbers of attendees drinking two-buck beer, eating a little BBQ, and listening to great music. The bike show is held on Thursday, starting when bikes check in and ending when Roadside Marty screams over the PA, “That’s it, shows over, get the f**k outta here!” He doesn’t even invite you to the next show because he knows you’ll come or you’ll be replaced by somebody else looking for a good time.
As I said before, in my opinion Willie’s Tropical Old School Bike Show is the most popular single event in the bike world in Daytona. It’s the place to be seen and maybe even get a tattoo from one of Willie’s master artists. This year I was the presenter of the “Rodent” Award for my choice of bike. I felt humbled and honored. And I hope I didn’t piss off too many Harley-Davidson freaks as I awarded it to the twin-engined Triumph barn find.