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1974 - 2011

JDOCKERY132445

OldBMWMaster
I attended my first BMWMOA rally in 1974. I was a new faculty member at the University of South Carolina in Columbia and had purchased a new R75/5 from Brown-Austell BMW in West Columbia. It was a wonderful bike; far surpassing the Harleys I had ridden since returning from Nam and the Triumph I had ridden in graduate school.

The rally was incredible as were all the people who welcomed me into the ranks.

THEN... BMWNA put my dealer out of business. I had grown close to the owners, Mark Atria and Clanton Austell. I was personally offended and irate beyond description. BMWNA was insisting they change the way they ran the shop. Some of you may remember the days when going to your BMW motorcycle dealer meant watching the mechanics turn wrenches and answering your questions. Saturdays were filled with local rides and burgers and beer back at the shop.

Mark and Clanton would not go along with the BMWNA program and closed the doors. Mark started another venture and did well. Clanton became the head of technology development for SC and was instrumental in bringing the BMW plant to Greenville, SC.

Clanton is now retired and running his own BMW shop. The primary focus is on old airheads and training new guys to wrench on BMWs.

When I get pissed, I stay pissed a long time.

This year's rally was my first since 1974.

Thanks to everyone for making it a great rally and for welcoming me back.
 
Jerry, I didn't know the history even though I've known you for a few years now.

Good to see you again. However, comma, you must have a special aura about you - when I took that picture of you at your tent for Banned Camp, it's not in the camera. First time that's happened. Damnit!

:dunno
 
Jerry,
was your first rally the Table Rock Rendezvous in South Carolina? If so, I was there also, it was my first rally experience. I was a young guy on an older R60/2, my first Moto. It was good to see you in Bloomsburg, if only briefly. I intended to get back and visit, but First Aid kept me busy all week :hungover
After Table Rock I din't make another rally till Morgonton NC in '96 I think.
 
Hard head

Jerry,
was your first rally the Table Rock Rendezvous in South Carolina? If so, I was there also, it was my first rally experience. I was a young guy on an older R60/2, my first Moto. It was good to see you in Bloomsburg, if only briefly. I intended to get back and visit, but First Aid kept me busy all week :hungover
After Table Rock I din't make another rally till Morgonton NC in '96 I think.

It was Table Rock. I had a blast there; I was also a young man then. Time does fly. I am still angry with what BMWNA did to the "old" BMW shops and the people who loved them.

It is summer. We will be over 100 here today. Hearing all the whining amuses me.
 
My first rally was Table Rock in '74. I remember Mark Atria was the Rally Chair and his "beer tent" was a single keg, with him doing the pumping. Boy, our beer sales have gotten a lot better thru the years!

Mark explained MOA to that young 20-year old member that weekend, and I realized that I had found a group of riders that I wanted to ride with. Still with MOA after all these years! I got the chance to thank him many years later, and I remember that there are always new attendees at the Rallys, and we should make that experience special.

It was a hot and tiring Rally, but I will come again. It may not be next year or the year after next, but I will come back to another National. It becomes a part of you and there is this strange sense that you are supposed to be somewhere in July. :)
 
....snip...I am still angry with what BMWNA did to the "old" BMW shops and the people who loved them....

...snip...THEN... BMWNA put my dealer out of business. ...snip...

When I get pissed, I stay pissed a long time.

This year's rally was my first since 1974.

Thanks to everyone for making it a great rally and for welcoming me back.
Hey Jerry and welcome back.

What I don't understand is:

You are upset, and rightly I think, with BMW NA, so you skip the BMW MOA national rally for 37 years?? We are not them. The BMW MOA is independent of NA and the factory, AG in Germany. We would rather have good relationships with them than bad, and have had both over the years, good now, but we are independent. Were you just having nothing to do with anything associated in any way with BMW?? Did you still ride a BMW? If so, why not the MOA national rally?

Anyway, welcome back to our family.

tb
 
Just mad

Hey Jerry and welcome back.

What I don't understand is:

You are upset, and rightly I think, with BMW NA, so you skip the BMW MOA national rally for 37 years?? We are not them. The BMW MOA is independent of NA and the factory, AG in Germany. We would rather have good relationships with them than bad, and have had both over the years, good now, but we are independent. Were you just having nothing to do with anything associated in any way with BMW?? Did you still ride a BMW? If so, why not the MOA national rally?

Anyway, welcome back to our family.

tb

I was having a temper tantrum. When I get mad, it takes a long time to get over it. I continued to ride and repair airheads and joined the Airhead Club. But for me, the MOA and BMW NA were too cozy to suit me.

It took a few years; but I am over it.

Thanks for the welcome. I enjoyed Bloomsburg. Very well organized and a great response by all the Chairs to the weather. I also enjoyed my volunteer shifts and i got there early enough [stage set-up] to get one of those shady spots.
 
I attended my first BMWMOA rally in 1974. I was a new faculty member at the University of South Carolina in Columbia and had purchased a new R75/5 from Brown-Austell BMW in West Columbia. It was a wonderful bike; far surpassing the Harleys I had ridden since returning from Nam and the Triumph I had ridden in graduate school.

The rally was incredible as were all the people who welcomed me into the ranks.

THEN... BMWNA put my dealer out of business. I had grown close to the owners, Mark Atria and Clanton Austell. I was personally offended and irate beyond description. BMWNA was insisting they change the way they ran the shop. Some of you may remember the days when going to your BMW motorcycle dealer meant watching the mechanics turn wrenches and answering your questions. Saturdays were filled with local rides and burgers and beer back at the shop.

Mark and Clanton would not go along with the BMWNA program and closed the doors. Mark started another venture and did well. Clanton became the head of technology development for SC and was instrumental in bringing the BMW plant to Greenville, SC.

Clanton is now retired and running his own BMW shop. The primary focus is on old airheads and training new guys to wrench on BMWs.

When I get pissed, I stay pissed a long time.

This year's rally was my first since 1974.

Thanks to everyone for making it a great rally and for welcoming me back.

In defense of BMW NA, there wasn't a BMW of NA until October of 1980? Butler and Smith did the importing of the bikes for at least the east coast until 9/30/1980.
 
You are correct

In defense of BMW NA, there wasn't a BMW of NA until October of 1980? Butler and Smith did the importing of the bikes for at least the east coast until 9/30/1980.

Absolutely correct. Jackassery behavior by any name. It was the un-doing of "real" motorcycle shops.
 
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