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Doug the mechanic

PAS

New member
When I first started riding BMW's years ago, I used to see a traveling mechanic at the rally's. Is he still on the circuit since the price of gas went thru the roof? He was a nice guy that had no problem sharing his knowledge.

Is he still on the road?
 
I often wonder what happened to him. Nice guy and good mechanic.

Haven't seen him at rallys for several years.
 
I did a search on the Airheads archives and found a post by someone in 2009.

"Doug is pretty well out of the mobile mech business, having taken a full-time job in his primary field of training--engineering. I believe he is still building trailers on the side, altho in much lower numbers, and would probably be happy to build someone a trailer should they wish to enter the mobile mech business."
 
roving tech

I seem to remember the name " Red".who would do service and repairs on the rally circuit in the eighties ,claimed he could out ride Reg Pridmore,on cheepo tires ! ,thats when he lost me ,Jimmy
 
The infamous Red Gardner. He used to set his bike repair lift up on two milk crates. He was even elected to the BMW MOA board of directors!

Red sort of dropped out of sight and I don't know what he is doing these days.
 
Two different guys, I think.

The guy from Utah/Idaho (?) had the really nice trailer and deserved the title "hardest working man in show business" almost as much as James Brown.

Red's operation was a little less formal (and he may have been Airheads only) and must have remained in the Midwest or East, as I can only recall seeing him at the Rapid City National.
 
Roving Tech

Red was indeed at Rapid City. That was the year he crawled into someone else's tent and passed out. I last saw Red at the RA National in Morganton, NC back in 2001. One of the colorful characters from MOA history. I hope in the next MOA history there is more (or at least some) space dedicated to the likes of Red Gardner, Jeff Brody, Gary Krieger, et al. They added an "anything could happen" element to MOA gatherings that is missing these days.

My favorite red Gardner vignette came from the San Diego rally in the late 80's. Red had his milk crate shop set up and the rally PA carried an announcement asking the owner of the Last Edition RS to return to Red's set up as Red had forgotten what he wanted done...
 
My favorite red Gardner vignette came from the San Diego rally in the late 80's. Red had his milk crate shop set up and the rally PA carried an announcement asking the owner of the Last Edition RS to return to Red's set up as Red had forgotten what he wanted done...

I doubt that was as exciting as the time the lady rider discovered he had dropped her R something RT sideways off the milk crates. RTs do not land on their sides from elevated platforms very gracefully. I'm not sure how that all turned out.
 
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