2010 Dayton Motorcycle Club schedule
May 23 — Motocross (practice at 8:30 a.m., racing about 10:30 a.m.; $10 admission, 12-under free).
June 12 — Old Time Newsies at Montgomery County Fairgrounds
June 20 — Motocross
July 9-11 — AMA Vintage Days Mid-Ohio
Aug. 1 — Motocross
Aug. 7-8 — AMA Amateur National Championship Hillclimb
Aug. 29 — Motocross
Oct. 10 — Devil's Staircase Pro Hillclimb
Nov. 27 — Hare Scramble
Motocross races are held behind the DMC clubhouse at 3515 Stony Hollow Road, off S. Gettysburg Ave., in Dayton. Note: Access to Stony Hollow Road from Vance Road is closed.
Hillclimbs are held at 1886 Corwin Road in Oregonia.
Website: www.daytonmc.com
DAYTON — You can’t see that the clubhouse is tucked down and around the winding Stony Hollow Road, serving as the home of one of the country’s oldest motorcycle clubs.
But you’ll be able to hear that it’s there.
The roar returns Sunday, May 23, when the Dayton Motorcycle Club kick-starts its 2010 season by hosting the Ohio Southwestern Motocross Series on its track behind the clubhouse.
About 300 riders are expected for the motorcross, which along with Dirt Country in Blanchester and the Treaty City Motorcycle Club in Greenville make up the circuit for the OSMS.
Motocross racing is just one aspect of the club, which started on Sept. 17, 1908, after splitting from the Dayton Bicycle Club. That makes the DMC about the sixth-oldest motorcycle club in the country, according to DMC president Kevin Looney.
The club has 74 members and is looking to grow its membership. Meetings are held at 8 p.m. every Wednesday at the clubhouse at 3515 Stony Hollow Road, near Interstate 75 on the city’s south side.
“Anybody can come hang out and see what we’re all about. There’s no pressure to join,” Looney said. “We have guys that come hang out and work (events) but they’re not members. It’s a tough sell anymore.”
Roll call
Dave Newman holds the No. 1 spot on the membership list, joining in 1957.
Club reporter Bob Moore — who has held every DMC office and position except for bartender — ranks No. 2 after joining in 1960 following a several-year wait back when 40-member limits were placed on the roster.
“When I first started coming out to the club in 1957 or 1958 it was basically a professional racing club and I wanted to be a professional racer. This was the club to belong to,” said Moore, who competed at Daytona Speedway, Eldora Speedway and the Montgomery County Fairgrounds, among other tracks.
Moore’s love for racing started when he happened upon a race near Lebanon and witnessed American Motorcycle Association hall-of-famer Joe Leonard in action.
That — and the party atmosphere the club embraced at that time — was appealing.
“The guys when I joined the club were the veterans from World War II. They were really a party group. They lived hard, partied hard, raced hard,” Moore said. “The guys we have today are strictly into motocross, you might say. It’s a different breed of racer. They’re not as dedicated to the club as what the old-timers were.”
And his own racing career?
“I spent more time in the hospital,” Moore said, “than I did on the race track.”
Clubhouse destroyed
Through the years Moore has witnessed changes in the club, including a negative label thanks to the Hell’s Angels and unflattering Hollywood stereotypes in the 1960s and 1970s.
It was before he joined, but there was the time in November 1950 when vandals tossed a couple sticks of dynamite into the vacant clubhouse thinking it was the site for a heathen church. The building and many of the DMC’s records and history were destroyed.
Today’s club is all about family, friendship, charity and community — all on two wheels.
Still, despite the good times, attracting members has been difficult even with $12 dues. Members, though, are asked to help at club events.
“It seems like the world has changed. It’s hard to find people who are looking for some fellowship and camaraderie,” Looney said. “Most people don’t have the time anymore. It is a concern. We just keep doing what we’re doing and trying to bring in new people.”
Devil’s Staircase
According to newspaper reports, motorcycles first raced in Dayton on July 4, 1900, at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds. The pacer bikes served as wind-breakers for a bicycle race before racing in their own event.
After breaking from the bicycle pack in 1908, two members of the DMC — Dayton’s Harry F. Nixon and Ivan Howich — competed in the first motorcycle race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in August 1909.
The club’s big event these days is the popular AMA Devil’s Staircase Pro Hillclimb in Oregonia, where competitors test their mettle and their machines against a steep and difficult climb.
The work at the Devil’s Staircase and other events isn’t all done by the riders.
The DMC women’s auxiliary — 12 members strong — provides the concessions during both the motocrosses and hill climb, and organizes events for club members.
The auxiliary, which is having the finishing touches added to its own meeting room at the clubhouse, also makes the flags for the motocross.
“We’re more about fellowship and camaraderie. ... Our purpose is to promote the sport of motorcycling,” Looney said. “We try to help the community and local charities, trying to do what’s right.”
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2400, ext. 6991, or gbilling@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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