Harley-Davidson markets its annual demo rides in Loudon as a chance to “feel the excitement of hitting the open road.”
For town officials, however, the thrill-seeking riders and prospective buyers are becoming a public safety problem.
The New Hampshire Motor Speedway hosts demo rides during Bike Week each year with a nearly nine-mile course that takes riders outside the boundaries of the speedway and through town.
This year, Loudon chose to require the Motor Speedway to insulate the rides with marshals, who would patrol the course and accompany motorcyclists to ensure safety and communication — a mandate the Motor Speedway disregarded.
Complying would’ve jeopardized the entire event, the track’s executive vice president and general manager, David McGrath, argued at a meeting with the Board of Selectmen earlier this month. The demo ride’s vendors, Harley-Davidson and Indian Motorcycle, refuse to participate in marshaled events.
“You’re making a decision that is bad for our business,” McGrath said during a heated exchange with Selectman Jeff Miller.
Miller, for his part, said he had the town’s best interests in mind.
“I’ll look out for the businesses, but my job as a selectperson is to look out for the town, the residents who are within our town,” he said.
Jeff Leonard muttered under his breath as he watched the meeting from the audience.
The Loudon resident who has raced at the track for 10 years said he thought the Select Board was “out of line” by making it too difficult for the speedway to operate.
“They’re a huge taxpayer here in town, and I just think that we should be more friendly to them,” Leonard said. “I just believe in letting the businesses be businesses.”
During Bike Week, the Board of Selectmen notified the Motor Speedway in a letter that it was violating the conditions of its special event permit and “risking injury to the public, town officials and riders” by not using marshals. They threatened to revoke the event license and summoned representatives from the track to hash things out in public.
Matt Goslant, the Motor Speedway’s vice president of operations and events, questioned the town’s authority to require marshals. He said these issues had never been brought up to him before and that he was used to their hawkers and peddlers’ permit being approved without concern or hesitation — as more of a technicality and a way for the track to pay the town’s inspection fees than an actual request for permission.
The dispute underscored the deteriorating relationship between the town and the track, which officials said is the worst it’s been in years. One thing both sides could agree on was the need for more communication.
“Communication is at an all-time low. We can’t continue to do business together the way it’s being worked now, so we need to increase that,” said Dwayne Gilman, who chairs the Board of Selectmen. “Today’s a huge thing for that. You guys being here in this room starts that process and makes this a better process.”
McGrath, the general manager, argued vehemently against any mandate requiring marshals, saying they’d risk vendors pulling out of the event and burden the Motor Speedway with a financial blow. He declined a follow-up interview request from the Monitor and gave no specifics about how the mandate would impact business.
Instead, he suggested more enforcement and education — an idea that selectmen said they’re willing to consider.
Loudon has already tried the enforcement route, though.
Efforts conducted by local police resulted in 53 traffic citations related to the demo rides during Bike Week this June, according to Police Chief Dana Flanders. As of June 19, about halfway through Bike Week, the police department had made 50 motorcycle stops, received 77 calls from the public and dealt with two motorcycle accidents, according to the letter.
“That was a direct order I gave to the officers this year, that I’m done with the motorcycles,” Flanders said at a public meeting earlier this month. Police logged motorcycle speeds as high as 83 miles per hour on a road where the posted speed limit was only 35 miles per hour. That’s “unacceptable,” Flanders said.
McGrath agreed that people who flout traffic laws should be held accountable, but not at the track’s expense.
“I don’t want it to be lost on this board and this town, you are making a choice when you get in your car or you get on a motorcycle,” McGrath said. “If you want to drive like a knucklehead, you should pay the consequences of being such a knucklehead, but to punish the track and to say that a vendor suddenly has to have a mandate, it doesn’t make any sense.”
Bill Glahn, the Motor Speedway’s attorney, suggested that the town could compile a list of citations handed out each day of Bike Week. If that were publicized, he said, it could deter riders from driving irresponsibly.
Selectman Marc Griffin, who used to work with the track, said he saw the business’s need to conduct operations as they see fit and agreed that enforcement would be the best option.
As they left it, the town and Motor Speedway agreed to move on from the marshal situation — for now — and representatives from the Motor Speedway will meet with Chief Flanders to plan ahead for next year’s demo rides.
“Between education and enforcement, I think that’s where we find our answer,” Griffin said, “not squibbling so much in so many words about a piece of paper.”
