Reviewing the 2012 Indy Dealernews International Powersports Dealer Expo

Stu's Shots managed to score a press credential for the 2012 Dealernews International Powersports Dealer Expo, held at the newly-remodeled and enlarged Indiana Convention Center in downtown Indianapolis over the February 17-19 weekend, and we had a blast hanging with some of the racing crowd, while also meeting new friends in the racing business over the course of the show. 


With 700 exhibitors signed on to display their wares in downtown Indy, just a 40 minute drive from the Stu's Shots homebase, we headed downtown to take in the action for a few hours on the first two days of the expo.  We have tried to do our best to showcase a handful of the companies that support AMA Pro Flat Track and AMA Pro Road Racing, along with some of the other national and international racing series.  Without these companies the racing that we all enjoy would not be possible, and we thank them for supporting racing the world over and for taking the time to put on a great show in Indy this last weekend.


In the shot above, at the RacerX/AMA Pro Racing booth we came acrossed the #11 HMC/KTM RC8 that will be returning to the AMA Superbike Championship for the 2012 season along with rider Chris Fillmore (the '11 AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Champion), starting with the season-opening round at Daytona scheduled for March 14-17.  Reporting a 22% increase in sales for the 2011 year, KTM made the announcement earlier this month that they would be returning to the AMA Superbike Championship with the HMC team.  The team ran a few races last season with Fillmore scoring a superb 7th-place finish in one of the Mid Ohio round races.
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One of the many signs in the lobby of the Indiana Convention Center greeting the 20K-strong crowd for the weekend of February 17-19.
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Cycle World Magazine had a beautiful booth at the Indy Dealer Expo that included autographs by '93 500CC World Champion Kevin Schwantz and a silent auction of racing memorabilia that was sponsored by publisher Joe Parkhurst.  On display in the booth was a sano-looking early '70s Honda CB500 Four (front-center of shot.)
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AGV Helmets had this collection of Valentino Rossi model lids sitting on one of their racks in their booth at the Indy show.  They also sponsor Sammy Halbert in the AMA Pro Flat Track series, among other racers.
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Barnett Clutches had this sweet display of clutch assemblies and baskets on hand at the show.  One of their sponsored teams is the Iowa-based Weirbach Racing team who won the 2011 AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com Pro Singles Championship with rider Mikey Martin.
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K&N Filters, who were the series sponsor for the 2010 AMA Pro Flat Track Grand National Championship Series, has been a racing supporter for decades in both flat track and road racing.  This was but one of several displays they had throughout the show's 500K square feet of displays.
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Former AMA Grand National Championship competitor and National #20, Johnny Murphree, is now working for the Beta Motorcycle folks and was on-hand talking to the show's gathering.  Here he is in their booth with one of Beta's very trick bikes.
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Cometic Gaskets sponsors the Werner-Springsteen Monster Energy Kawasaki flat track team, among others, and had this diplay at the show in Indy.
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Arai Helmets was one of the many helmet manufacturers on-hand at Indy with this diplay wall in their booth.  Chris Carr and Jake Johnson are but two riders sponsored by Arai in the AMA Pro Flat Track Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Championship presented by Motorcycle-Superstore.com.
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Dave Zanotti and Ted McDermitt (center and right) of the 2-Time AMA Grand National Championship-winning Zanotti Racing team, were around and about at the show.  Here they talk with the one of the folks from EBC Brakes, one of Zanotti Racing's fine sponsors.
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The Chinese motorcycle accessory and after-market was very well represented at the Indy Dealer Expo with a huge block of booths..........

.......as was the Taiwan market.
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The 2008 Suzuki GSX-R1000 that propelled Ben Spies to his 3rd AMA Superbike Championship was on display in the Yoshimura booth at the Indy Dealer Expo.  Talking with one of the show reps, I found out that this was one of the actual bikes used to win the championship in the last season of the fire-breathers of Superbikes, and not just a reproduction.  It had been in storage in one of Yoshimura's storage areas and was brought out to Indy for the show.
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HJC Helmets had this display set-up in their booth at Indy, along with a nice backdrop featuring Yamaha factory MotoGP teamster, Ben Spies.  'Elbowz' was on-hand Friday afternoon to sign autographs for the show's attendees.  Somehow, I missed this one, while also failing to get some good shots of other attendees like Chris Carr, former AMA Motorcross star Chuck Sun, and AMA Supercross rider Chad Reed (who unfortunately was injured in Saturday night's Dallas Supercross round.)
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One of the several electric motorcycle manufacturers on-hand in downtown Indy over the weekend was BRD Motorcycles, with their line of RedShift bikes.  This one is their RedShift MX, which retails for $14,995 and they offer RedShift SM (Supermoto model) for $15,495.  The California-based company produces machines that are powered by a 40HP liquid-cooled brushless engine that is powered by a 5.2 kWh lithium-ion battery, with claims of battery range of 50-65 miles, and an 80% battery capacity after 10K hours or 50K miles.
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5-Time Daytona 200 winner Scott Russell was in the house on Saturday to talk with some of the show's attendees.  He looked pretty relaxed! 
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Bell Helmets had this bitchin' backdrop in their booth featuring Evel Knievel and some old flat track stuff, Josh Herrin on his #8 Graves Monster Energy Yamaha YZF-R6 and Craig Breedlove and his early '60s Bonneville Speed Weeks 'Spirit of America' machine.
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Ohio-based KK Motorcycle Supply has been around for 53 years now in the motorcycle accessory and after-market business, and is one of the only remaining original companies to attend all 45 shows of the Dealer Expo.  They have sponsored many a rider over the years, including former '75 AMA Grand National Champion Gary Scott, former AMA Grand National competitor Steve Morehead, and current and 2011 AMA Grand National Singles Champion, Sammy Halbert, to name just a few.
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Tennessee-based Memphis Shades offers a fine line of motorcycle fairings and windscreens, and was at the Indy show to display some of their fine equipment.  Helping out in the Memphis Shades booth was Tyler Porter of Fight For Dirt Track, who was caught goofing off on the job talking to AMA Grand National competitor and National #44 Brandon Robinson.  I'm sure they were talking business, though, so we'll give the FFDT man a break!
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Teknic Leathers had this set of Miguel Duhamel's leathers on display from the '94 AMA Superbike Championship season when he rode the Harley-Davidson factory VR1000.  The likeable Canadian had a rough year on the VR (H-D had a rough go entirely with the VR...) but to this day, one of the loudest roars from a crowd at any race I have ever attended was at Mid Ohio in '94 when Duhamel led the first lap or two of the Superbike final.  Two of the highlights of that year were Miguel qualifying the VR on the front row at Mid Ohio AND Brainerd, which was a pretty fast track back in the day.
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The NPA Motorcycle Auction was one of the highlights of the weekend, featuring 150 vehicles that were auctioned off in 90 minutes for a reported $1.28M total.  You can read about that here:

http://www.dealernews.com/dealernews/AVTDS+Update/INDY-2012-NPA-motorcycle-auction-generates-12-mill/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/760969?contextCategoryId=48447
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This was the display for the Dealernews Top 100 Excellence in Powersports Retailing.  100 dealers were announced in late December for their accomplishments over the last year in the motorcycle industry.  Some of the areas acknowledged were print and online media campaigns, best displays and service department excellence.  City Cycle Sales, a Harley-based multiline dealer from Junction City, KS. was named the Top 100 Dealer of the Year.  Indy-based Dreyer Motorsports South was one of the many honorees.  You can check out the full list here who were honored with the display wall above:

http://www.dealernews.com/dealernews/LATEST+NEWS/DEALERNEWS-ANNOUNCES-TOP-100-DEALERS-FOR-2012/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/754140?contextCategoryId=48447
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Graves Monster Energy Yamaha pilot Josh Herrin was on-hand over the weekend to give out autographs and talk with the attendees at the Bell Helmets booth.  Herrin will be joining 2-Time and defending AMA Superbike Champion Josh Hayes as a team mate as he moves up to the AMA Superbike Championship after campaigning the AMA Pro Daytona SportBike Championship the last three seasons for the Graves squad.
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The American Motorcyclist Association booth at the Indy Dealer Expo featured several bikes from the days gone by that would make any race fan drool.  One that caught my eye was this '71 Husqvarna 400 Cross that was ridden by Malcolm Smith in the movie 'On Any Sunday.'
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Roland Sands Design (RSD) was commissioned by the National Powersports Auction as part of the Indy Dealer Expo to build this special 2010 Triumph Thruxton.  This bike was part of a raffle at the show that was given away on Saturday night, February 18.  The winner was Van Hammel, the man who owns Van's Yamaha in southern Illinois and who has sponsored '10 AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com Pro Singles Champion Jeffrey Carver, Jr.
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National Cycle offers a full line of motorcycle parts and accessories and was on-hand at Indy.  One of their sponsored riders is Jared Mees, the '09 & '11 AMA Grand National Twins Series Champion, and the 4-Time ICE Speedway Series Manufacturers Cup Bike Champion.
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Lectron Carbs had this impressive display at the show in Indy.  I first started hearing about Lectron's back in the mid-'70s when Kel Carruthers started using them on Kenny Roberts's Team Yamaha mounts in AMA Flat Track and AMA Road Racing.
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You can read more about the 2012 Dealernews International Powersports Dealer Expo here, and I want to thank the fine folks from the Indy Dealer Expo for a great weekend checking out all of the happenings inside the Indiana Convention Center-hosted event!

Article about the industry heading into the opening of the Indy Dealer Expo's opening on Friday, February 17:

http://www.dealernews.com/dealernews/LATEST+NEWS/INDY-LIVE-2012-Market-smaller-than-in-06-but-still/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/759150?contextCategoryId=48447

And some interesting numbers concerning the turnout for the 2012 Indy Dealer Expo:

http://www.dealernews.com/dealernews/AVTDS+Update/INDY-LIVE-2012-Retailers-ruling-in-Indy/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/760959?contextCategoryId=48447

Dealernews.com homepage with loads of industry info:

http://www.dealernews.com/dealernews
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My buddy Larry Lawrence was in the house on Friday for the Indy Dealer Expo and put up these shots on his super The Rider Files.com site:

http://www.theriderfiles.com/?p=15219
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Stay tuned in the next couple of days as we bring you some more from the 2012 Indy Dealer Expo.  We'll have more special stuff from the Lloyd Brothers Motorsports team, Motorcyclist Magazine, Motobatt Products, Scala Rider and Mikuni Carbs, among others, that were showing off their goods in the huge confines of the Indiana Convention Center over the weekend.

Thanks for coming by to hang out and check us out!.
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