Riding Man's Mark Gardiner Looking to Bring Bonneville 'Monsters of the Salt' Story to the Big Screen

Mark Gardiner, author of the excellent 'Riding Man' book which tells the story of a transplanted Canadian who sold it all to head to the Isle of Man to compete in the world famous TT events, is working on drumming up interest in another compelling story that should bring goose bumps to any follower of motorcycle racing in any way, shape or form.  For those that haven't read this great story of a man's journey across the pond, I highly recommend it.

'Monsters of the Salt' tells the story of a journey to the Bonneville Salt Flats, the infamous dry lake bed in Utah that is the cathedral to land speed records that Indy is to open-wheel racing and the Springfield Mile is to AMA Grand National Championship series American flat track racing.

Mark has penned a recent story about this journey on his 'Backmarker' column at Motorcycle-USA.com, which can be read here (and as he has stated, grab yourself a cup of Joe and settle in for a great read!)  He is also trying to drum up interest in bringing this great story to the big screen, which for us motorcycle racing-types would be a wonderful viewing experience.

More of Mark's excellent work can also be found on his website, Bikewriter.com here.

Read more about Mark's venture below.


Press release courtesy of the Backmarker himself, Mark Gardiner

August 5, 2013

Monsters of the Salt

Motojournalist Mark Gardiner is on a mission to bring Bonneville story to the screen

In 1967, a pioneering African-American drag racer named Nira Johnson set a land-speed record on his Triumph Bonneville. Without realizing it, Nira inspired a life-long love of American hot rod culture in two French guys: Denis Sire, an artist who used Nira as the basis for a comic book hero; and Laurent Romuald, the top motorcycle restorer in Paris, who built a replica of the comic book hero’s motorcycle.

Now, motorcycle journalist Mark Gardiner has teamed up with Airspeed Productions and director Kevin Ward to turn this heartwarming pro-American and pro-motorcycle story into a feature length documentary film, titled Monsters of the Salt.

“I’ve been writing about motorcycles for over 20 years,” says Gardiner. “In that time, I’ve told a few stories that made people say, ‘That should be a movie’. This is the first time I’ve done anything about it.”

In the film, the American drag racer, Nira Johnson will meet his two biggest fans for the first time, as they bring their replica of his motorcycle to the Bonneville Salt Flat, to run alongside Nira’s original race bike.

“Any one side of this story—Nira’s real-life ‘American Dream’, or the French guys’ American hot rod fantasies—is worthy of a film,” says Gardiner. “But the amazing way that the two stories are connected is like a shot of nitrous oxide to the ‘Monsters’ plot. In the one old magazine photo that the artist, Denis Sire, had to go on, you couldn’t see Nira’s face, so Denis assumed he was caucasian. You should have seen Nira’s face when I told him that he was a famous comic-book character in France, but as a white guy! This is why I don’t write fiction; you could never make this shit up!”

Gardiner is working with a veteran producer, Tom Guttry, and his company Airspeed Productions. They’ve also recruited renowned commercial director Kevin Ward (he was the director of photography on Dust to Glory.) You can support their project by making a donation on the Indiegogo crowd-funding website here: http://tinyurl.com/donatemonsters

“This is a really inspiring story, and one reason that I want to bring it to the screen is that Americans are constantly exposed to news stories in which crowds of foreigners are shouting ‘Death to America!’ It may be true that the American government manages to make a lot of people (including a lot of Americans!) very angry, but around the world, the idea of America is still incredibly popular. That’s one of the major themes of ‘Monsters of the Salt’.”—Mark Gardiner

 

You can view the 'Monsters of the Salt' video trailer here.

For more information, you can contact Mark Gardiner directly via:

Mark Gardiner 816.416.9235 markegardiner@yahoo.com

 

 

Motorcycling's Backmarker, Mark Gardiner Has Released 2nd Printing of Isle of Man TT Quest 'Riding Man'

Some of our regular readers may be familiar with one of the sport's true journalists, Mark Gardiner whom I have had the pleasure of being to help out in the past with some of shots out of my archives over the years.  Mark has been kind enough to feature some of my work in the now-defunct RoadRacerX.com and of late while putting together more of his fine pieces on racing's past on Motorcycle-USA.com in his infamous 'Backmarker' column.

A little over six years ago, Mark released a book of his exploits of traveling to and competing in the Isle of Man TT races held annually across the pond for over a century now.  That book, 'Riding Man' tells the story through his eyes of how he 'shucked it all' and headed over to compete in the oldest true road racing event in the world and what he went through to live and complete his dream.

Mark just announced that there is now a second printing of 'Riding Man' for us old-types that still prefer the written work in-hand as opposed to reading on an e-reader. 

One of the great reads in motorcycle racing, the book details his accounts with the locals, the organization that puts on this great event and living and prepping on the Isle for his debut in the June 2002 version of the classic TT races.  The book is highly recommended even for the casual fan of the Isle of Man TT or even of Mark's wonderful work and will give the reader true insight what it is like to take on such a daunting task.

Pictured above is a shot of Mark on his Padgett's Victoria Road Garage Honda CBR600 that he campaigned in the Junior and 600 Production classes at the Isle of Man TT. 

Photo courtesy of Mark Gardiner by Island Photographics.


Press release courtesy of Mark Gardiner, 'Riding Man' & Bikewriter.com

Riding Man is back in print

Riding Man, Mark Gardiner’s memoir of an everyman’s effort to qualify for the Isle of Man TT, is back in print.

The book focuses on a year in the life of Gardiner, an ad agency Creative Director and club-level racer who quit his job, sold everything he owned, and moved to the Isle of Man in an effort to qualify for the TT. He did, finishing two races in 2002. Gardiner admits that he may have been the least talented, most cowardly rider ever to achieve that goal.

“Ironically, Peter Egan made ‘Riding Man’ the subject of a very flattering column in Cycle World almost on the day that the first edition of the book sold out,” laughs Gardiner. “At one point in his column, he wrote ‘I’ve always been drawn to stories like this, where people make a big change in their lives just by taking resolute action -- Bob Dylan and Jack Elliot leaving their comfortable middle-class backgrounds to hit the road and become ramblin’ folk singers like Woody Guthrie; Winston Churchill rejecting his apparent fate... Teddy Roosevelt deciding to become a cowboy...’ I was really glad that he liked the book, but a bit embarrassed by even an indirect comparison to Dylan or Woody Guthrie!”

In the last couple of years, Riding Man’s also attracted attention in Hollywood. After Tom Guttry (Airspeed Productions) became fascinated by the story, he pitched it to Mark Clayman of One Way Productions (he produced the Will Smith film ‘Pursuit of Happyness’ .) Guttry and Clayman then teamed up with another veteran producer Bob Teitel, of State Street Productions. That trio pitched it to Jason Blumenthal, at Escape Artists (A Knight’s Tale, and The Taking of Pelham 1,2,3). At this point, Blumenthal and Escape Artists are looking to ‘attach talent’ as they say in the film business.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After spending a year out of print, readers who still prefer their books on paper can now order Riding Man again.  The book’s available on Amazon, but readers who buy off the www.RidingMan.com web site will get signed copies, and bikewriter.com will cover the shipping costs.  That gorgeous cover illustration is by another avid motorcyclist, commercial illustration star Douglas Fraser.

“I was hoping to wait for an announcement on the film before releasing a second edition,” says Gardiner. “But putting together movie deals takes forever. Meanwhile I saw a mint copy of the first edition sell for a hundred bucks on Amazon. At that point, I realized two things: first, that if prices got any higher my mom was going to sell her personal copy and second, that it was time to print a second edition.”

Later this month, Gardiner will read from Riding Man in Tacoma at LeMay/America’s Car Museum. The museum is holding a cool motorcycle event, ‘Meet at the Ace’, August 24-26.

 

The second edition is already available at Amazon.com.

 

Readers can get a signed copy directly from Mark, with free postage, at www.RidingMan.com, or by visiting his popular blog at www.bikewriter.com.

For more information about the Meet at the Ace event, visit www.LeMayMuseum.org.

 

 

Riding Man Link by Mark Gardiner

http://www.ridingman.com/

Here is the link to Mark Gardiner's site for his book, dvd and other goodies that chronicles his exploits on The Isle of Mann.
Thanks again Mark!