The Texas Fandango, Fredericksburg, USA
Dance The Texas Fandango.
When the Cherokee Chapter of AMCA (Antique Motorcycle Club of America) is beating the drums for the annual Texas Fandango, it’s clear that all vintage motorcycles are welcome to dance, with one little caveat: they have to be older than 35 years.
The dance was to go down
at the Gillespie County Fairground just like last year. The venue is located in historic Fredericksburg, better known for its cattle auctions, horse racing, rodeos and similar activities befitting a rural Texan leisure culture. This weekends it was two wheeled ponies instead of the usual four legged ones scrambling round the track.
Some 70 bikes were parked
in the bike area, competing for the many trophies. The exhibition hall was filled with around 40 classics, awaiting the gruelling AMCA judging. The judges, quietly going about their business know no mercy when they find even the smallest non-stock deviations from stock condition.
Much faster and noisier
was the Chopper Dirt Drag, and the Dirt Track Racing, where four (amateur) classes were making the pistons reciprocate and the crankshafts fly wildly: They had Mini Bikes for the kids, Modern Dirt Track Bike, and classic Dirt Tracker powered by HD Flatheads, Indian Scouts and an assortment of English machinery.
The Fandango Swap Meet was
where the off-the-track action was. Between 70 to 80 vendors had brought countless crates of vintage parts from the depths of the last century, complete (and not so complete) basket cases, rolling chassis and even ready to run American classics, to be found only here in the US, and even here not at every rally. We adopted a 1941-46 Harley-Davidson speedo to bring home to Würzburg, which wasn’t cheap, but at home would cost probably twice as much – if you could find it at all. We almost fell for a $2.000,00 Sportster, but reluctantly had to leave it behind.
On Sunday the last dancers
were doing their final revolutions. Most of them had packed up already, and the trophies had been awarded. The "Early Rider" trophy went to a magnificent 1913 Excelsior model 7C, the "People’s Choice" fell on a 1948 Knucklehead, and an estimated 37 other awards had made the sunny weekend worth coming from a long way around. We marvelled how fast time had flown, and will be there next time when they’re asking to dance the Fandango again.