There's nothing like a little pressure to light a fire under your ass! It literally was almost up to the last minute. our move in time on the thursday set up day was between 11:00am and 2:00pm.
At that time,I still didn't have any tanks or back fender,yet. My buddy Ross was still bending the oil lines,too! Throughout the day,Johnny and I would call each other and check on the other's progress. I knew,or at least,hoped that we had until 9:00 pm to get to the show. That's when they kick everyone out to get ready for the show opening the next day.
At around 3:00pm,My Buddy Ray showed up with the Tanks and fender...which still needed to be color sanded and buffed!
While I worked on the bike,He did his thing with the paint. Just a little info..He texted Me the night before at around 10:00 pm,while I was down a Homeboy's house,borrowing some parts that didn't come back from the chromer(that's a whole other story!),that He had burned through the clear on the rear fender because the paint was too soft and that it wasn't gonna happen.His exact word's were,"It's over.It ain't gonna happen".I wrote back,"You don't get it.It has to happen!".So,He worked through the night to repaint the rear fender.
He said that He had never worked under that kinda pressure before. Anyone who's ever gotten something ready for this show or thrashed on something to get ready to take off for Paso Robles' knows it all too well!
In the end,He came through with some real nice Kandy Root Beer over gold pearl and a Roman Gold Base.
Somewhere around 7:00 pm,We put Gas and oil in it. It fired up on the 4th kick. Mind you,this motor has sat around the garage for 5 years! I was stoked! After I told Johnny that I had started My bike. He said fuck it and made sure his started too! After My Dad and I loaded up the bike,it was time to deal with some L.A. traffic. We made it there with about an hour to spare. Johnny showed up about 20 minutes later. Both bikes fired up for the judges and We were in!
Johnny's 68 Shovel
Thank you to everyone that came through for me with the part's,blood,sweat,and almost tear's!
