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THE VICTORY MOTORCYCLE CLUB
20th RUNNING OF THEIR COAST TO COAST RUN
22nd June – 4th July
This year the ever enthusiastic Victory Motorcycle Club (VMC) celebrates a milestone event. One of the main features in the VMC annual calendar is the running of what they call the “V2V” - Victory to Victory - road run, travelling from coast to coast across the USA, with legs organized each year by a team of volunteers. This year marks the 20th running of the event by the Club, so truly a momentous mark in their ongoing history. The overall organization and coordination this year is in the expert hands of Gene Hunt - one of the Charter Members of the VMC. Hats off to him and all the Leg Captains.
The V2V always ends on 4th July, which is the date when the first Victory motorcycle appeared in 1998. This year the run will consist of 13 legs, with a special Victory baton which is passed from one leg captain to the next each evening. Some hardy riders with time available complete the whole event, but most riders registered for the event will attend one or two legs. All are pre-registered.
The V2V follows the appropriately named Victory Highway. Ray (Spike) Durkin was the first VMC President and one of the markers of the old Victory Highway stood not too far from his home in Desoto, Kansas. This gave Spike the idea to research the history of the Victory Highway and promoted the idea of a coast-to-coast Victory ride, or Victory to Victory, abbreviated to V2V, as a means of bringing those early Victory riders together. The idea took off and continues to this day. Without going into too much history of the event it developed from a “Meet in the Middle” (which was the name first given to the event) to the format it has today, one year running from New York to San Francisco, and the next year running in the opposite direction.
It is worth briefly mentioning what is the Victory Highway. In the summer of 1921 a group of individuals formed the Victory Highway Association with the aim to build a road across the USA from sea to shining sea as a permanent tribute to America’s fallen soldiers from World War I. The USA had remained neutral in the war from its outset in 1914 until April 6th 1917 when war was declared on Germany. Over 4 million American military personnel were then mobilized and before ceasefire and Armistice was declared on November 11th, 1918, 110,000 American deaths were recorded.
The idea was to construct the road approximately following the 40th parallel from New York to San Francisco, via St. Louis, generally south of the Lincoln Highway. It would span 12 States: California; Nevada; Utah; Colorado; Kansas; Missouri; Indiana; Ohio; Pennsylvania; Maryland; New Jersey; and New York. It would stretch 2,010 miles.
The association wanted a standardized design of monuments along the route, with the names of those soldiers, sailors and airmen from each county who were lost in battle. In the end only six monuments were ever installed. When the United States Numbered Highways system was introduced in 1926 much of the Victory Highway route was supplanted by U.S. 40. So there you have it, in a nutshell.
This year’s event will started on 22 June and end on 4th July. Around 170 riders, maybe a few more, from the Victory Motorcycle Club will be taking part for at least one leg or another, demonstrating their great enthusiasm for this wonderful American motorcycle.
So if you see a group of Victory motorcycles on your journeys over the next days give them a thumbs up and a wave.
Keep that Victory flag flying high and proud across the country guys ‘n’ gals. Stay safe, keep smiling, have fun.
(Photo: Gene Hunt's gorgeous machine, Day 0)
20th RUNNING OF THEIR COAST TO COAST RUN
22nd June – 4th July
This year the ever enthusiastic Victory Motorcycle Club (VMC) celebrates a milestone event. One of the main features in the VMC annual calendar is the running of what they call the “V2V” - Victory to Victory - road run, travelling from coast to coast across the USA, with legs organized each year by a team of volunteers. This year marks the 20th running of the event by the Club, so truly a momentous mark in their ongoing history. The overall organization and coordination this year is in the expert hands of Gene Hunt - one of the Charter Members of the VMC. Hats off to him and all the Leg Captains.
The V2V always ends on 4th July, which is the date when the first Victory motorcycle appeared in 1998. This year the run will consist of 13 legs, with a special Victory baton which is passed from one leg captain to the next each evening. Some hardy riders with time available complete the whole event, but most riders registered for the event will attend one or two legs. All are pre-registered.
The V2V follows the appropriately named Victory Highway. Ray (Spike) Durkin was the first VMC President and one of the markers of the old Victory Highway stood not too far from his home in Desoto, Kansas. This gave Spike the idea to research the history of the Victory Highway and promoted the idea of a coast-to-coast Victory ride, or Victory to Victory, abbreviated to V2V, as a means of bringing those early Victory riders together. The idea took off and continues to this day. Without going into too much history of the event it developed from a “Meet in the Middle” (which was the name first given to the event) to the format it has today, one year running from New York to San Francisco, and the next year running in the opposite direction.
It is worth briefly mentioning what is the Victory Highway. In the summer of 1921 a group of individuals formed the Victory Highway Association with the aim to build a road across the USA from sea to shining sea as a permanent tribute to America’s fallen soldiers from World War I. The USA had remained neutral in the war from its outset in 1914 until April 6th 1917 when war was declared on Germany. Over 4 million American military personnel were then mobilized and before ceasefire and Armistice was declared on November 11th, 1918, 110,000 American deaths were recorded.
The idea was to construct the road approximately following the 40th parallel from New York to San Francisco, via St. Louis, generally south of the Lincoln Highway. It would span 12 States: California; Nevada; Utah; Colorado; Kansas; Missouri; Indiana; Ohio; Pennsylvania; Maryland; New Jersey; and New York. It would stretch 2,010 miles.
The association wanted a standardized design of monuments along the route, with the names of those soldiers, sailors and airmen from each county who were lost in battle. In the end only six monuments were ever installed. When the United States Numbered Highways system was introduced in 1926 much of the Victory Highway route was supplanted by U.S. 40. So there you have it, in a nutshell.
This year’s event will started on 22 June and end on 4th July. Around 170 riders, maybe a few more, from the Victory Motorcycle Club will be taking part for at least one leg or another, demonstrating their great enthusiasm for this wonderful American motorcycle.
So if you see a group of Victory motorcycles on your journeys over the next days give them a thumbs up and a wave.
Keep that Victory flag flying high and proud across the country guys ‘n’ gals. Stay safe, keep smiling, have fun.
(Photo: Gene Hunt's gorgeous machine, Day 0)