Revved up in Daytona

By Edmund D. Foutain, Times Staff
Published March 9, 2008

Daytona Beach's annual Bike Week is all about spectacle. Chrome gets attention, so does burning rubber.
	[Edmund D. Fountain]

Daytona Beach's annual Bike Week is all about spectacle. Chrome gets attention, so does burning rubber. When 19-year-old motorcyclist Corey Wertenberger, above, discovered a 3-inch nail in the rear tire of his Honda 600 F4i, he knew what to do. "I decided it was time to get a new one and to make a show out of it." One day and $160 later, he pulled into the Iron Horse Saloon's burnout pit in Ormond Beach, clicked into low gear and hit the gas. The engine roared, rubber smoke swirled. The tire exploded with a dull thud and the crowd went wild. He knew the Iron Horse was the place to make a scene. His dad used to ride, and he told him so. Dad also warned him to be gentle with his motorcycle. "If you screw up your bike, don't call me," Wertenberger recalls hearing. As he carefully backed his cycle out of the pit, antifreeze was already leaking from the motor, dripping into the dirt. At right, bikers pack Main Street in Daytona Beach on Thursday during the 67th annual Bike Week. In years past, the turnout has been estimated at 600,000, but it has been lower this year. Most blame the sluggish economy and rising gas prices.

[Last modified March 8, 2008, 23:23:00]