Last month, I packed up my 1978 Dodge van with my freshly-complete 1978 Harley-DavidSchwinn chopper bicycle and headed to Dubuque, IA to Vintage Torque Fest for the first time since 2022.
My son made the trip as well. I was camping in my van and he took the tent.
This event was the official debut of my Harley-DavidSchwinn. I chopped up a pink & white 1978 Schwinn Stingray Fairlady, extended the frame and forks, painted it in a faux patina & Harley 75th Anniversary theme, added BMX mags (that I also painted), and put an absolutely ridiculous stainless steel sissy bar on it. Nate from the van club reupholstered the banana seat in distressed leather. The whole thing turned out awesome.
The dust in the air during sunset over the dirt oval looked other-worldly.
After the races were over, they sprayed down the track and held a demolition derby.
Later, after it was nice and dark, there was a flamethrowing exhibition.
The finale was three flame throwing vehicles going simultaneously.
Left Lane Cruiser sounded really good but it was getting chilly so I headed to bed after a little while.
It was so cold overnight (low 30s and frosty). We didn't sleep well at all but were finally greeted by the sun and some clear skies.
Speedy was the demolition derby winner.
I managed to grab a golf cart ride with John Wells (organizer of the event) to get some much-needed hot coffee and breakfast.
Here are some of the other vans I spotted at Torque Fest:
I should have known better, but bicycles are truly the wrong vehicles for Torque Fest. My son and I should have brought our mini bikes but we ended up walking to the far side of the fairground camping area to enjoy some of the Tough Mudder mini bike racing. We don't have the right kind of mini bikes to participate in the event, but it would have made getting around the campground area a lot easier as it's quite large.
Mini bike burnout area:
That's about half of the photos I took... Come back tomorrow to see the rest.
