Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

Race workers Barry and Claire McMahan have won the Central Motorcycle Roadracing Association’s (CMRA) Son of the Beach contest, an all-expenses-paid trip to the 2003 AMA/World Superbike event at Laguna Seca in Monterey, California.

The contest idea spawned from the CMRA’s Race to the Beach contest, a program originally designed by racer and home improvement contractor Eric Kelcher to reward the Texas-based CCS affiliate’s top Expert and Amateur racers with sponsored rides at the CCS Race of Champions event at Daytona International Speedway.

“This contest was indeed inspired by the Race to the Beach (RTB) contest that has departed (the CMRA) to the national scene,” Brooks Gremmels, President of the CMRA, wrote in an e-mail to Roadracingworld.com. The Race to the Beach program has become a national-level award with CCS.

“At first the thought was to emulate the RTB contest, keeping it at the CMRA level where my loyalties are found,” Gremmels’ e-mail continued. “The more I thought about it, the less I wanted to see another contest that targets the fastest guys. Why not reward and recognize some of those who make it possible for all of us to race?

“The decision was made to give the SOB prize to the hardest-working two people within the CMRA, Barry and Claire McMahan. Barry coordinates our cornerworkers, gets disabled bikes back to the pits during endurance races, maintains the two-way radios and works in Race Control when we need the help. His wife Claire, does it all. Claire orders all CMRA merchandise and markets it for the club. She arranges to get our cornerworkers fed on race days and makes sure that we have enough cornerworkers on hand for a race weekend. Claire also organizes and maintains both the CMRA Injured Rider’s Fund and the CMRA Air Fence Fund.”

The McMahans, who plan to retire from working races after this season, will fly from Texas to Monterey, California, be provided with a rental car, hotel accommodations, tickets to the races, food and will be special guests at an annual dinner hosted by Gremmels’ Shogun Motorsports. The McMahans will also get to see their son, Barry McMahan, Formula Xtreme Crew Chief for Graves Yamaha’s Damon Buckmaster, in action. The McMahans haven’t seen Barry working at the races in person since 1999.

“A number of people in the industry have contacted me to ask how they might be included in next year’s SOB contest,” wrote Gremmels. “They like the idea of showing some love to the workers that make our racing possible. The CMRA welcomes this kind of support. It couldn’t be going to a better cause!”