Agreed. Please hate yourself as you have described and double it on Sunday. You can only be an American if you do.
It's amazing how hate-filled we are and why this discussion has to be a competition of who's better. If you look at the track, it's anyone but Harley. If you look at sales, it's Harley / Honda. It's a shame that riders hold such grudges against other riders because of the purchase of an inanimate object. We sound like idiots when we do it - let's mature a little.
Now please, go out and ride. Please try to promote the hobby as a group effort rather than the factions that these posts tend to lead. Then, get a life and ride.
The analogy to the airplane, above, was funny. How can you seriously mix transportaion vehicles like that? And then broadly state that it's a guarantee that it's going to happen because you ride a Harley? Other bikes don't break down? Or any machine for that point? C'mon, let's get serious. Planes are (or should be!) maticulously maintained every so many hours to ensure they'll stay in the air. If you did that with any bike, it would not break down as often.
As for Harley leaving racing, I think it's a shame but the writing is on the wall. Unless HD could develop an entirely new technology that employs air-cooled twins (or liquid cooled) to produce equal engine power, attempting to win is futile. Also, like most competitions, you shouldn't enter something unless you really think you can win based on engineering /skill (and preparation). The engineering was not there to compete and there appeared to be basic rules, like the bike needs to be as Harley-looking as possible because we need to sell on Monday (after losing on Sunday?? Another mystery of HD success). I would have rather HD built a secret track, create the bike that would compete to win, and introduce the bike into racing. HD could have, at a minimal, looked competent in their effort. Look at Dodge, another much maligned company. When they went back into racing, there was a clear expectation that the cars would compete to win and they claimed most of the better pole positions after being out of racing since the late '70's. If they would have won the first race (sorry to see you go, Dale), maybe we could have had 2 good things happen - restored faith in a Mopar product and Dale would still be here, rather than blocking cars behind him and hitting a wall @ 1 million MPH. I blame HD for this (preparation - not Dale Earnheart hitting a wall!); they appeared to just put a bike on the track with 'the best they had @ the time' and try to let drivers win the races. It doesn't look to intelligent.
Lastly, it appears that mass producing bikes is not the key to success. Kawasaki and Suzuki just announced they will perform certain business functions together to save money. Read the quote in the article. They're losing market share and state that HD is taking market share from them in JAPAN !!! Not to say there's fire were there's smoke, but it appears that the American culture is not the only culture that appreciates HD. Also, there is a problem w/ manufacturers and China. There are limited copyright / patent laws in China and there are firms 'stealing' the names of motorcycle manufacturers with slightly different names (like 'Suzuka') and selling motorcycles much cheaper. Much like what Japan did to the US market in the '70's. If there are trade sanctions in Japan against China, like there were for HD against Japan, will the Japanese bike riders recant on this (stupid) point? We should all be glad that there is an envornment, the USA, that allows open competition for ALL competitors. And when there is an unfair advantage, perceived or real, the government steps in to ensure competition.
God speed.
