Every rider has a mental bucket list of places they hope to visit someday. Before I hang up my helmet for the last time, I dream of riding the 48 snake-like curves of Stelvio Pass in the Italian Alps or standing shoulder-to-shoulder with other fanatics along a stone wall, watching bikes fly by at the Isle of Man TT. Closer to home, spending a couple of months unplugged from the world while touring the United States is yet another goal.
As a BMW rider, I’ve long wanted to travel to Germany in early July to experience BMW Motorrad Days in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, where tens of thousands of motorcycle enthusiasts from 50 different countries gather to celebrate everything BMW Motorrad. Until last summer at our National Rally in Lebanon, I didn’t know of any other place where I could see riders taking on the Wall of Death.
In early October, I finally got my chance to ride to Barber Motorsports Park near Birmingham, Alabama, for BMW Motorrad Days Americas 2025. BMW Motorrad USA became the title sponsor of Barber’s Vintage Festival in 2023–the year of BMW’s 100th anniversary celebration.
Like Motorrad Days in Germany, the U.S. version has become wildly popular, drawing more than 80,000 visitors who enjoyed demo rides, vintage bike racing, food trucks, live entertainment, special BMW guests, a beer garden, and a fan zone featuring BMW partners, including the BMW MOA and BMW Performance Center, among many others.
Barber’s Vintage Festival, already one of the world’s largest motorcycle festivals, offers three days of vintage motorcycle racing, including road racing, flat track, and motocross, along with a broad lineup of vendors and more vintage motorcycles–both ridden in and on display–than you’ll ever see in one place. On top of that, the Barber Vintage Motorcycle Museum allows visitors to view the world’s largest collection of vintage motorcycles, along with an eclectic mix of automobiles and, surprisingly, some beautifully restored vintage outboard motors. It’s truly Candyland for any gearhead.
Though I’ve visited Barber Motorsports Park several times before, I’d never been there during a special event. I’d only gone to experience the museum, which is amazing in itself. This visit, however, felt completely different from the moment we rolled through the gates.
As we made our way to the parking lot, the first area we passed was a large gathering of vintage bikes hosted by the Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club. I quickly found myself staring at the beautifully restored machines, a couple of which took me back to my roots. I knew I needed to get off the bike and start exploring.
Pulling off my helmet, one of the first sounds I heard was a chaotic, bumblebee-like buzzing as a line of small-displacement two-stroke motocross bikes left the starting line just a hundred yards away. My excitement began to rise.
From there, I walked through BMW’s Fan Zone and their impressive displays of new motorcycles and merchandise. Motorcycles of all makes and models were parked everywhere, almost as if riding in was a requirement for entry. Behind the vendors was Barber’s world-class track, where racers pushed their old bikes to the limit–the sound of these old bikes roaring past was intoxicating. As I watched, I could only wonder where you’d find a replacement crankshaft for a 50-year-old Ducati or Triumph.
“Not a problem,” a racer on a 1974 Honda CR 125 Elsinore told me. “You just need to know where to look,” he said, blipping the throttle before riding toward the starting line.
Walking away from the MX track, I was certain I wanted to get back into motocross racing at some level. It’s only the fear of not being able to walk on Mondays that’s keeping me from moving forward.
What made BMW Motorrad Days and Vintage Festival so special was being transported back to my early days as a rider and feeling the shared enthusiasm all around me.
I suggest adding BMW Motorrad Days at Barber Motorsports Park to your bucket list. You’ll be reminded–as I was–just how lucky we all are to experience life on two wheels.
