Ventura, CA~Dec.14~ Holy crap! I wasn’t sure if it was the glare of the bright sunshine glancing off the tide of the Pacific Ocean or the flare outs of the sun dancing across the chrome of all those sexy bikes, but whatever it was, the shit was seriously hurting my eyes. Time to pull down my kool-daddy sunglasses and cruise the biker bling sprawled out along the turf at the Seaside Park Fairgrounds in Ventura, CA. From the regal antiques to the modern-day-made-to-look-old baggers, the array of bikes entered in the David Mann Chopper Fest bike show was a truly awesome sight. Even the Rat bikes were a work of art and the over 4,000 attendees at the show were treated to a rare and beautiful thing. The spirit of David Mann was everywhere.

Along the perimeter of the venue, over 200 vendors had laid out their wares as veteran shoppers cruised the isles with little wagons in tow, scooping up the precious parts needed to complete an individual’s build. One man’s junk is another man’s chopper, after all.

Tory DuVarney, the promoter of the Chopper Fest, said, “We really do our best to create a show that David Mann would be proud of and would have attended. We try and keep his vision of the chopper and the lifestyle around it alive. The swap meet is a big part of that because that truly is where all the parts were found to build these amazing machines.”

But the swap meet was but a part of the whole shin dig down on the beach. Ron Segal Fine Art put on a display of David Mann original paintings as Mann’s daughter, Tracy, greeted folks and sold Mann memorabilia near the stage where Charlie Brechtel and his band belted out biker ballads over the course of the day. Included in the performance was a David Mann tribute song, “Ghost Rider," dedicated to the legendary biker artist who began painting centerfolds for Easyriders in the magazine’s infancy and passed away in 2004.

Jennifer Scott played Chopper Fest “hostess with the mostess,” in her strapless dress that showed off her spiffy tattoos. Completing the ensemble were the bright red Chuck Taylors that set off her calf tatts as she became a blurr across the stage, directing partiers and emceeing the activities in between belting out a set with Charlie.

Joining the crew on stage was Jennifer’s pal, Cody Marks from Sawgrass Records, who helped the troubadours perform an original rendition of Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire." Meanwhile, across the venue, the Ventura Derby Darlins crashed their way through a roller derby exhibition that had folks screaming their encouragement as the gals battled out a match.

While all this activity kept the masses entertained, the real “wow” of the show was the amazing motorcycles. Labors of love sat gleaming in all their glory, awaiting the nod from the judges, Easyrider’s Dave Nichols and Biker magazine’s Dean Shawler were but two of the officials, and the guys had their work cut out for them. By party’s end, a mere 35 of the 150 entries were bestowed with awards. Doug Dorr, a famous Kustom Kulture artist/pin stripper whose work was sponsored by Gary Bang H- D, made the top trophies, original works of art in their own right.

The David Mann Memorial award, a prize presented to the bike which best typifies the kind of bike that would have caught David’s discerning eye and would have fuelled the spirit of his work, was given to Phil Swanson for his 1943 Knucklehead Chopper built by Paul Wheeler.

Here's that fine Knucklehead chopper.

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