2010 ABA Grand National’s
November 25-28 2010 Thanksgiving Weekend!
Oklahoma has the GREAT honor of hosting the ABA Grand National’s every year in Tulsa, Oklahoma. This is the biggest ABA National of the year! We wanted to post a few things to help you prepare for this awesome event. The picture below gives you some idea of how big this race is.
THE EXPO SQUARE in TULSA, OKLAHOMA
Tidbits of advice on Grand’s:
On the ABA’s web site you can find a lot of information about the Grand National’s and ROC (Race of Champions) at www.ababmx.com.
-Hotel- Book your hotel now. It is Thanksgiving weekend, and there will be around 500 moto’s at the Grand’s so the hotel’s book up fast! When calling hotel’s, always remember to ask if they have a BMX discount, I have found that most of them in the Tulsa area are familiar with the crowds that come in for Grand's and have discounts available for us. You will want to bring your bikes in with you to your hotel room, you don’t want to leave them in your vehicle or trailer. We have always wheeled them right into our room and have never had any one question us doing this. Tulsa Hotels: http://www.tulsahotels.org/home.asp
-Presign- If you are able, you will want to pre-sign you or your rider for this race. Go to www.ababmx.com to pre-sign. The sign up line at this event can be a mile long! If you do pre-sign...when you get there the ABA will have sheets of paper posted in front of their trailer with all the pre-signed riders on it. Be sure you check it and make sure your on there.
-Lock- The most important tip: Bring a lock and cable and use it. Bikes are stolen every year at Grand's! Be sure to talk to your kids about this and make sure they are ALWAYS keeping an eye on their bike or locking it up. There will be fencing around the bleachers and it's easy enough to lock your bike to that. The ABA will also set up some cables in the upstairs vendor/pits area which bikes may be locked to. Vendors will have locks and cables for sale on site, but it'll be cheaper if you remember to bring one from home.
-Cushions/Entertainment- We are planning on having a “Yukon BMX”
(or “Oklahoma”) section in the stands again this year. We will have a YUKON BMX
banner hung up and a section roped off where we can all sit together all weekend
to cheer our kids on. We won't know where our area will be until we get there on
Wednesday, so when you get there come look for us!
You will spend a fair amount of time sitting in the bleachers during this event so bring something soft (stadium seats, blankets, etc) to sit on to make this a much more positive experience. Also note that in the "hundreds and hundreds" of motos, there's some down time before your moto comes up. A book to read, some music, whatever, but some form of entertainment will help the time pass. You'll also want to spend some time walking/looking around. You'll get to meet a ton of pros, see the new stuff coming out from the manufacturers, look for deals on new/used stuff for sale, see some old friends and make some new ones. The pro’s also usually do an autograph signing at the ABA’s booth, they usually provide you with a blank ABA number plate or a poster to have all the pro’s sign it for you as a souvenir to take home. For the kids, every year I have seen kids wearing Heelies (the shoes with the wheels in them) this building is perfect for them, wide open. I’ve also seen razor scooters and things like that.
-Spending Money- The ABA has a booth set up with all ABA merchandise. There are tons of venders in the building, tons of good deals on used BMX stuff. You might think about planning to bring a little extra cash just in case you find that deal of a lifetime.
-The Pro’s- Make it a point to watch the Pro motos. You have no idea how fast somebody can go on one of these little bikes until you see one. The ABA has a PRO Spectacular event on Friday night, $8 per ticket, where the top amateurs and the top pros race. This is a good show to see, well worth paying the admission for the whole family. From what I remember....the races were over around 5ish and they clear the building out to get ready for the Pro Spectacular and then they start letting people back in at 6 or so I think for the show that starts at 7:30.
-Snacks- Bring some! There are food venders there but they aren’t cheap and this is a four day event. We usually take a backpack in with our snacks and have an ice chest in our vehicle to make sandwiches during the day.
-Thanksgiving Dinner- This is one part of BMX that is hard to get used to. Grand’s is always on Thanksgiving weekend…..no more family gatherings for Thanksgiving unless you can talk them all into coming with you to Grand's. We have to make the best of it. One year we booked a hotel with a kitchen and made our Thanksgiving dinner with BMX families from the track. The next year we ate at the cafeteria at the Expo Square at the Grand’s; it was a buffet style traditional Thanksgiving dinner. It was pretty pricy from what I remember being around $12.50 per person, but convenient.
-The Hardware!-
These are the biggest BMX trophies you will ever see! Hopefully you get to bring
one home! .jpg)
-First timer's to race the Grand's- When moto's are posted, they take up an entire wall. Look for your moto, write it down or take a picture of it. If you have qualifying moto's that you've never had before (semi's or quarter main's), come to the Yukon section where we will be sitting for the weekend and ask someone to help you figure it out. For those who have never been and those that are very young....the staging area can be very intimidating especially when you have never been to an event this large. Parent's you will want to help your rider through this process and make sure they get in their moto. They will call their moto and line them up in chutes. In years past I have brought an mp3 player that has a built in FM tuner, the ABA broadcasts the National on the radio and this can really help you to be able to hear what moto they are on, this is a huge building with a lot of noise going on and the last thing you want to do is lose track of what moto they are on and miss your moto.
The Grand National's is an experience you will never forget. Spend time with your family, cheer your racer on, visit the vendors and just hang out with friends and have a good time!
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This is all the info we have for now about making the trip to Grand's. We will add info from time to time as needed. If you have anything you would like to add that you think may be helpful on this page please email it to Kristimccloskey@cox.net.
