Vroom! Thousands of bikers roll into Memphis for national Roundup

A visitor to a place named Tiger Lane might expect to hear roaring.

But the deep incessant growl rumbling across Tiger Lane this week has a mechanical rather than natural source. This never-ending roar is not created by the throats of carnivores. It is produced by the engines of motorcycles.

This week, the former "fairgrounds" area near the Liberty Bowl that includes Tiger Lane and Liberty Park is host to the 46th annual National Bikers Roundup, a gathering that is expected to attract tens of thousands of bikers and their "hot throbbing machines," to quote the tagline of the 1970 biker movie, "Angels Ride Hard."

Exploitation movies often portrayed motorcycle gangs as "Mad dogs from hell!," to quote another ad campaign (this one for "Naked Angels," in 1969). But the motorcycle club members who this week transformed Liberty Park into a campground of RVs and tents explained their enthusiasm with words that wouldn't sell many tickets at the drive-in: "Community service." "Brotherhood." "Family."

“Every time I get on a motorcycle, it’s me and my dad,” said Durrell “Mr. Black” Mackey, 54, referring to his father, Harrison “Drac” Mackey — yes, “as in Dracula,” Durrell said — who passed away in 2020.

“My father introduced me to this life,” said Mackey, national president of the Memphis-based Street Hoggs motorcycle club. ”So there’s no limit to the miles, as long as I got my dad with me. I’m living his legacy, living his dream.”

Founded in 1977 in Kansas City, Missouri, with just a handful of bikers, the National Bikers Roundup is an annual gathering that now attracts tens of thousands of mostly Black motorcyclists to a different city each year. This year's event, which began Tuesday and ends Sunday, marks the first time the Roundup has been to Memphis.

Memphis Tourism officials say the bikers will spend millions of dollars on meals and hotels in the city, even if thousands of them camp out in tents and RVs at Liberty Park, which is being transformed into a sort of "Woodstock with Wheels" for the weekend: a mini-city with music stages, food trucks and meal halls.

"Some call it a lifestyle," said Jevon "Von-Diesel" Itson of Memphis, chairman of the Roundup.

The majority of the bikers are expected to roll into town by Friday. Earlier in the week, such "early birds" as Jerard Rogers, 58, were mostly taking it easy, saving up their energy for evening rides to Beale Street and other Memphis locales.

Wednesday, Rogers basked in the shade of a large banner that proclaimed his allegiance to the Trojans, a motorcycle club in Columbus, Ohio. "We're known. The Trojans are known," he said, confidently, adding he had attended "15 to 20" roundups.

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Memphis Tourism officials say they expect about 30,000 bikers, but Itson said he believes as many as 100,000 motorcyclists could come to Memphis this week, providing an immense economic boost to the city.

"We're hoping to springboard this to some sort of annual event," said Itson, who rides a Harley-Davidson Street Glide as a member of the Samurai Kings club. He said Memphians should welcome such gatherings, because contrary to the "bad image" of bikers often promoted in the media, the African American clubs at the Roundup largely devote themselves to "community service" projects, not unlike the Kiwanis and Rotary clubs. "The fellowship, the brotherhood, the sisterhood, that's what it's all about."

Roundup attendees affirmed that their clubs were, essentially, family-friendly. Many said they were second- or third-generation bikers who had their first ride on a hog or chopper before they were in kindergarten. Some extended families, such as the Moselys of Bloomington, Indiana, and the Baileys of Kankakee, Illinois, met up in Memphis, for a sort of reunion. "We're like a family within a family," said Chip Mosely of Bloomington, Indiana, referring to the group's status within the "community" of the Roundup.

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Russell and Cheryl Bailey were not exactly emulating Evel Knievel. They arrived in Memphis on a "trike," a three-wheeled Harley-Davidson Tri Glide, which provides more stability and safety than a traditional two-wheeler, not to mention more comfort: The bike has a passenger-friendly sort of back seat, so the couple can continue to indulge in open-road, open-air activity even as they approach 80.

"I like to be in the nature of it all," explained Russell Bailey, 75. But Cheryl, 72, who rides in the passenger seat, thinks even the "trike" could use some improvement. "That cushion takes some getting used to," she said.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: National Bikers Roundup rides into Memphis: Here's a look at the event