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I have helped quite a few folks at their first trackdays and I get as excited as they do. That "holy crap that was awesome" I hear is just priceless.
The single most important thing I have done with 2 wheels is basically offer an everything included trackday (except the bike) to someone who had never been, I took nominations with strict requirements:
1. Someone who has helped a fellow rider out
2. Someone who NEEDS a trackday (in the hopes they would chill-out on the street)
Couple people nominated this Marine that bought an R1 that rode like a total squid. Nice guy but S Q U I D....So I buy him his ticket, I find him leathers to borrow, I pick him and his bike up and we get to the track (Chuckwalla) the night before and have some adult beverages. I give him the low-down on a trackday and even bring my control rider buddies over to talk jedi to him and we decide to walk the ENTIRE track at 12:10am (this is now a tradition)
Long story short, although he was dragging random body parts BEFORE lunch, he finished the day without incident. After the first few sessions he just kept saying "this is awesome, THANK YOU!", smiling ear to ear.
Fast forward a few years and that squid on his R1 is now a Total Control Advanced Riding Instructor, a licensed racer who podiumed in novice middleweight his first time out, a control rider for 2WTD, he started a business designed to help get new riders to the track (not for profit), and he is one of my best friends on this planet.
To this day he tells me that I might have just saved his life by introducing him to the track and lecturing him to chill the **** out on the street. I doubt that is true but man does it feel good either way.
Now I ask HIM for help, he calls me his track-dad, but regardless we still do our trackwalk all 2.7 something miles of it at Chuckwalla at 12:10am, every time. Biggest difference? HE buys the whiskey! LOL
Help somebody get to the track and you might get paid back ten-fold.
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