This was cool...

[dagus]

At the CycleWorld International Moto Show in NYC last weekend:

Had Billy Lane sign my leathers. I met him at last year's show too - nicest guy you'd ever want to meet. I dig the stuff he builds - particularly his Hubless chop. If this dude ever builds a streetfighter, I'd beg steal or borrow to ride it.

They had a Vincent Black Shadow there too. Had to grab a photo with the Bike of the Sausage Creature!

[Crash]

While he was signing your leathers did you ask Billy Lane about his little drunk driving incident? You know the one where he was driving drunk and on a suspended liscense from his previous DWI charge. The one where he crossed the double yellow line to make an illegal pass and hit another motorcyclist (riding a scooter) head on and killed him.

Yeah I would love to have an autograph from a guy like that he seems really awesome...

"F" that guy I hope he does some serious jail time.

[dagus]

Previous thread's here if anyone's interested:

http://www.hawkgtforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=545&highlight=billy+lane

Yeah, a day or two later I was surfing around and was reminded of this. Kinda felt like a tool, being all excited to meet him again and forgetting all about the rider's death. When the story broke, my thing was, I wanted to see how he reached out to the family, if at all. That was going to make or break my opinion of the guy. The story disappeared from the headlines shortly after it happened, and honestly, I forgot about it... otherwise, I wouldn't have gone to that booth for an autograph, I'd have been there for answers.

Dammit, I had his attention for a second - I wish I'd had the presence of mind to have confronted him with it and see what his reaction was, and if he had anything to say for himself. Opportunity lost.

I've been a fan of his work for a while, and he's always seemed very humble and gracious both in the media & when I've met him... but I still don't know how he handled taking responsibility (or not). It was only September when it happened, I think - he may still be in court.

God bless that scooter rider's family.

[brewsy]

Dont beat yourself up too much Doug.
I too feel he's a bit of a prick, who I also like, but when youve had a hero for a while its very easy to forget recent history.
Hopefully the courts will do their thing, Billy will serve out whatever hes given and fingers crossed learn his F'ing lesson and stop drink driving!!

As an aside I met two 'real' heroes at the show.
First off was Peter Williams from the UK. This guy was a top racer and helped design the JPS Nortons that succesfully raced at Daytona in the early 70's.

http://www.nortonracing.co.nz/commandos.html

And then on the BUB landspeed record holder site (350mph!!!) and 7 time Flat Track champ Chris Carr!!

http://www.chriscarr.com/

As ever with these top racers they were a pleasure to talk to and had that 'thousand yard stare' thing down to a T. You just know that when they put their minds to achieving something it HAPPENS...

[dagus]

I'm posting more links on the old Billy Lane thread. I'm trying to find out what happened with the courts.

[a13x]

That's lame of the Cycle World event promotors to even have that no-talent assclown there.


I was hit and about 2mm's from killed by a drunkdriver, they all can rot.

[dagus]

I may have to find some paint thinner.

[dagus]

Okay, now I'm just venting:



If he's found not guilty and never says anthing more about it... if he does his time but never makes a statement to the family... if he doesn't come out of this as the uber-converted freaking spokesperson for MADD or SADD or something, I'm scrubbing that shit off my jac with turpentine.

I believe in second (3rd?) chances (as a therapist it's my living - I see detox patients all the time) but it drives me crazy that he's not even making a statement... because of that above everything else he's coming off as a total lowlife. I wanna see some heavyduty remorse.

[MrDude_1]

I believe in second (3rd?) chances (as a therapist it's my living - I see detox patients all the time) but it drives me crazy that he's not even making a statement... because of that above everything else he's coming off as a total lowlife. I wanna see some heavyduty remorse.

if it was me, i probably wouldnt be announcing it to the world over and over again either... even though id feel horrible about it and regret it for the rest of my life.
just because he didnt say anything to you about it, or hold a press conference to re-announce it to the media, doesnt mean hes not remorseful.


just a different perspective.


in anycase, im not judging the entire content of ones character by one stupid mistake... ive seen good people make bad choices before, so im not so quick to judge anymore.

just think of it this way.. what if you went to pass someone on your hawk, and didnt see some oncoming car.. the car swerved to avoid you and killed the family inside.
one stupid choice.

does that make you an evil person?
should you go around telling everyone you see that you're responsible for their deaths, and you're sorry?
or would you yourself, apologize once and keep quiet... even if its tormenting you inside for the rest of your life?

[dagus]

I completely agree with that. That's well put. Although, it's the fact that he's never apologized and is pleading not guilty that I think is bad.

Like I said, I believe in redemption. But he's not acknowledged his guilt once.

[MrDude_1]

I completely agree with that. That's well put. Although, it's the fact that he's never apologized and is pleading not guilty that I think is bad.

Like I said, I believe in redemption. But he's not acknowledged his guilt once.

i would like you to think about your statement.

this is a man whos entire life will depend on him not admitting guilt. it may be eating away at him. it may not. that is irrelevant.


if he says guilty... hes going to jail for most of his life. away from his family. to sit and rot for a stupid nights mistake.

there is no way he would or even should plead guilty.



that said... of course he cant publicly acknowledge his guilt... i cannot blame him for this.

[MrDude_1]

btw, heres exactly what i expect:

after the gavel falls... then he either apologizes for this tragedy on the courthouse steps... or infront of the judge before hes hauled off.

thats when i expect it.

[dagus]

Hadn't seen it from that perspective... gee, I got schooled today!

So, here's what I'm imagining Billy's faced with: when he sobers up, he's told he killed somebody when he got drunk and crashed his truck. If he makes a statement of guilt, any statement, the courts will definitely throw him in jail for life or close to it - his life's over. If he pleads not guilty, and is found not guilty, he gets to reconcile his guilt on his own terms on the outside. Either way he lives with the guilt... either way it's up to him to reconcile with that guilt. And yeah, MrDude, I'd rather see him sorry for what he's done than sorry he got caught. You're making some good points here.

Playing devil's advocate for a moment... what's the maximum sentence for vehicular manslaughter in Florida? I wonder if it's really life, or if it's more like a few years? Maybe doing his time and getting sober wouldn't be a bad thing. But then, no one can make a person stay sober. You do when you're ready.

[dagus]

btw, heres exactly what i expect:

after the gavel falls... then he either apologizes for this tragedy on the courthouse steps... or infront of the judge before hes hauled off.

thats when i expect it.

Yeah, me too.

[MrDude_1]

max would be alot of money and 5 years..... according to what i just googled

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLG,GGLG:2006-13,GGLG:en&q=maximum+sentence+for+vehicular+manslaughter+in+Florida

its more in alot of states.. thats actually lenient