50 Years In The Making

Memorial Day weekend 2022 was unusual. I had driven to Wichita, Kansas to see friends, one of whom mentioned that a unique motorcycle race was happening to the north in Florence, KS about an hour away. It is called the Florence Grand Prix, and the last time it had been raced was in the 1970s. This Memorial Day the town was celebrating its 150th birthday, which just happened to coincide with the Grand Prix’s 50th anniversary.

The starting point for the modern bike racers.

I am pretty sure that once I had driven a few miles north of Wichita, there was nothing but farms and occasional grain silos breaking the horizon. And it was a humid, windy and dusty day — the usual for Kansas heading into summertime.

The race circuit was about 8-10 miles through town, through wooded areas, through farm fields, and a few water hazards. So, 12 laps made it just about 100 miles in total.

This modern race was more of a celebration of what had been in the 1970s, and the organizers were trying to make this race safer and more fun, for racers and the audience. However, as a spectator at the launch site, I thought these racers were giving it their all.

Not only did a lot of people come out to race in this little Kansas town, but in addition to what looked like the whole population of Florence in attendance, there were spectators from all over.

What struck me most was how this race brought people together. The racers themselves often were family members competing on a generational level. Some participants were in their 80s and some were barely teenagers. Quite a few times I saw images that you just don’t get to see every day.

Providing some wisdom to the new generation.

As I was leaving Florence, a local stopped me and asked where I had come from. I told him the story of visiting friends in Wichita, and he commented that he had spoken to a few from as far as Illinois that made it to Florence that day. We might just have a new Memorial Day pastime in Florence, KS.

Here’s the first race from 1972 - https://youtu.be/l-XLWVlhXqk

Here’s some footage from 2022 - https://youtu.be/chnnIlRU4No

Renovatio

Renovatio — Latin for renewal. It was on this day that I decided to bring back the original A&A brand, along with some new stuff, and harness what is really important and express a hopeful intent of solving problems and meeting needs for compelling photographic, video, and textual content to adorn your walls or tell your story.

During 2020 and into 2021, we went back to basics. We built an appreciation for the analog, which unexpectedly led to more appreciation for the digital. We started to see things differently, looking around the subject and understanding how everything in the frame affected the story.

We discovered that when it’s all boiled down to what’s really important, a lot of the extras just aren’t needed. Here is Air & Asphalt. It has evolved since it began in 2016, but the original intent is alive and well. We want to translate our passions into work for you to enjoy and tell your own stories.