Sturgis Motorcycle Rally

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Motorcycles lined up on Main Street during the Sturgis motorcycle rally.

The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is an American motorcycle rally held annually in Sturgis, South Dakota each first full week of August. The first rally was held on August 14, 1938, by the Jackpine Gypsies Motorcycle Club who still own and operate the tracks, hillclimb, and field areas around which the rally is centered. The first rally lasted two days and was focused on racing and stunts. The founder is generally considered to be Clarence "Pappy" Hoel, who is still honored in various ways by the crowd at Sturgis.

The focus of a motorcycle rally was originally racing and stunts. This could include half-mile track racing (the first year in Sturgis, there were 19 participants), board wall crashes (intentional), ramp jumps and head-on collisions with automobiles.

The Sturgis Rally has been held every year, with exceptions during World War II.

In recent years, there has been a revitalization of motorcycling and a new group of fans that are interested in the old rallies. This has led to huge attendance numbers for classic rallies such as Sturgis. Attendance was estimated at 514,951 in 2004, and 525,250 in 2005—statistics rivaling the state's population, 754,844 in 2000. Many of the new attendees of the Sturgis Rally are family people, bringing their children with them and often driving trailers and campers to the rally and riding their motorcycles the last few miles. This has prompted several of the attendees to start wearing patches and shirts saying "I Rode Mine to Sturgis" with the date instead of the traditional patch stating that the wearer attended the event in such-and-such a year.

In 1997, the crew from the COPS television series attended the rally, as well as Dennis Rodman. From 1996 to 1999, it also featured a WCW wrestling pay-per-view television program called Road Wild.

Annual television coverage of the festival by the VH1 Classic network includes interviews and performances as well as rock music videos. The rally was featured in 2005 as part of the ESPN SportsCenter promotion 50 States in 50 Days.