So here's the deal, back in the mid and late eighties St. Louis
had a mod centered scooter club called Deuce S.C. (or Double Deuce
S.C. depending on who you ask) and a fairly healthy mod scene,
and then... BIFF!
BANG! POW! the nineties arrived
and it all came to pieces. Some mods moved away, some just sort
of went underground and some gave up the ghost entirely. Scootering
wise, the St. Louis scene was dead. But here and there new scooter
owners would pop up, meeting each other at the last bastion of eighties
scootering in St. Louis, Mark Cook's house. Some bought their scooter
directly from him, some found bargains elsewhere but then came
to him for parts and direction. Either way, they started to hook
up with each other.
By 1993, regular Sunday rides were happening
with nearly a dozen or so participating, and a growing number of
their friends becoming interested. During the summers of 94, 95,
and 96; every week would find someone new getting a Vespa, and
the number attending out of town rallies growing. The local scene
went from strength to strength, so much so that in October 95,
Hard Luck held it's first rally which started with a ride of about
30 scooters from downtown St. Louis to Richwoods, MO sixty-five
miles away. As late October can be quite chilly in Missouri,
for 1996 the Hard Luck rally, dubbed Hot Rod Nationals, was moved
to Labor Day weekend, and was, on a Midwest scale, quite successful
with over 130 attendees enjoying themselves and over 60 scoots
present. For Labor Day 1997, thanks to the amazing growth of
the internet and its ability to connect scooterists from all over,
and a very good midwest rally season in general, the numbers went
up to close to 200 attendees bringing over 130 scooters and having
a riotous weekend to remember, with 1998's Scooter Rodeo being more
of the same to cap off our trilogy of Labor Day rallies.
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