(Photo by Paul Conrad)

Acres of two-wheeled American-made iron glitter with sunstruck chrome. Myriad tents and thousands of campers speckle the fields and riverbanks. Long-bearded, leather-clad patrons saunter by to watch Harley-Davidson motorcycles tear down the drag strip in heated competition.With all this going on at the American Drag Bike Association’s National Finals at Beech Bend Raceway Park this weekend, what if somebody gets hurt?No problem — that was a doctor that just rumbled by on that sparkling Hawg.”The Harley crowd is losing it’s ‘boys in black’ image,” said ADBA co-owner Peggy Cheal, a Harley enthusiast and racer since age 4. “You still see some of the old crowd, but if you look at the demographics of the Harley crowd today, the average Harley rider is a 40ish-year-old male that makes about $60,000 a year.”Cheal said Harley motorcycles and cyclists alike have worked hard to shed the rowdy image of past decades.”Harley had the reputation of ‘don’t go anywhere without a bag full of wrenches’ but they’re actually a very reliable piece of cruising equipment. They’re America’s bikes, like Corvettes are America’s cars,” she said. “Years ago, when we had this event out here, things got a bit rowdy and out of hand. But we begged and pleaded and promised there wouldn’t be any more trouble. And it’s worked. We’ve had this for the last seven years with almost no problems. And every year, there’s about 1,000 to 2,000 more people out here than there were the year before.” David Martin, an Owensboro child development center construction contractor who also builds custom bikes and sells Harley-Davidson and Iron Horse motorcycles, agreed.”We’re in a changing era,” Martin said. “We have doctors, lawyers, blue-collar and white-collar alike in the scene now. You can shake hands with anybody out here and there’s no telling what their background will be.”So what lures yuppies, factory workers and retirees alike to the open road and the Harley scene? It’s the ride and the kinship, enthusiasts say.”It’s freedom,” said Richard Roosey, a retired plastics worker from Moreland and 25-year Harley rider. “It’s a group of people that everyone in the world should be able to feel like. Where else can you get 40,000 people together and there not be trouble? You probably couldn’t get 40,000 Christians together without there being a fight somewhere.” Kathleen Bailey and her brother, Jim, came from Pallos Hills, Ill., for the Harley mystique. Kathleen and her husband own a furniture repair shop; Jim owns an electrical supply company.”Everyone here has a common interest: The feeling of freedom, the wind in your hair,” Kathleen said.Jim said the bike itself made the American leather-and-road-warrior legend.”You can get the feeling of freedom from any bike,” he said. “But only a Harley gives you a feeling when you’re looking at it, when you’re talking about it, or hanging out with friends. When it comes to that, anything else is just a bike.”