Wow. What a trip. There is more info about the day on each page. but here are the days I was gone.

The History of Sturgis:

The start of the Sturgis Rally began on August 14, 1938 when J.C. "Pappy" Hoel, a resident motorcycle storeowner, and some pals came up with the plan of promoting motorcycle races and a stunt-riding competition. The first year had nineteen racers at the half-mile track and some entertaining events such as board-wall crashes, ramp jumps and head-on collisions with cars. Local businesses came together and put up the $500 prize money. If the bikers were silly enough to do it, they were silly enough to put up the money!! Each year the event grew as racers, promoters and spectators learned of the event. World War II caused the races to be cancelled for two years when so many of our brave young men went to war.

As soon as the war was over, the Sturgis event started to grow as the motorcycling lifestyle gained popularity. Over one thousand motorcyclists attended the program in the city park during the 1965 rally. By the time the mid '80s came, the attendance numbers climbed into the tens of thousands. For the 50th Anniversary in 1990, approximately 400,000 bikers came to party.

In 1999, the event drew 275,000 - 290,000 people from around the world. The biggest event of all happened in 2000, the 60th Anniversary. The estimated attendance was 550,000 - 633,000.

Here are some of the stats that came out about the 2003 Sturgis Rally:

Estimated Attendance: 450,000
Marriage Licenses Issued: 100
Rally-Related Deaths - SD: 6
Felony Drug Arrests - Sturgis: 8
Misdemeanor Drug Arrests - Sturgis: 84
Arrests for Non-Traffic Violations - Sturgis: 230
Traffic Violations - Sturgis: 172