A visit to the Honda dealership of Hap Poneleit in Sarasota, Florida is like a trip back in time. The dealership is a lot like Hap: it isn't the newest place, but you can sure get comfortable there in a hurry. You're free to just sit and talk, or you can do business at your pace.

Hap has a bird's-eye view on a big slice of motorcycling history. He can recount what it was like to get his big chance in the motorcycle world, starting a dealership with a partner back in 1948. He'll also share his thoughts about the first time the Honda roadman came by in 1961 with those funny little fledgling Japanese motorbikes. Hap obviously had an eye on the future because he dropped his then-primary line, switched to Honda, and never looked back!

With more than 40 years in the Honda motorcycle business, Hap's entire shop is a living legacy of sorts, with an unusually talented service department and a remarkable parts department. If a part isn't stocked in his vintage parts selection, his staff can pretty much make it from scratch with all the machine tools they have. And in a market where damaged painted parts are typically tossed and replaced, Hap operates a full time paint shop and repair facility.

If the staff seems like family, it's because they probably are family. Sons Bob and Dennis and daughter Alice were been bitten by the motorcycle bug long ago, and they carry on the Poneleit tradition today. It seems a weekend doesn't go by without a ride out the shop, be it a fun raiser for the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation or some sort of new twist on a poker run. Hap was quick to embrace the concept of supporting an HRCA Chapter and this active group of riders turns up at events not only in Florida but also all across the eastern United States.

Hap is at his best as he guides you up the stairs to the business office. The hall is lined with photos of days gone by and bold young riders on what are now considered vintage machines. At the top of the stairs a step-through Honda 50 stands watch over an entire crowd of machines. Each bike has a story and Hap knows them all. He can relive all the Jolly Roger Enduros, recount the shop's drag race adventures, and share the secrets of how they made those old Honda twins run so well on the short tracks and the road race circuits. A visit to Hap's is truly a trip down memory lane, with complete footnotes. Even though Hap just turned eighty years young, he still can be found at the dealership on a daily basis, talking about his adventures and his plans for the next eighty years.

When the Hoot moved to Knoxville last year he rode up with some special HRCA Chapter Members for the occasion. Yes, that's right, he rode! Just this spring some friends and customers got together to throw a surprise 80th birthday party for Hap. More than 150 people attended in person and many more who have been touched by Hap sent cards or letters. And what did all Hap's friends give him for his birthday? A cruise. Seems they all knew Hap wouldn't go if he thought about it so they packed his bags and sent him the next day!

As we were preparing this piece, we found another fellow rider who has known Hap for years. Here's what Cobra Engineering's Blaine Birchfield had to say:

"As a young man growing up in the motorcycle business beginning at the age of 16, my memories of Hap Poneleit focus on the interest he took in what we kids were doing and how he always treated us as equals. We were only young racers going to the racetracks, but we knew if Hap was there we had someone watching over us like we were his own kids. It would be my hope for young racers today to have someone like Hap to rely on.  

"Now that I have reached 62 years of age and am still actively involved in motorcycles, I am proud to have known and been friends with Hap all of these wonderful years. Not a single day passes that I don't remember something that Hap or Lewis Puckett taught me about the motorcycle business. The lessons learned early on from Hap and Mr. Puckett have been my compass throughout my motorcycle career and my life as well. To know someone beginning at age 16 to 62 is a good long time. I am fortunate it was Hap Poneleit."

With personal testimonies like that, it's easy to understand how folks around Sarasota call this Honda shop the real Hap-iest place on earth!