Bike show founder knows all about motorcycle safety

The 10th annual United Auto Workers-General Motors-Harley Davidson Bike Show was Thursday.
By TIM YOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
LORDSTOWN -- They call him "Bones" at the General Motors Lordstown Complex, and he preaches motorcycle safety.
Gary Mowen, the owner of that nickname, should know, having been 38 seconds away from death because he wasn't wearing a helmet when he crashed his motorcycle about a year ago.
"I wear my helmet now," the GM retiree said, displaying the long scars across his forehead.
Mowen is a founder of the United Auto Workers-General Motors-Harley Davidson Bike Show at the complex. The show celebrated its 10th anniversary Thursday.
Awareness month
About 70 "Harley Hogs" roared around Lordstown into the plant as part of May's being National Motorcycle Awareness Month.
The event also was to raise about $20,000 for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Center and Hospice of the Valley.
Tom Mock, complex spokesman, said the event is one of the highlights of the year designed to alert motorists that motorcycles are back on the highways with the good weather.
It also raises employee enthusiasm more than any other plant event, he said.
During the 24 hours that began Thursday, 130 prizes were raffled as employees purchased tickets for $1 each.
Wearing his red, white and blue Uncle Sam suit and tall hat, Mowen rode into the complex on the back of a Harley.
The accident
Mowen recalled about a year ago when he was riding his cycle along state Route 534, just outside of Newton Falls, when he crashed at between 40 and 45 mph.
He was lying on his back and bleeding badly. Then, Mowen said, he saw two angels hovering over him and then blow on him.
Later, a priest told him they were guardian angels.
When he emerged from a coma 21 days later, his doctors told him he was just 38 seconds from death when he arrived at the hospital.
He had severe head and facial injuries, and three blood clots were removed. He was released from the hospital 56 days after the accident.
"It's a miracle," Mowen said of his survival.
yovich@vindy.com