By LINDA CHION KENNEY
The coronavirus pandemic shutdown and slowdown gave Milton Lilly a lot of time to think more deeply about his goals, which led to his decision to purchase a Polaris Slingshot.
That’s the beginning of the story that led retired U.S. Air Force veteran Lilly to join a like-minded group of Slingshot aficionados, who at The Regent in Riverview this month collected the award for Best Overall unit in the 2023 Greater Brandon Fourth of July Parade, presented by the Community Roundtable.
Slingshots of Tampa Bay Photo
A Polaris Slingshot with light upgrades
Slingshots of Tampa Bay Photo
Polaris Slingshots lined up and ready for action
“You know how you mull over decisions?” Lilly said. “During COVID I thought, why not, let’s do it. Let’s purchase a Slingshot.”
Soon after his purchase in 2021, Lilly bumped into another three-wheeler owner who told Lilly about the Slingshots of Tampa Bay, founded in 2017 by Dwayne Aikens of Riverview, a retired U.S. Navy veteran. With active and retired veterans and law enforcement members among the membership mix, as well as women and men of all ages, nationalities and backgrounds, “we sort of think of ourselves as more of a family group than a traditional motorcycle club,” Lilly said.
Count among them club member and retired U.S. Air Force veteran Terrance Walker of Ruskin, who works with Lilly in cybersecurity. When Lilly said he was planning to buy a Slingshot, Walker said he himself had no interest in the vehicle. As
Walker put it, “I have a fixation with fast bikes.”
Slingshots of Tampa Bay Photo
Slingshots of Tampa Bay shows up for charity events.
But that’s not to say Walker is not competitive, which is why he made it a point to buy a Slingshot before Lilly got his. “I beat him by three weeks,” Walker said. “As soon as I got my Slingshot, I drove it straight to his house and fell in love with it.
It’s a beautiful piece of machine.”
According to Lilly, with safety features including a three-point seatbelt harness and protective cage, the two-seater, open-air Polaris Slingshot is more like an automobile than a motorcycle. The “autocycle” has “bars on the side and a rectangular piece above your head that’s designed to keep your head from hitting the ground if you roll over,” Lilly said. “The seat is bolted inside the roller cage, like you see in an Indy [race] car.”
Slingshots of Tampa Bay Photo
Slingshots of Tampa Bay participates in community parades.
Aikens said military-minded members, drawn together by the Slingshot’s appeal as a motorcycle alternative, came together to launch the club. “Safety is a huge difference,” he said. “You have three wheels instead of two, you’re not exposed to the elements and you can have a conversation with someone sitting next to you and not behind you.”
Club members hail from south Hillsborough County and beyond, including Sarasota, New Port Richey, St. Petersburg, Tampa and Clearwater. Along with its core riders, the club has had members “in and out, upward of 100,” Aikens said. No rides are mandatory, they’re not long-distance trips and there is no cost to join. Prospective members are asked to take two or three club rides to cement their membership.
Lilly said the group, since he joined in 2021, has grown to about 40 or 50 main members, drawn to the club’s promise of camaraderie and community engagement. The Slingshot’s appeal, “that’s what attracted us to one another, but we never thought the club would get this big,” Aiken added. “We just kept riding.”
The club typically meets the middle of the week over dinner and rides together Friday and Saturday nights, when the heat is not so bad. “Some people want to ride every now and again, and that’s okay, too,” Lilly said.
According to Walker, owning and riding a Slingshot allows for all sorts of connections. “People walk up to us and ask us about our Slingshots, and we ask them about what they do in the community,” Walker said.
Given the Slingshot’s crowd-drawing appeal, and, especially so, with music and light upgrades, it’s a club goal, Walker said, to offer its services for networking and fundraising events of all kinds, including parades, book drives and charity functions.
Incorporated in 2022 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in 2022, the club has tax-exempt status.
Linda Chion Kenney Photo
Slingshots of Tampa Bay members, with Greater Brandon Fourth of July Parade organizers, Dawn Marshall and LIsa Rodriguez, right, receive the club’s award for Best Overall unit.
Over the holidays, Slingshots transformed into “Slingsleighs,” bringing club members to low-income housing areas to hand out toys, while Slingshots at business events promote traffic and sales.
Lined up with lights on and music playing, “Slingshots draw a lot of attention,” Walker said. “We tell people, if you need support with your business or a charity drive or anything that involves giving back to the community, we’re here; just look us up.”
For more information, visit Slingshots of Tampa Bay on Facebook. Email slingshotsoftampabay@gmail.com/.