EVENT DATE
June 9th & 10th, 2018
PLEASE NOTE THAT TOP GUN IS MOVING TO DOUGLAS COUNTY'S EMERGENCY VEHICLE OPERATIONS CENTER FACILITY (EVOC)
8500 N MOORE ROAD, LITTLETON, CO
June 9th & 10th, 2018
PLEASE NOTE THAT TOP GUN IS MOVING TO DOUGLAS COUNTY'S EMERGENCY VEHICLE OPERATIONS CENTER FACILITY (EVOC)
8500 N MOORE ROAD, LITTLETON, CO
The event
Are you looking for cutting edge, yet very inexpensive training? Are you looking for a venue to demonstrate your dedication and skill and learn from other motor officers from across the country? Are you looking for a way to challenge yourself in a safe, controlled environment? Then the Top Gun Training and Skills event is exactly what you are looking for! The Blue Knights have nationally and state certified motor trainers for both Saturday, to help teach new skills and brush up on current, possibly rusty ones, and Sunday the skills demonstration event day to answer questions and help with the judging. This year's instructor is Steve Guess. Top Gun draws more than just motor officers from all over the country. Spectators of all ages join us to witness the incredible skill of our participating officers, encourage them and cheer them on. We also have vendors which provide food, equipment (geared towards our officers, of course) and entertainment for everyone. Top Gun has delivered quality training and friendly liaison among our officers for over 25 years now and promises some awesome training and a great time to be had by all.
The History
Top Gun was started not long after our chapter itself started. The first Top Gun was held in 1989 in a small parking lot at Red Rocks Community College in Lakewood, CO and was designed purely as a competition for Motor Officers in the Denver Metro Area. It was conceived and started by one of our founders, Jack Arnold, a Littleton, Colorado Motor Officer Instructor. It was a one day competition using borrowed equipment and cones. It was put together on a shoe string budget - there were no vendors, there were no announcers, there was no practice, there was no seeing the course until the day, there were no event timers, there were no sponsors - it was just bikes and officers with Colorado-1 Knights judging it. After a few years, it began to grow. More and more officers came to compete and Colorado-1 began to purchase it’s own infrastructure to support it. After several more years, we outgrew Red Rocks and moved to an outlying parking lot at the then the Denver Broncos Mile High Stadium in Denver. While we were there, we continued to accrue infrastructure, and drew in motor officers from across the USA, Canada and Mexico, still remaining a competition. Now we had announcers, and stands and it began to really take on a public competition feel. After just a very few years at Mile High, we outgrew that and settled on the Jefferson County Stadium, again in Lakewood, CO, filling the entire stadium parking lot. It was at this time that training began to come into the picture for the motor officers, expanding the event into a two day event, and allowing them to see and practice on the course the day before the competition. In 2014, the emphasis shifted from competition to training and a public demonstration of their skills for the officers enrolled. For 2018, Top Gun is moving to Douglas County's Emergency Vehicle Operations Center (EVOC), which is an even bigger venue with better surfaces, cool down tracks, and practice areas. There are several events now around the country like our signature Top Gun, however Blue Knights Colorado-1 Top Gun is the oldest most mature event of it’s kind in the country, one that not only offers cutting edge training for Motor Officers through out North America, but an opportunity for the community to come together to honor and support the sacrifice and commitment those officers make every day in support of those communities.
Top Gun was started not long after our chapter itself started. The first Top Gun was held in 1989 in a small parking lot at Red Rocks Community College in Lakewood, CO and was designed purely as a competition for Motor Officers in the Denver Metro Area. It was conceived and started by one of our founders, Jack Arnold, a Littleton, Colorado Motor Officer Instructor. It was a one day competition using borrowed equipment and cones. It was put together on a shoe string budget - there were no vendors, there were no announcers, there was no practice, there was no seeing the course until the day, there were no event timers, there were no sponsors - it was just bikes and officers with Colorado-1 Knights judging it. After a few years, it began to grow. More and more officers came to compete and Colorado-1 began to purchase it’s own infrastructure to support it. After several more years, we outgrew Red Rocks and moved to an outlying parking lot at the then the Denver Broncos Mile High Stadium in Denver. While we were there, we continued to accrue infrastructure, and drew in motor officers from across the USA, Canada and Mexico, still remaining a competition. Now we had announcers, and stands and it began to really take on a public competition feel. After just a very few years at Mile High, we outgrew that and settled on the Jefferson County Stadium, again in Lakewood, CO, filling the entire stadium parking lot. It was at this time that training began to come into the picture for the motor officers, expanding the event into a two day event, and allowing them to see and practice on the course the day before the competition. In 2014, the emphasis shifted from competition to training and a public demonstration of their skills for the officers enrolled. For 2018, Top Gun is moving to Douglas County's Emergency Vehicle Operations Center (EVOC), which is an even bigger venue with better surfaces, cool down tracks, and practice areas. There are several events now around the country like our signature Top Gun, however Blue Knights Colorado-1 Top Gun is the oldest most mature event of it’s kind in the country, one that not only offers cutting edge training for Motor Officers through out North America, but an opportunity for the community to come together to honor and support the sacrifice and commitment those officers make every day in support of those communities.
