Rush drummer Neil Peart visits MotoStars exhibit

Rock star Neil Peart of the band Rush, who is considered one of the greatest drummers on the planet, dropped by the Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum between gigs to check out the new exhibit MotoStars: Celebrities + Motorcycles.

The exhibit features priceless machines, exclusive memorabilia and tales from celebrities' favorite two-wheel adventures.

Some of the celebrities featured in the exhibit include country artist Keith Urban, auto racing legend and Alligator motorcycle inventor and manufacturer Dan Gurney, famed boxer Thomas "Hitman" Hearns, and champion race car driver and founder of the charity off-road ride the Colorado 500 Wally Dallenbach.

Also featured, of course, is Peart, who lent a drum set and one of his BMW GS adventure-touring motorcycles to the exhibit.

Peart dropped by the Museum between Rush gigs in the cities of Cincinnati and Pittsburgh and toured not only the 8,000-square-foot MotoStars Exhibit but also checked out the Malcolm! exhibit that celebrates the career of Hall of Famer Malcolm Smith, who is famous for his starring role in the movie "On Any Sunday" and his victories in the International Six Day Trials, and studied the motorcycles in the Museum's Hall of Fame.

"Neil Peart is the latest of a number of celebrities who also happen to be dedicated motorcycling enthusiasts who have visited the MotoStars exhibit," said Mark Mederski, the Museum's executive director. "Neil spent a lot of time studying the motorcycles and memorabilia on display, and obviously enjoyed the machines and the stories behind them."

Celebrities have the same connections to their motorcycles as the rest of us do to ours, and savor the same joys of motorcycling, Mederski said. When you visit and look over the bikes in the MotoStars exhibit, and read about each person and learn their stories, you see how similar those riders are to us.

"When it comes down to it, celebrities ride these bikes for the same reason we ride ours -- to escape, at least for a while," Mederski said. "What's different for our motostars, though, is that while motorcycles may allow us to stand out in our daily lives, bikes allow celebrities to blend in. Once the leather jacket, blue jeans, boots, gloves and helmet are in place, the rider becomes an unrecognizable everyman or everywoman who can travel anywhere in complete anonymity."