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deep sand.
Magoo was the most impressive rider in that deep sand but either broke or crashed at both races.
Chuck Sun pitted next to us and his mechanic was Eric Crippa. I was
really impressed with Crippa's attention to detail and organization.
Diamondback in Cocoa Beach remains at the top of my all time roughest.
Edit:
Here's an entry list from Midland --
- Eddie Cole went on to run Answer Products and later 661
- the Wanket brother were always in MXA
- Larry Witmer is the longtime announcer at RedBud and just an all-time fast guy
- Fred Vertucci went on to build engines with Boyesen and then his own shop
- Al Pizzano has long worked in the industry
- that #322 kid named Mark Barnett, and his fellow former '76 amateur national champ Kenny Adams
- Tennessee minicycle legend Gene McKay (he used to race a Noguchi Yamaha against Jeff Ward and Brian Myerscough)
- District 5 guys Mark Garrison, Gary Pustelak, Paul Mihalik and Gaylord Plants
- future national winner Denny Swartz
- future Grand Prix winner Mike Guerra
- the late Phil Alderton, Honda of Troy founder, and the late Calvin Kalicki
- and Raymond Ritchie from Buchanan, MI has to have something to do with the RedBud family!
- I wonder if that Mark Johnson went on to run Team Green and then went into auto racing?
I was a little kid back then and pretty much all of those guys were heroes in one way or another to me.
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I know Ron on a personal level and I texted him about what goes into putting a race together and he told me to call him (which I still need to do, DAMN) and bring up the idea of having another motocross style race out there. Hopefully he would think that would be cool and help do something with it.
The owner just cares about horses and money anymore so aslong as he benefits, I dont see why he wouldnt go along with the idea.
That road back there would be something to see semis come down. I can only imagine what a national would be like!
I ran the place and wanted to dispel some of what I read. The track was all wooded
We went in with chainsaws and a,old cable dozer and laid out the track. Bernie Slack and Dale Gallamore both operators helped us. Our drop gate was the first in district 17 while others were using tournequet bungees. On important race days we had a local farmer drag the track smooth with a huge Steiger tractor. I remember hearing comments about how fast the course would be while walking the track the day before a,race. I always LAUGHED to myself as that thought was dispelled after practice made the whoops magically appear. I raced in Florida and what Sandy Oaks had that they didn't was clay underneath that made the whoops worse. I AM six feet and in the bottom of a lot of the whoops I couldn't see the next one.
At the national factory Kawasaki rider Weinert couldn't master the downhill off camber right. Hannah breezed through it. Weinert ran out of gas there in the second moto..Yamaha leased the track to do suspension testing several times due to its roughness. At 1 of the national hare scrambles we had Jeff Smith from the UK world champion motocrosser comment on the tracks roughness. He said there was a track in Sweden that was compareable. I AM doing this from my phone so more when I get home on my laptop. Roger
whoop, whoop whoop, turn, whoop whoop whoop turn. never sat down ever.
crazy tough tracks.
Cocoa was the worst. Sometimes it would go a few race events between grooming.
That’s gold
Cocoa was so gnarly! Good times. Those were the days!
Cocoa was so gnarly! Good times. Those were the days!
It's true that it was graded flat like an asphalt road before practice, by the 2nd motos there were 4' deep whoops in places one would have thought impossible.
Some of the corners had so much sand blown to the outsides that it reached the top of the snow fencing.
Living in the midwest at the time, you could easily drive to several nationals, at least 2 Trans-AMA's & the Valvoline 125 USGP @ mid-Ohio. Far & away the greatest era for moto.
I'll never forget seeing those Russians show up for the GP on 125 CZ's & going out of their minds, running off track & dragging banners around while pinned. Win or march off to the Gulag I suppose ...
Pit Row
http://www.prosportsusa.com/images/SunshineMotocross2483-2-09_001.JPG
I remember getting hooked on dirt bikes as a kid peeking through those picket snow fences at Motocross West on the Westbank of New Orleans. Don’t remember the year but the vault shows 1973 thru 76 would have been 5 to 9 years old
Absolutely love the nostalgia from these times
I know this thread is about Keithsburg but if anyone, DC, has any photos or history on the New Orleans National that would be bad ass
The track back then was run by the Phillips family, the son of the owner at the time still rides @ 60+ years old. The location is still there I believe, not rideable, at it was in the batture of the Mississippi River. Would love to see pics if anyone has them.
Our local hero was a rider named Bob Handy and to me as a kid he was Bob Hannah. Became friends with him later in life and hit local races together but haven’t spoken to him in years.
*****EDIT. Never mind on pics and vids, found a bunch on line.
Post a reply to: Missing history of a long lost National.