Put on your rose coloured glasses for a min, what do you miss?

Early 80s and having miles and miles of terrain to ride right from my garage in suburban San Diego.

Inexpensive 2 strokes. Air cooled and simple to repair. You could swap a top end at the track. Anyone could afford them and you could throw them in the back of a truck and you’re there. 

80s and early 90s Camping at Washougal the weekend of the National……………….O What a Night!! Girls,Girls and more Crazy Girls!!    And the Racing was good too 😁

Art eckman n David Bailey annoucing

MC’s style …Emig shift ads …Anything Metz did on film …TP199 racing ..Windham’s first year back for the Honda 4storke outdoors ..Steel City …Camping back in the early 2000’s at any National..Red Buds double double section …RC on the number 70 -125 …Freestlye before the flip ..Moto xxx in the pits 😂😂😂

God I hope red bud resurrects some of the iconic sections that made the track flow the best. Saw rumblings they may be adding some old flavor. 

Mark Twain couldn’t have said that better! 

Early 90’s AXO gear.  First gear set that I bought myself that was all matching. 

Custom painted helmets. Painted a bunch myself. 

Going to the races packed in a single cab mini pickup with my buds and 3 bikes in the bed. 

Practicing and play riding multiple days a week at our local “spillway”.  Not restricted, at the time, government land 

90’s chics were rad!

Bikes all 250 2T’s  91CR, 93CR, 94RM, 96CR, 98YZ

Rose Petal to the metal glasses, what a ride!

Multiple divisions in classes on any given weekend 

A Gate full of Two Strokes and the smell of Blendzall wafting through the air on a warm Summer day. 

8 track tapes and more cowbell.

I miss how good the yearly Dirt Bike Show over here in England was, always a bitterly cold late November weekend. Every manufacturer showed their new bikes, all the top gear brands showed off their new gear/clothing lines. I'd come away with a rucksack and 2 carrier bags full of freebies, signed posters and stickers.

It's pretty much died off to the point where it doesn't even happen now.

and glover

Natural, technical, undulating circuits and less track grooming. Maybe more so in the GPs than the Nationals. Make line choice and throttle control more important again.

Individual and unique Supercross tracks, instead of similar tracks with the same obstacles, built to the same dimensions and the same rhythm sections etc. Make the obstacles irregular and awkward.

The sound of finely tuned 2 Stroke engines, they just sound more exiting. 4 Strokes sound obnoxiously loud, laboured and slow (+ they have forced the closure of too many tracks around the world).

The 2 Stroke smell!

The old numbering system where riders ran what they earn't the previous season. 

Custom lids.

Subtle, rounded plastics. I kinda dislike the modern style of angular, squared edged plastics these days.

“The old numbering system where riders ran what they earn't the previous season.”

Loam Ranger is right about this! Never liked career numbers, if you want a low number, earn it.

Changing tracks on the middle of the best tunes, too 

Looking back and watching the red and blue lights bounce off the smoke/dust of my KX125 as I diched the cops.

Brandon's first race

This.  

and Leisk 

This^^^
 

The first time my relatively sheltered 18yo self ventured over to the party side of the campground, I was in awe…

Glen Helen

The Chuck Sun Jump

Dunlop 756’s

No Fear

2011 Shift Gear

Spy goggles

Factory Carbureted 250Fs (sounded mean)

Gieco Honda

Silver Fenders on KTMs

Vented Number Plates

Bills Pipes

The 70's and all the technology changes.  Me on a Zundapp when the very first Honda Elsinore 125 we had ever seen lined up next to me. I thought WTF. No way. I will never forget that holeshot he had..

A few weeks later I had one too.. 

Then later we all switched to Yamahas, and Suzukis.. You needed a new bike every year to stay competive. But they were relatively inexpensive and you sold last year's bike to newbies, who also quickly joined the local races. So there were plenty of races everywhere with absolutely full gates in everyclass..

Opening vital forums and chuckling at Maggoofan's posts. 

Sigh. I must be gettin' old.

Giant rubberbands. 

I miss it only costing me $100 to race on a sunday.

A big gate of Open Class 2 strokes on a long uphill start like Mammoth or Saddleback  

That, and gold DG heads

James on a bike. I love watching Sexton, Jett, Tomac, et al, but tuning into a race when James was racing, you really never knew what the hell he was going to do on the bike, but you knew he'd do at least one thing you did not expect. Sure, the top 5 are closer nowadays, but it will be hard to beat the excitement of having James on the track.