What's your home track memory?

My home track would have to be Southwick, I always prefered hard pack dirt over sand so it was never my favorite place to go. But it was close, well run and sort of a big deal when the race was there. My biggest memory of it would have to be the difficulty of the terrain and the usually high temperatures. My first overall win came there with a 1-1 in the 80 7-11 novice class in NEMA in 1981. Cool thread topic by the way.

I grew up at Dade City in the 90s. Racing RC for 1 lap on 80s was always cool lol. Watching JS7 grow up from 50s, watching Ricky Hampshire, yoho and Poccorobba, Racing with Ronnie Renner, driving to the track with Gary Chiz when my parents couldn’t get me there are some cool memories 

The biggest is racing Dade on Saturday night and driving to a gold cup race afterwards with my dad. We’d crash in the truck out front of the gate instead of getting a hotel. Definitely some fun times

Indian Dunes in Valencia, CA was home to me! I was a very lucky kid as my Dad loved moto. summer between 9th and 10th grade he loaded the van and took me to the dunes every Tuesday and Thursday to ride two 45 minute moto's (that's what they did in the 70's) Then we raced the Dunes every Friday night and another local track on Sunday like Valley cycle park, carlsbad, saddleback, Escape country. Sometimes we added Wed night moto at Ascot

Taping the race order on my big Igloo water can on the tailgate of my Nissan pickup.

When it was mid day hot I would prop open the hood of my pickup and sit in the shade that the open hood made. 

I rode there from 80 - 83. That place was great in the winter when we got some rain on that sand. I think I rode my fastest laps ever there on a friend's 81 RM125 in 82.

My best memories was when I first started racing back in 1972 - 76. I lived in a little town (Ayden) outside of Greenville NC. The county (Pitt) fairgrounds would make a track and have about 5 races through the summer. I raced them pretty much every year they had them. The ground was a sand/dirt mix. They would dig a big whole and then take that dirt and make some jumps. All the jumps were to flat landings. I made enough money there to pay for the next race. It was really great times for me at 16.

Here are a couple shots.

My very first race was in November 1972 at Corona Raceway. We first went to a night race there to check things out. Rocket Rex Staten was there. I had no idea who Staten was since this was long before the internet. When the rubber band start went up everyone took off except for Staten. He sat there until everyone was heading out of the first turn. He finally takes off and does a wheelie while shifting through the gears. Within a couple of laps, he was in first place. Coolest thing a 12-year-old had ever seen. 7 1/2 years later, I am riding in the 250 pro class. Although Staten was now a factory rider, he still regularly raced at Corona, his home track. I straight-up beat him not once but twice. Pretty cool memory.

We used to call it Fernrock. Spun many of laps there as well as Pott’s track in Liberty with races not ending until 1 a.m. Good times!

Raymond still owes me a raincheck!  Lol.  Never had the balls to do “the gulley”.  Spun a few laps at “Riverside” myself only after spending many o year tagging along with no bike as a co pilot for my uncle. Watched Dwayne Windham quietly coach Kevin into the silky smooth rider he was. Good memories!

Wednesday night riding at 290 mx and doing the triple step up section on repeat at Splendora in the super early 2000s. 

Factory Honda showing up at Sandhill with race gas that smelled like wintergreen..

There's an early morning smell in Norcal when things dry out for summer, the smell of dew on dry grass and dirt - a bit like the smell when it first rains after a dry spell.  Imagine the early morning drag race in American Graffiti.  Whenever that smell hits me now it takes me back to arriving after dawn at any of the valley tracks, for me principally Argyll and Sand Hill.  

Anyone & Everyone that rode Moto here in the middle part of the great ol’ U.S. of A. will remember this place in the heart of the “Land 0’ the Redneck” that is Okc! This track operated from the around 1970 until it closed in 2006. It was OFFICIALLY named Motorcycle Raceway, but was known far & wide as “59th & Douglas”!

So many of the Oklahoma fast guys honed their skills there! Trey Jorski, Chuck & Guy Cooper, Dennis Daff, Clay Hoenshell, Kenny Kastor, Jeremy Abney, Cliff Palmer, Brett Shoemate, Robbie Reynard, Whispern Smith, Chad Cook, Monte Frank, Johnny Marley, Trey Owens, Clifford Adaptonte, Jake Martin, Jimmy Albertson, (and gawd knows all the others that could be listed here!…these are just the guys that I remember watching/marveling at their speed/skill!) and they ALL rode/raced 59th & Douglas in its hey day!

Awesome dirt, always a fun layout that changed every few weeks, with a steady race & practice schedule! 
SO many great memories of riding/racing there all through the 80’s/90’s/2000’s…hanging out with my son on his 50’s, 65’s & the 85 he was riding in 2006 when Tinker Air Force Base rescinded the lease, built a massive maintenance hanger on the adjacent property and the track closed forever.

And yes…that IS an image of Robbie Reynard around the time he got his pro license back in 1993! 

😎 👍❗️

A cool pic of me taken by the local track photographer at “59th & Douglas” on a warm summer night, 2002 over the finish line table-top jump during practice before the Saturday night under the lights annual “Dr Pepper” race they hosted every year! Those were the BEST of times! 😎 👍❗️

(Sorry…dunno why the pic is so - B I G ? - it’s not a poster in my phone! 🥵)  

Watching KW and Ray Mitchell ride there was definitely entertaining!  Also remember one time when Windham was there on his Team Green KX125 and was linking a single (or double?) and a table together which was pretty unbelievable.  The local A riders were trying it on their 250's to keep up and couldn't make it.  They would just hit the top of the tabletop and bounce off......

Good ol' Sprout Patch in Billings, MO. The place we all loved to gripe about, but wouldn't miss a Tuesday practice for anything. Saturday night races in the summer. It was the place to be even if you weren't riding. Place formed a lot of friendships that last to this day here in SW Missouri. I had to get it tattoo'd on me a few years go to pay homage to the good ol' days.

For me it was Blue Diamond Mx in New castle Delaware it’s a fed ex parking lot now 💔

One instance stands out : they filmed a mtv show there called Made. They had a made coach take regular person and teach them their dream. In this case it was a Mx dream. They had Ryan Hughes as the coach and they were filming and riding at blue diamond. I saw Ryan spinning laps. What amazed me was how precise he was, he hit the same exact lines every time by. I was just getting into the sport at that time: pretty cool to see a legit pro. This had to be 05 ish

When I first got into it the 4 stroke transition was underway so it was an interesting time. I started on a 125, eventually got a 01 yz250f and riding got a lot easier as a beginner on the 250f.

Good times! Getting lapped in my first 125c races in 4 lap motos is a wild memory too. They were fast!! I went from never riding a track or a Mx bike to racing my first race in a matter of weeks. Looking back it’s insane, but I was HOOKED.

Starts in 125c were pure chaos, it was literally flip a coin as to whether you were kamikazed or not lol.

I have great memories free riding at the local rock quarry. It was never off limits, but we never asked neither. We disrupted many whitetail hunts for  the local hunters. 😂 A lot of fuel was burned there trying to do different lines and gaps. It eventually started to operate again so we were given warning by the local police to stop riding there. After that, is when I started to ride MX. 

Dusty track, no shade in the pits, seeing dirty hippies for the first time, and guys just back from Vietnam riding converted Yamaha enduros.  It was the perfect early 70's.

That's me in the Captain America helmet trying to urge my bone stock SL-70 past my buddy Winn Peeples on his JT-1 and some dude on a Bridgestone Mini thats running Blendzall at 16:1😁

I raced a lot of EvoSports races at 290 and Splendora back then.  Helped run the Garrett Berg Memorial races at Splendora.  It was a great track.

The memorial race was a great tribute. I made it to most of them. Little late, but appreciate you helping put them together.

Riding all summer long at the Hayward " Salt Flats " by the San Mateo /  Hayward bridge. On my brand new 1978 RM 125. I would leave the house 2-3 days a week side saddle riding or pushing till I reached the train tracks. Had my plastic gas can and castor R and maybe 5 bucks a day. Then road all day till my dad picked us up in his c-10. That place had it all. From my the loomiest sand tracks to hard pack tracks to flat lands where you could get some flat tracking in. Or option 2 was taking the train tracks out to Industrial  Blvd part of Hayward, Another cool couple of tracks. 

Bought from Hayward Suzuki for $1,050 out the door. Them were the days 

Perris Raceway Hot Summer Nights races under the lights.  It was more of a party than a race.  MotoConcepts team manager Tony Alessi was the announcer.  I remember Donald Upton beating Chicken out there when Chicken was a factory Suzuki rider.  The only guy who could ever show up and not worry about Upton at Perris was McGrath.  Randy Danylo riding side-saddle in the middle of pro races then partying in the hot tub he had at the track with his girl friend (who also raced) who wore gear with a "Stripper Bitch" butt patch.  Current Factory Kawasaki Suspension Tech Kaipo Chung's mom would grill up Hawaiian BBQ for everyone.  Gordon Ward blowing minds with his heel clickers over the finish line jump.  The chubby Peick brothers milking every last ounce of power they could out of their PW50s.  Mike Alessi blowing minds and hucking doubles on his factory-level bikes that began life as PW50s.  Upton driving Orville home just about every week after he had a few too many Natty Lights.  Too many good times out there to count.  I sure miss those days.

That was a great track! A lot of us riders from Kansas City would come down during the winter to race. Great memories racing there. 

Indian Dunes Friday Night AME races and Sunday CRC races. 
Started on the mini track in 1977, then onto the International and Shadow Glen track until 1982. Took a break for a good 6 years then started riding LACR and Lemon Grove. 
That snowballed into riding all the other So Cal tracks we had back then. 

West Florida Motocross Park in Milton Florida. Loved the Saturday night races during the heat of the summer. Got to see lots of fast guys from around the southeast.

I was able to win the 250-C class  summer “Supercross Series” in 1994

Carlsbad on my birthday (1-25) My KX250 blew up a week earlier so I borrowed a bone stock semi-beat 1986 XR600 with blown out suspension so I could race.  It was winter, rainy, and the track was snottier than usual in practice with no sign of getting better. First moto I started dead last and stayed there until the uphill, then that big pig was like a Cadillac with traction control, I passed 2 or 3 guys each lap and wound up 3rd. 2nd moto it started to rain and was a slimy slippery snotfest. I was more used to the bike then and got a midpack start, then same as the first moto just hung onto the big fucker until the hill and then motored 2 or 3 guys going up the hill each lap. I won the moto by a big margin and wound up second on the day.  My buddy won the overall on a YZ250, but the second moto no one could touch me up the hill. One the funnest race days I've had.   After the race was interesting, XR600's aint exactly light when they don't have any mud on them, lol. Luckily my buddies were able to help me get it in my truck. Then it started raining harder, there were guys getting stuck in the lower pits, one guy's truck slid into another one in the upper pit. We were in the upper pits and managed to slither out of there without hitting anything. On the way home it started dumping and my truck and the big ol' XR were almost clean by the time I got back to San Clemente. Good times !    

So just curious, don't want to derail this thread, but what made you decide to try Speedway ? 

Lake Whitney mx pulling in on a Sunday morning. Seeing the river flowing to the  left and track tilled deep before practice. No matter the results I always knew it was going to be a fun time. 

Good job , probably a super competitive series .  Lake Geneva sx was Huge in the 90,s.  I think a track in the UP has some night races. But nothing every week for night racing.  Quite a few practice Fri , race sat,Sunday races now.  So I don’t know if riders woukd show up Fri night to race every week.