How many of you witnessed history?

Privateer power and the Good old days of 45 min + 2 motos!

For me I was at Americas 1st MXoN at Unadilla and every MXoN since then.

Moto seemed so much better then.

I was at the MXoN too.

In 1980 I was 10 yrs. old and watched the USGP from Carlsbad on Wide World of Sports and it plotted the course of my life from there on. Marty Moates was the luckiest man in the world. For the first time in my life I felt the feeling of National pride.

I was there! Amazing race, I remember Mike Bell had a bad day, heat stroke maybe, but went home and later that night he went on like a 20 mile bike ride! These guys were animals! RIP Mike as well!

Sports rarely have a bellwether moment that produces a seismic shift in the landscape. Marty’s 1-1 was one of those moments.  And the ever-dominant Europeans knew it. The next year the US won its first MXdN (with an alleged “B” team) and reel off an unprecedented win streak, sparked by MM at Carlsbad. 

Two of my paintings of Marty from that great day were auctioned off at the Spreckels Theatre San Diego premiere of the USGP video, produced by Todd Huffman.

The late Tom White won the action photo and I believe Marty’s friend Jim Beauchamp has the portrait.

Good times!👍

Isn't that an I.S.D.E. helmet or did everyone wear them back then?

I was there in the hot summer of 1980 when Marty Moats beat the Europeans for the first time at Carlsbad. One of my best MX memories.

I was also at the 1979 Carlsbad GP. This one was filmed for the movie "On Any Sunday II".  Where it followed Brad Lackey in his quest for the 500 Championship.

What's really crazy is I was at the Sacramento Mile flat track race in 1970 that was featured on "On Any Sunday" when they followed Mert Lawill trying for his second championship. Pretty neat I was at both. No pictures though. I was 14.

I was stationed in Europe in 1985/86. I got to a few GPs. Got to be at the Luxembourg 500 GP in 1986 and took this pretty cool shot of Dave Thorpe at the finish line when he won his second title.

I was there viewing in the grandstand at the first turn of the start! Marty was on fire. Unbelievable day. Rest easy Marty. American hero.

That was ‘79. Mike absolutely dog-walked everyone in the first moto but bonked in the second and DNF’d. 

I was 8 in 1980 and remember watching it on WWS, but I think I was too young to remember the significance of Marty’s win.  

I read about that race in MXA 2 month later (thats how we got media back then) 
It was an amazing race !!
Privateer on the Yamaha YZ465 wins Carlsbad USGP against the best FIM and AMA riders was definity an all time Moto History event 
I was 16 years old and had a 1978 1/2 Suzuki RM250 C2 at the time 

In 1977 I saw Marty Moates racing at the 4-Stroke Nationals at Carlsbad.  His pure speed on that track was amazing.  So it did not surprise me at all when he won the USMXGP there in 1980.

Rob, those are badass. I remember when you posted those years ago but those paintings are literally "Works of Art". 

It was, 100%, however its what it is now due to moments like that.

The greatest sport ever.

I barely missed that era. I started subscribing to MXA in about '84 and only learned about the USA's motocross supremacy from a fait accompli point of view. As far as I knew, the Americans had always been the best! 

(*Here's a Grammar with Falcon interjection: I'm using past-perfect tense above. See how "had always been" is different from "always were?" There's a specificity to the time frame when you are looking at 1980 through the lens of 1984. It is different than if you are looking at 1980 via 2026.)

Although I did not see the MXGP in Carlsbad, I was present at the premiere of Carlsbad USGP: 1980 - One Day of Magic in San Diego. That's a great film about Marty. You should definitely look it up if you are into the whole subject.

I was only six years old so slightly before my time. Looking at the results there doesn't appear to be many Euros competing, Carlqvist is the only name I recognize. Did a full complement of GP riders attend the USGPs?

I went to the 1st USGP at Carlsbad

1st Superbowl at the LA coliseum 

both were unreal.

I'd challenge 'luckiest'.

Not even the most talented. He just wanted it the most that day. Pure moto. Fkn hero.

I got to witness a lot just at Millville. '02 Carmichael perfect season, '04 Carmichael perfect season, '05 Carmichael perfect Overall Season, '06 Carmichael lapping the entire field in moto 2. '08 Stewart perfect season, and everything up to now..

We can edit that to "most fortunate" to have the honor and be able to carry the honor. 

It goes hand in hand with O'Mara's Mid-Ohio win, which was also impressive. A bit of a changing of the guard.

San Diego SX when RC took the torch from Jeremy 

They used that design for ISDE and MX des Nations. Then the custom painters got involved and brough it to new levels. 

10 August 1980. Last 500 Grand Prix of the season at Ettelbruck in Luxembourg. The Man RDC went 1-1 for the last GP of his career. I was there with my bro!

Not Carlsbad but we were at the 97 Vegas SX when Doug Henry smoked everyone on the YZM400. Safe to say that was a historic moment. First nail in the 2 stroke coffin.    

Sure did. Alot of those names in the top twenty were GP racers. We would go to Unadilla around that time for their GP too, great fun.

On the Mugen? White boot gaters....so badass.

The last sx at the kingdom in 99. Where larry ward won. I believe that was his last sx win on a suzuki and also his first sx win same venue in 90 also on a suzuki. 

I would do almost anything to have modern coverage and 4k video footage of that race, and the one before it.  All we have is potato quality garbage.. maybe one day AI will be able to enhance what footage we do have to make it nicer to look at.