Southern California used to have lots of Motocross tracks

KennyT
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KennyT 12/15/2020 6:32pm
12/15/2020 6:32pm
TooTallJason wrote:
Indian Dunes seems to have this near mythical status amongst older riders in California, can anyone elaborate on that a bit? What made the place so...
Indian Dunes seems to have this near mythical status amongst older riders in California, can anyone elaborate on that a bit? What made the place so special? Was it even, or was it the time and place all together to create this edenic memory of Indian Dunes?
As a young teen it is where I was first introduced to camel toe. I went to race there while living in Palm Springs and we didn’t have girls like that in the desert. Would they be considered “Valley girls”? Not sure where they were from but the Dunes had plenty of them
Ozy
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Ozy 12/15/2020 6:47pm
12/15/2020 6:47pm Edited Date/Time 12/15/2020 6:48pm
TooTallJason wrote:
Indian Dunes seems to have this near mythical status amongst older riders in California, can anyone elaborate on that a bit? What made the place so...
Indian Dunes seems to have this near mythical status amongst older riders in California, can anyone elaborate on that a bit? What made the place so special? Was it even, or was it the time and place all together to create this edenic memory of Indian Dunes?
Indian Dunes was open 7 days a week 365 days a year, it had two motocross tracks - one on each end of the park. it had a mini bike track a TT track a river/stream running through it. it had mountains to trail ride in. it had a sand wash(big) Racing every Friday night under the lights on the International Track. Racing every Sunday on one of the two tracks. I think it cost $3.50 or $4.50 to get in. on Friday nights lots and lots of pretty young ladies showed up from the Valley to watch the races.

The Los Angeles Freeways weren't bumper to bumper and you could get there from Torrance in 45 minutes. My dad took me there 2x a week during the summer . . . thanks pop!
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Ozy
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Ozy 12/15/2020 6:55pm
12/15/2020 6:55pm Edited Date/Time 12/15/2020 6:57pm
Here is an aerial photo of the NW corner of the park and the International Track. The entire park was probably about 8 - 12 times larger than what is shown in the pic. Euphoric recall or nostalgia. Lots of SoCal kids grew up having the time of their life here


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jshak805
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jshak805 12/15/2020 7:14pm
12/15/2020 7:14pm
Piru MX and my favorite Zaca Station. Good old days
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The Shop

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KennyT
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KennyT 12/15/2020 7:38pm
12/15/2020 7:38pm
Ozy wrote:
Here is an aerial photo of the NW corner of the park and the International Track. The entire park was probably about 8 - 12 times...
Here is an aerial photo of the NW corner of the park and the International Track. The entire park was probably about 8 - 12 times larger than what is shown in the pic. Euphoric recall or nostalgia. Lots of SoCal kids grew up having the time of their life here


Ozy....in the original On Any Sunday movie were the scenes of Steve McQueen racing his Husky on the International track at the Dunes?
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UpTiTe
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UpTiTe 12/15/2020 7:44pm
12/15/2020 7:44pm
TooTallJason wrote:
Indian Dunes seems to have this near mythical status amongst older riders in California, can anyone elaborate on that a bit? What made the place so...
Indian Dunes seems to have this near mythical status amongst older riders in California, can anyone elaborate on that a bit? What made the place so special? Was it even, or was it the time and place all together to create this edenic memory of Indian Dunes?
It was special in so many ways. All the tracks to choose from plus all the open area, you could ride for hours and never touch a motocross track.

Friday nights, 80s on the mini track and big bikes on the international track, it was a party. Friday nights for most that experienced it was a magical time, chicks everywhere, loud music, Kenny Zahrt throwing big parties out of his van and good tight aggressive racing. Most of the time, the purse was good on Friday night, so it was a great way to make money.

Sunday’s racing on either the international track or Shadow Glenn. Racing CRC GPs was great fun and the tracks were great. Long loops hitting one of the mx tracks, the sand wash, the hills behind it and the river jump.



mx510
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mx510 12/15/2020 8:29pm
12/15/2020 8:29pm
No Competition Park. I loved that place.
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G-man
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G-man 12/15/2020 8:56pm
12/15/2020 8:56pm
Ozy wrote:
Here is an aerial photo of the NW corner of the park and the International Track. The entire park was probably about 8 - 12 times...
Here is an aerial photo of the NW corner of the park and the International Track. The entire park was probably about 8 - 12 times larger than what is shown in the pic. Euphoric recall or nostalgia. Lots of SoCal kids grew up having the time of their life here


KennyT wrote:
Ozy....in the original On Any Sunday movie were the scenes of Steve McQueen racing his Husky on the International track at the Dunes?
Yes

Indian Dunes had so much to offer.
More than just a track it was like a motorcycle Disneyland.
We had no idea how good we had it.


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90srider
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90srider 2/17/2023 1:43pm
2/17/2023 1:43pm

Tracks that have not closed due to be on

Native American Reservations

Barona oaks

Cahuilla Creek 

Pala raceway (Fox)

Glen Helen? Yaa maa vaa aka San Manuel tribe of mission.

 

TannerMxer
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TannerMxer 2/17/2023 11:37pm
2/17/2023 11:37pm
Ozy wrote:
I believe this map is about 18 years old. How many of these tracks have you ridden or raced? [img]https://p.vitalmx.com/photos/forums/2020/12/14/465506/s1200_so_cal_track_map.jpg[/img]
I believe this map is about 18 years old. How many of these tracks have you ridden or raced?




When I was racing all fall and winter back around 89-92 as a 60 rider, I raced at LACR, Sunrise (Aldento now I think), Perris, Barona Oaks, Glen Helen, Castaic and I actually got to race Carlsbad too. My dad has a photo on me on my KX60 at the very top of that big hill with the steep downhill.

After I stopped riding and returned to it, I rode at Piru Mx (Lemon Grove in this pic) just about every weekend for like 3 years from 03-06.

I really hope to move back to socal and go ride some of these spots again.

Pit Row

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