Posts
722
Joined
10/12/2008
Location
California, CA
US
Edited Date/Time
2/20/2019 12:41pm
Ok... feeling a little sad. Yesterday the Mrs. and I decided to take a drive to Del Mar with the dogs to let them run on the beach. On the way back, we stopped off at Carlsbad Raceway to see what's left (not much). What a shame. This once great track is now nothing of it's former self. (Devils Drop in background) To see what's left of this track is really depressing.
Then to think positive, I started thinking of all the great races that were held at the track. I had the privilege to race at this track, along with Saddleback, Escape Country, Ascot, Corona, Indian Dunes, Claude Osteen, and OCIR as a teenager in the heyday of So Cal MX. I think back to the fun I had back then and all the competitive racers that came from that era.
I searched YouTube and came up with a lot of Carlsbad Races to relive memories. But this stuck me the most (besides MM win in 1980). It's a CMC Golden State Race from 1987. Look at how many pro's are on the gate at Carlsbad. Amazing...
Enjoy -
Then to think positive, I started thinking of all the great races that were held at the track. I had the privilege to race at this track, along with Saddleback, Escape Country, Ascot, Corona, Indian Dunes, Claude Osteen, and OCIR as a teenager in the heyday of So Cal MX. I think back to the fun I had back then and all the competitive racers that came from that era.
I searched YouTube and came up with a lot of Carlsbad Races to relive memories. But this stuck me the most (besides MM win in 1980). It's a CMC Golden State Race from 1987. Look at how many pro's are on the gate at Carlsbad. Amazing...
Enjoy -
they can't take our memories away...
The Shop
And they say 250Fs are sooooooooooo much faster today?
1989 over 20 years ago? I dont know, but for 20 years ago these guys were hauling ass.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkbq5vkIflA&NR=1
Both of my parents are gone now, but my wife and I took our kids to Legoland last year which is just a few miles away and we stopped by the old track.
Sure seemed strange walking a track when there were thousands of spectators on raceday. Here are a few photos...
But hey, JT is supposed to be coming out of mothballs. Maybe Jannard will buy the business park and build the track around it! One of those empty buildings would make an excellent new HQ's for JT. Okay, okay, I may be a bit delusional on this topic. Somebody pass the Snickerdoodles.
I was at LEGOLAND with my wife and kids over New Years and decided to pay my respects to the motocross Gods so to speak.
I have never been to Carlsbad before and so never saw the original track except on old vids posted on YouTube. I have however always had a fascination with Carlsbad Raceway, as a young kid the first time I ever saw MX on TV was in the movie On Any Sunday 2 where Brad Lackey featured at the USGP at Carlsbad. I was particularly amazed by Devils Drop, the freeway and huge downhills. To me it represented motocross in it's purest form incorporating all the elements, rough, fast, and challenging where your bravery was either rewarded or punished. From that point onward I was hooked on the sport and I used to imagine going to the US and riding the legendry Carlsbad track.
So on New Years day I slipped away from LEGOLAND and entered the address of the Carlsbad Raceway Business Park into my GPS and headed off. Once there I was completely disoriented and couldn't work out where the track used to be, I sat in the car and looked up old pictures of the facility until I finally got my bearings. The site has obviously been extensively redeveloped and so initially I thought there was no trace of the track remaining, I was about ready to leave when I spotted a small pocket of land that looked overgrown. With a bit more research online I recognised that it was in fact the old start straight, I jumped into the car and drove around the back of some commercial buildings, parked up the car, walked down the embankment to the old fence and climbed over.
At this point I was ecstatic that not only had I located the site of the old track but that some of it was still intact, I felt like I was 10 years old again walking the track of legends. I stood at the start gate, looked down the straight to the first turn and imagined what it would have been like to line up and battle for the holeshot, it was quite a powerful experience.
From there I walked the start straight, round the first turn, 2nd turn and following straight up until the face of the 1st jump which is where it now ends, (it's basically a swamp in there now). The whole area is really starting to get overgrown now so it was hard for me having never been there before to work out where the other parts of the track should be, however I managed to locate Devils Drop and the uphill section leading up to it. I stood on the top of the drop and thought back to when I first saw it on TV, it seemed like it was 100 feet high to me back then, but standing there on top of it I was slightly disappointed in it's real scale.
That is all of the track that still exists today, It was a very surreal experience for me, I had wanted to see this track for the last 30 years, I finally get there and it is all but gone, it is a public holiday and there is nobody around, just me and this fragment of a former motocross Mecca. I have to say my emotions turned from elation to almost sadness.
The reality is that this section of the old facility has been put aside as a nature and bird sanctuary (an agreement between the city and the developer apparently) so it will remain as is for years to come. It is almost completely overgrown now, so I am pleased I got to see it (even though just a tiny portion of it) before it disappears completely.
It's weird that this place had such an impact on me, perhaps that's just what Carlsbad does to people!
It's interesting to note that the majority of the properties have yet to be built on, seems a waste that the facility was demolished for commercial properties that nobody actually wants!
Anyway, just wanted to share my experience, here's some pics from my visit.
Concrete pad on the old start gate
Start straight
First turn
Exit of first turn looking toward turn two
Exit of turn two looking down the straight toward the jump
Uphill section toward Devils Drop
Face of Devils Drop
Standing on top of Devils Drop
Looking back up Devils Drop
Overlooking the first turn from the old fenceline
Another view of the remaining site from the business park road
An untouched section of the old GP track at the western end of the park
Pit Row
Thanks for the pics.
Yep, me too, abandoned factories, tracks etc. Things change, life goes by faster every year.
Most every other iconic track gets bulldozed into buildings or houses.
Like Saddleback, it amazes me that large portions of the original actual track area are still somewhat undeveloped?
It was such big news 30 years ago that they were both closing due to development and encroachment.
Yet 30+ years later, even given the massive socal growth, much of that land is still vacant?
Even Indian Dunes from what I have read is still somewhat undeveloped?
Amazing to see the current day pics, thanks for posting and sharing the stories.
Was a great track. Still have some old photos.
Post a reply to: Carlsbad Raceway... so sad on what's left