Going back again...

[Paul Danik]

Greetings,

   In the last POG...Still Keeping Track newsletter, Al Born made mention in his "The Way It Was" column that 40 years ago I had competed in a MX at East Palestine, Ohio.  

   Ted Guthrie read what Al wrote and emailed me to see if I recalled the track, which I did.  Turns out that Ted has some fond memories of the track as well, but a few years later. Ted was able to provide me with the directions to the track and he said the property was pretty much unchanged from "back in the day."

  Today Judy and I were in the area and I was really taken back when I saw the property.  I parked the car and walked over the old bridge that is used to enter the property, past the very large NO TRESPASSING sign, and took a tour of the property.

   The old club house building is still standing, the hill climb area and return road, and most of the track as I recalled it was still evident. The hill climb and return road were part of the MX track as I recall, we went up the return road and down the hill climb. I have some very fond memories of this track and I sure enjoyed the visit.

   I hope that some of you are able to do the same sometime.  Maybe some of you have, I would invite any of you who have similar stories to tell us about your experience.

  Thank you Al Born for taking the time to compile those tidbits from "back in the day" for your newsletter column, and thank you Ted Guthrie for providing me with the directions to the track, I really enjoyed my little excursion down memory lane.

Paul

[tomale]

That is a cool story, what makes it great is the fact that much of the track is still there.
One of my favorite race tracks was put on by the Santa Cruz Ridge runners at the Santa Cruz fair grounds I saw many of my hero race there. I loved the track because it was a combination clay and sand. The starting line and upper section were sand after a long straight way there was a drop off and it was pure clay and at the bottom the hill was a hairpin corner. I did well there because I had done so much trail riding I was use to dealing with changing terrain.. Last year I was back visiting family and my brother and I were in the area and we stopped in. The track is gone but it was easy to tell where the track had been and it brought back lots of good memories. Several years ago I was at a race at Washougal, (for awhile we were holding vintage races there) and I was talking to the guy who provided the trophies, I told him about racing in Watsonville Ca. and there was a guy there that imprinted the riders name on their trophies at the track, He told me He was the guy, how cool is that, I have a trophy still in my collection that He had scribed my name on.. I know this does not seem like much but I have lost all connection with everyone I raced with back then and this was the closest I have had to any one remembering the days we raced watsonville ca.
thanks for letting me share.

Thom Green,Still crazy after all these years!
76' 250 MC5 (orginal owner)
74'250 hare scrambler (project)
74' 1/2 440 maico
78' 440 maico
72' cr125 Husky (project)
93' RMx 250 suzuki

[tomale]

That is a cool story, what makes it great is the fact that much of the track is still there.
One of my favorite race tracks was put on by the Santa Cruz Ridge runners at the Santa Cruz fair grounds I saw many of my hero race there. I loved the track because it was a combination clay and sand. The starting line and upper section were sand after a long straight way there was a drop off and it was pure clay and at the bottom the hill was a hairpin corner. I did well there because I had done so much trail riding I was use to dealing with changing terrain.. Last year I was back visiting family and my brother and I were in the area and we stopped in. The track is gone but it was easy to tell where the track had been and it brought back lots of good memories. Several years ago I was at a race at Washougal, (for awhile we were holding vintage races there) and I was talking to the guy who provided the trophies, I told him about racing in Watsonville Ca. and there was a guy there that imprinted the riders name on their trophies at the track, He told me He was the guy, how cool is that, I have a trophy still in my collection that He had scribed my name on.. I know this does not seem like much but I have lost all connection with everyone I raced with back then and this was the closest I have had to any one remembering the days we raced watsonville ca.
thanks for letting me share.

Thom Green,Still crazy after all these years!
76' 250 MC5 (orginal owner)
74'250 hare scrambler (project)
74' 1/2 440 maico
78' 440 maico
72' cr125 Husky (project)
93' RMx 250 suzuki