'70's Maryland MX racing . . . .

[Crockett]

I saw my first Penton in about 1971 at a motocross track in Maryland. I think the track was called "Shilo motorcyle park" you could race on the track or just ride anywhere you wanted around the property. The track was a typical early outdoor MX track, Long and fast. It kind of sprawled around the rolling hillsides and even had a couple of creek crossings.
 
 I was just a wide eyed kid taking it all in man, Cz's, Ossa's, Maico's and of course Penton's. Oh yeah, and something my friend swore was called a "Harv-a-squallie" which was later determined to be a Husqvarna of course.I still think of "Harv-a-squallie" when I see one though I have to admit. Hardly any Jap bikes anywhere to be found. Actually the only Jap bike I remember seeing there was the XR somthin-or-other(500 maybe) that the track official buzzed around on. He was kinda like a "roving flagman".

 We went to races there quite a few times over the next couple of years and the Pentons always seemed to do real well. Everybody likes to watch the winners so I guess thats how I came to like the Pentons the best. It was another couple of years before I got my 125.

It was reaaly cool walking around and looking at those bikes and riders in the pits. Especially since at that point the closet thing I'd ridden to a real dirtbike was a Rupp minibike or a Honda 50 and neither one of those were mine.At least the 50 had a gear box!

Somewhere I even have some 8mm home movies of some of those races, I think maybe I'll have to go dig around up at my Mom's house and see if I can find them.

Does anyone remember this Maryland track from the early '70's ? If so, and you raced there, I may have some old film footage of you gassing it passed one of those white Ossa's with the orange stripes and funky lookin' rear fender number plates or splashing through the creek crossing chasing down a yellow tanked CZ !

'Crockett

[Lew Mayer]

Crockett,
where you from in Maryland? I don't remember Shiloh but I do remember Antietam, Bausum Farm, the Blue/Grey Motocross at Beaver Dam, Diecraft and Maryland Line plus the Champagne Motocross. 'Course I was just a young lad at the time. Yeah,right. Those ring any bells?

Lew Mayer

[Crockett]

Hey Lew, how ya doin,?

 We lived in Rockville Maryland when I was a kid, then we moved to California in about '73.

 I didn't know about any of the other tracks you mentioned but I wish we would have. It would have been cool to go to some other places now and then. The only reason I got to go to Shilo was because a friend of mine and his dad used to go and they would take some of the kids from the neighborhood too.

 Other than the trips to Shilo and drooling over the bikes at the local shops I really didn't get into dirtbikes untill after I moved to California. We moved to San Diego and dirtbikes were a real big deal back then, I even managed to get my Mom to buy a house close to a place to ride so I could get a bike. She was having a guy do some work to the house and I found out that he raced a Husky and his wife had a 125 Penton, just so happened that she wanted a different bike sooooooo .  .  .  . I ended up with her Penton ! Having that bike sure taught ma alot about wrenchin' and help me make friends at my new school.

 We used to go to races at South bay Speedway down by the Mexican border and I even went to the USGP in 1974 at Carlsbad. That was pure heaven, man those guys were so fast ! About 8 of us rode up in the back of an old pick-up truck in the rain, we were so pumped I don't think we even noticed that we got soaked !

 In the years after I moved from San Diego I learned some interesting things about some of the guys who rode at our local riding spots. One of the guys was Marty Moats who went on to do pretty well as a Factory support rider. There was this other guy too, kind of a scrawny kid, he used to come by and blow us all into the weeds now and then. Maybe you've heard of him, his name was Broc Glover! Went on to be WORLD CHAMPION, or sumpthin like that!

 I was talking about dirtbikes to one of my cousins a couple of years after we moved, who still lived in the San Diego area, and she said "Yeah, there was some guy at our high school who rode motorcycles, I guess he's was supposed to be "pretty good". His name was Marty Smith, did you ever hear of him? After I picked my jaw up off the table I showed her several copies of Dirtbike and MX Action with him on the cover and assured her that "Yeah,he was pretty good" !

 As for Maryland, it is a beautiful part of the country, but I'm afraid my thin California blood wouldn't take the cold in the winters like it did when I was a kid. You mentioned a track at Anteitam, my Brother lives in Boonesboro which is only a couple of miles from the Battlefield.

Do you still live in Maryland ?

'Crockett

[Lew Mayer]

No, I got forced north to southern PA. Still work in MD though. Sad to say Antietam track just closed last year due to property sale and new owners not honoring a lease. Same old story with the same sad loss of an old and much loved venue. Good people at Antietam. You'll find a lot of that old fun and camaraderie here with these Penton folks. Good racing, good time and good friends.

Lew Mayer

[Big Mac]

Crockett -Where did you ride or race is San Diego in the '70s? I grew up out in the hills between Lakeside and Ramona, about halfway out in the sticks on the way to the old "Four Corners" later (and still) called Barona Oaks...As kids we rode the wheels off of worn-out old Hodakas and Yammies, except for a couple of better-off buddies who had Ossas and one even a new 125 Elsinore. We'd go out late Sunday afternoons and just stand next to the highway for hours, watching the trucks going home from the races, just to check out the trick and cool rides and dream of growing up someday to go race ourselves. Never happened until I was an old man and took up vintage.

I got to go along once with the kid who had the 125 Elsinore (and some obliging parents) to watch him at night races at South Bay. My brother knew Marty Moats who went to the cross-town high school, and Broc Glover is a cousin of my cousin by marriage, or something like that...met him once around '80, not a real freindly guy from what I recall. The "Cajon Zone" about 10 miles away, produced a bunch of '80s talent like Ron Lechien, Glover and Rick Johnson. Never knew I was so close to the magic down there until looking back later.  Mac

[Crockett]

Hey big , or since I'm a newbie maybe that should be "Mr.Mac" :c)

 We lived in La Mesa Just up from Spring valley. The spot where I did most of my riding was locally known as "The Jap fields" I guess some Japanese immigrants used to grow stuff in the canyon area there.

Since I was only 13 of 14 at the time and none of us could drive our riding was limited to where we could get to on our bikes with out to much riding on the street. One place we rode was out near the High School (MonteVista H.S.)I remember people referring to it as Lakeside but after looking at it on the map I not sure that's right.

 I can remember Marty Moats just kickin' eveybody's ass at South Bay. Kind of a funky track though, almost TT like, built on the infield of a dirt track stock car track as I remember it. You and I may have stood in line at the Hotdog stand together back then and didn't even know it. Kinda weird huh? I was there in late '73 to early '75. Then we moved to Bakersfield Ca. I wonder if any of the members remember "Sprockets Park" in Bakersfield ?

I never did race, My brother got hurt on a motorcyle when I was in grade school so the only way I got my bike was to make a deal with my Mom that I would never ask about racing.I kept my word but It's one regret I have from those days cuz I think I would have done pretty well. Some of the guys I "raced"  on the practice tracks in the foothills were doing well in the Intermediate class and I could take most of them. Of couse,I may suffer from "The older I get the faster I was" syndrome !  

 Got married and started a family young and decide to be "responsible" and never raced my RM465 Suzuki either. I sure had lots of fun riding all those years though.

Here's a couple of local names I just remembered from San Diego. Kenny Dunn, Bob Wilson, and a crazy dude named Mike Aceoff. Mike would get home from work (he was older than all of us) and jump on his TM400 Suzuki (widely known for hurting people) and come tear-assin' through the canyon wearin nothin but his work boots and cut off jeans straight from work. No helmet or any gear at all ! That 400 would go by us so fast we never knew if he was riding it or it was riding him! I don't know why that bike never killed him !

Sorry for the long rambling posts, I'm a bit of a story teller.
I think I could qualify for the Expert bench racer class !

I got a story about meeting Kenny Zahrt one time too. Maybe I'll post that along with the story about the trip to the USGP some time.

I realize most of this stuff isn't directly Penton related but it is good "Vintage motocross" stuff that happened during the Penton era.

'Crockett

[Big Mac]

Crockett- Lots of us used to ride in the SD River bottom in Lakeside in the 70s, with El Capitan High School backing up to it---was called generically "the sand pits"...but that was quite a ways from La Mesa or MV H.S.

That was renegade riding for sure, although other than some distant buzzing noise we created, we weren't bothering anyone. No one ran us off until about 1978 or so, when the sheriff's dept finally outfitted themselves with a couple of TT500s to give chase. When we saw a well-geared-up rider with a star on his tank headed our way, we'd scramble in all different directions, every man for himself. At least then, only one of us was at risk of being caught with a trespassing citation. Ahhh...the old days.   Mac