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Carlsbad 1980

84miller

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Yep, it is sad they closed all that down. At one time they also had drag racing there....
 

SkyDirtWaterguy

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Ahhh the days when you really had to be a good rider to run one of those things around the track.
 

riverroyal

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i grew up hear this and the drags from my house. Spent a bunch of time there and at the skatepark. Still live a few miles away
 

FreeBird236

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I'm no historian, but that was like a turning point for the USA to be able to compete, of course even today the circuits are quite different.

Even more impressive was the way the US dominated European Speedway for years.
 

mbrown2

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i grew up hear this and the drags from my house. Spent a bunch of time there and at the skatepark. Still live a few miles away
Where would be located today? Around which major cross streets...I used to go down to Loker off of Palomar Airport road often...always wondered where it was in relation..
 

boatdoc55

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Good old Marty Moates. We raced with him for years in the 70's. We spent many, many Sundays with CMC down there over the span of 11 years. I have not been back down that way for decades.
 

boatdoc55

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My first real dirt bike was a CZ. I still have it. But when I built a 400 (purchased from Marty Tripes) to contest the 2016 world Championships, the first guy to get his hands on it was Mr. Klemm.
A little Carlsbad GP history from 1974. http://articles.superhunky.com/4/292
Marty rode my dad's bikes, Boyd & Stellings Yamaha's, a couple times when my brother was too broken up, ankles, collarbones, wrists, knees to race. His body is a mess now days from MotoX.
 

riverroyal

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in this valley. you can still see sections of the track
Annotation 2020-07-23 145556.png
 

boatdoc55

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moates committed suicide by gun shot in 2006 in La Costa, a few miles from the track. Theres a cross in this canyon in memory
Ya, my sister called me as soon as she heard about it. She keeps up with ALL the MotoX stuff from the 70's thru the 90's. She was a scorer for Stu Peters of CMC for many, many years. My sis is good freinds with the Peters family.
 

boatdoc55

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in this valley. you can still see sections of the track
View attachment 901741
Hard to believe, there was nuttin out that way 40-50 years ago. The only thing I remember were all the flowers covering the hills. We used to go down on Saturday afternoon and watch the drags that night. Had to go out at night and then back in Sunday morning. Spent the night in the van with the bikes and all the gear, in the line to get in for racing on Sunday.
 

westair

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Where would be located today? Around which major cross streets...I used to go down to Loker off of Palomar Airport road often...always wondered where it was in relation..
Loker is just west of Melrose ...... when Melrose went in it took out part of the track. Its pretty cool to walk it, you can still see the start and that 1st turn along with many other sections.
 

RiverDave

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Where would be located today? Around which major cross streets...I used to go down to Loker off of Palomar Airport road often...always wondered where it was in relation..

There is Carlsbad raceway business park down there now.. The valley is pretty much the old drag strip. Raced there many times when I was a kid.. We also used to sneak onto the track at night with our motorcycles and get chased off.. LOL.

There was several famous MX riders that lived in the area, and one had built a big track on his property in the hills just east and south of where the raceway was.. We used to ride that as well. Was an awesome place to grow up in at the time!

RD
 

Gelcoater

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My first real dirt bike was a CZ. I still have it. But when I built a 400 (purchased from Marty Tripes) to contest the 2016 world Championships, the first guy to get his hands on it was Mr. Klemm.
A little Carlsbad GP history from 1974. http://articles.superhunky.com/4/292
Coincidentally I noticed John shut down Klemm Cycle in Riverside sometime in the last month or two, store front became a home for some bum.
Too bad.
Been running these pipes since ‘88

056EB813-A636-4B11-AED7-3ED236263602.jpeg
 

PlumLoco

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Bummer. I have bought a ton of stuff there.
 

Clank123

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So many memories out there.
First time there in 68 for a Drag race with all the Top Fuel Front Motor hitters of the day.
Snuck through the back fence in the mid 70’s for the GPs.
Made my first pass down the Strip in 76 in a 62 Nova. Can’t even count how many other cars I drove and Saturday nights out there. Last pass was in my 7.60 front motor dragster in I think 2001. Only ran 8.95...track wouldn’t hold the car.
Drove SCCA formula fords there in the mid 80’s even ran a couple years in a dirt cart on the little oval.
Add in driving Flatbottoms At the lagoon starting at 10 years old in 1970 along with skiing there at least twice a week and riding prototype jet skiis for Kawasaki in 1972 and racing in the second ever jet ski race in 1977....yup, I had some fun in little old Carlsbad, California...still live here, still love it😊
 

caribbean20

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Great memories, thanks for that. So the question is, whom among us still rides? Count me in. 3 great MX tracks within an hour of my house in metro Denver, including Thunder Valley. Plus Rampart Range, great enduro trails in the Rockies.

2019 KTM 250 SX. First bike ever, Hodaka 125 Wombat, about 1970ish.
 

Ziggy

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Where would be located today? Around which major cross streets...I used to go down to Loker off of Palomar Airport road often...always wondered where it was in relation..
Melrose and Lionshead.
Lionshead is essentially where the old dragstrip was at.
You can still see the original mx finishline jump just north of that intersection on the east side of road
 

77charger

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First time I raced there was 88 line 15 years old on a 125 all I heard was the “freeway “ and hows it’s a rutted uphill first time I was scared going up got pushed around trying to hold my line soon became favorite track to ride. Just about took a hole shot once then came the first corner I about got ran over

anyone race there remember when they would run the track backwards?? I remember riders morning guy gives the normal speech then suddenly ask hey anyone up for backwards run raise hands it won easily
 

boatdoc55

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First time I raced there was 88 line 15 years old on a 125 all I heard was the “freeway “ and hows it’s a rutted uphill first time I was scared going up got pushed around trying to hold my line soon became favorite track to ride. Just about took a hole shot once then came the first corner I about got ran over

anyone race there remember when they would run the track backwards?? I remember riders morning guy gives the normal speech then suddenly ask hey anyone up for backwards run raise hands it won easily
I had forgotten all about running backwards. Thanks for the refresh.
 

BSP14

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There is Carlsbad raceway business park down there now.. The valley is pretty much the old drag strip. Raced there many times when I was a kid.. We also used to sneak onto the track at night with our motorcycles and get chased off.. LOL.

There was several famous MX riders that lived in the area, and one had built a big track on his property in the hills just east and south of where the raceway was.. We used to ride that as well. Was an awesome place to grow up in at the time!

RD

Grew up in La Costa, and we used to sneak in there all time too. Had a buddy whose uncle used to bracket race a 62 Biscayne on the strip.

More recently, we lived on a hill just south of the 78/Mar Vista for 25 years before moving to LHC a couple years ago, and we would hear them running on the drag strip on the weekends until they shut it down.

That whole area is practically unrecognizable compared to what it used to be, with Bressi Ranch, and all the commercial development along PAR.
 

Ziggy

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Drag strip looking west. Melrose now comes down the hill in the background left to right.
Confirmed-it-is-a-copy-lg.jpg

drag strop looking east. The car wash is is now beyond this and the big Target superstore.
8-7-04finaldragsatcarlsbadraceway.jpeg

The crowds the USGP would generate.
USGP-HangTen-JonTaylor.png
 

77charger

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I had forgotten all about running backwards. Thanks for the refresh.
Yes it made a wicked left hand turn after the start vs going straight but was fun especially after practice when you went one way then suddenly its changed but the best part was many also liked it.
 

Taboma

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My first real dirt bike was a CZ. I still have it. But when I built a 400 (purchased from Marty Tripes) to contest the 2016 world Championships, the first guy to get his hands on it was Mr. Klemm.
A little Carlsbad GP history from 1974. http://articles.superhunky.com/4/292

Been friends with Harry and Gerhard Klemm since they modified (Stage II, Endurance specs) mine and my wife's jet ski engines at Group K, back in 1999 and 2002 respectively. Fast forward to the present and both skis have continued to perform flawlessly, other than a plug change every couple of years.
Having a road side chat a year or so ago with a ranch neighbor when she noticed my wife wearing an original Group K tee shirt (Affectionately her official offroad shirt) , was surprised and asked if we knew Harry --- " Sure do, do you ?" wife replied, " Yes, he's my boyfriend" replied our neighbor.
That of course prompted me to call Harry when we got home, small world cool as hell moment. 👍
 

DrunkenSailor

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What a great track and a great race. That looks like a hell of a party. Thanks for posting. Its a shame that we have lost all of our tracks.
 

JM21

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I was lucky enough to to race the last race at that facility. It was the Christmas Grand Prix and it used both Mx tracks and we even went down the drag strip wide open on our 450’s. I used to live at Melrose and green oak (1/2 mile away) and we had a pit bike track that McGrath and victor sheldon built at the site where the new fire station is. We would ride our pit bikes there and then get on our big bikes and go poach the Carlsbad track after it shut down. Carlsbad PD loved us!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

AZLineman

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Killer vid. I was there a couple times in the late 70’s. Rode Husquvarna at the time jumping from Yamaha.
 

sirbob

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Great memories from that track in the 80s !

I used to run the Grand Prixs there back then...

Here is a pic of me coming off the dirt onto the drag strip back “in the day”

😊

3F0F766B-B6F3-4DDD-9CC8-2C10D95D7556.jpeg
4549ED5A-0671-49E4-98F9-E687682943D8.jpeg
 

PlanB

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Grew up racing at different tracks in SoCal, but Carlsbad was my home track. Ran cars and bikes on the strip as well. Like someone else said, it was a great place to grow up.
 

Taboma

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harry has a shop in fort mohave now, I think its called group k

Same compound he had when he (Group K) modified my wife's Yamaha in 99', not sure how long he had it before that. I know he's still doing the 2-stroke jet ski engines, but also heavy into vintage 2 - stroke motorcycle engines, since the jet skis went 4 stroke.

Group K Ft Mohave.JPG
 

Taboma

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Couple of cool Google Earth maps --- Dec. 2003 track clearly visible. Dec 2003 with building overlay. June 2009, progress wins.

Carlsbad Raceway Google Earth 12-2003.JPG


Carlsbad Raceway Google Earth with buildings 12-2003.JPG


Carlsbad Raceway Google Earth 6-2009.JPG
 

red ant

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First turn at Carlsbad, had the inside line holeshot. Crappy old picture circa 78. Good memories of pre kid days. I was 19 yrs old and a newlywed. Still married (my mechanic).
IMG_20200724_132758.jpg
IMG_20200724_132758.jpg
 

howard21

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Went to a Motocross school there in 1974 put on by Rolf Tibblin Kent Howerton was in the class. Fun times
 
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