By TR Robertson
If you ever watched or taken part in motorsport or motocross racing in Carlsbad? Last Tuesday, June 22nd, in a parking area across from Eppig Brewing in Vista, was the place to be as a whose who of sports racing personalities associated with the former Carlsbad Raceway unveiled a project dedicated to honor the historic raceway. The event, sponsored by Road 2 Recovery, a project helping injured motocross/supercross and action sports athletes, featured classic racing cars, dragsters, vintage cars, and motocross motorcycles on display. T-shirts and engraved bricks were also on sale. The bricks will become part of the monument. All of this led up to the unveiling of a large placard dedicating the spot and design for the monument for the Carlsbad Raceway.
The development of the idea for a site and design for the project began in 2010. A long, drawn out process overcame several obstacles before finally getting approval for the monument at the Vista location. The monument will consist of a “Carlsbad Overlook” deck, covering 1,300 sq. ft., that will look westward over the valley that once was part of the Carlsbad Raceway. The monument was designed in conjunction with Schmidt Design Group of San Diego. Part of the monument will be photo and text panels detailing the history of 50 years of high-performance sports activity of the Raceway, sights and sounds of competition that can be accessed on your smartphone, benches will be incorporated into native vegetation and a scale model relief sculpture of the Carlsbad USGP motocross track once seen on ABC-TV’s Wide World of Sports will be built.
The anticipated completion date is some time in 2022, hopefully during the summer. The site will be owned and maintained by the Road 2 Recovery Foundation of Encinitas.
Historically, the raceway began with the purchase of 150 acres of land by Larry Grismer and Sandy Belond, land that would become the raceway. In 1964, the raceway opened with the Carlsbad Dragstrip, followed in 1965 with the first motorcycle races. In 1966, the first Sports Car Club of America auto races were held at the raceway. By 1969, international motocross races were being held and Evil Knievel performed his famous jumps. In 1973, the first United States 500 cc Grand Prix was held and crowds attending grew to the thousands. 1976 saw the Carlsbad Skatepark opening at the Carlsbad Raceway, the first skatepark in the United States. Carlsbad Raceway saw National coverage in 1979 with a Superbike event covered by ABC’s Wide World of Sports television. This coverage would last until 1985. The last Grand Prix would be in 1986 and the Carlsbad Raceway would close in 2004, a victim of the ever-expanding development in Carlsbad of the business park area, expansion of Palomar Airport and other issues.
Prior to the dedication and unveiling ceremony, those attending had time to wander and visit with various owners of high-performance cars and racecars as well as motocross bikes. Jerry and Kristy Keller, of Ramona, raced at the Carlsbad Raceway with their ‘63 Dodge. Jerry still occasionally races on the Barona Reservation, recently winning $400 for a first-place finish. Next to them was a beautiful ’70 Charger owned by Woody Wldman and Curt Bogdan. The ’67 Datsun Roadster of Ron Carter was next in line, close to the ’86 Honda CRX of Cody Markos, which once raced at Carlsbad in the ‘80’s. Jeff Walker, President of the Mopar Club, was displaying his ’68 Plymouth GTX next to a ’72 Challenger 440 Six-pack. Displaying a number of Motocross racing motorcycles was Scott Burnworth and Frank Vrettas, along with others, Scott raced motocross at Carlsbad Raceway and was a runner-up National Motocross Champ in the 80’s. Frank runs the Legends of Heroes, a display of historic racing bikes that will be appearing at 17 different motocross races across the U.S. next year. While walking around, a beautiful orange Plymouth Barracuda pulled into the event.
A call on the microphone from event coordinator Todd Huffman brought everyone to the site where the monument will be built to begin the dedication ceremonies. A long list of speakers had a chance to tell a little about the history of the Carlsbad Raceway, what the raceway meant to them and some of their personal experiences. Todd Huffman, a member of the Carlsbad Monument Executive Committee spoke about the beginnings of the project, the people who helped get the fundraising and design efforts going and some of the history of the Raceway. At its height, the motocross scene at the Carlsbad Raceway would be referred to as the “Woodstock of Motorcycling” with tent cities erected, thousands of people surrounding the hillsides to witness the Grand Prix races. David Moates, another Carlsbad Monument Executive Committee member spoke next, reminiscing about the history of the raceway. Next on the agenda was Jimmy Button, a former professional motocross racer who was injured while racing and later started Road 2 Recovery, the organization that will own and maintain the monument. Jimmy mentioned some of the raceways famous course names like Freeway and Devil’s Drop. Speaking next was Scott Merry, Vice President of Construction for Baidee Development, the organization that designed the monument project. Vista’s Mayor Ritter was next on the agenda, welcoming the construction of the monument and those responsible for bringing the project to Vista and saying how proud she was that the monument will be in Vista across from two of the Vista breweries, Dog Leg and Eppig Brewery. Mayor Ritter, with help from Todd Huffman, then unveiled the design for the Carlsbad Raceway Monument for all to see.
Next, 90-year-old Larry Grismer was introduced, one of the Carlsbad Raceway Founders and Owners. Larry mentioned his brother Jerry, also a founder and former owner, was unable to attend. Larry told many a tale about the raceway, how it began, and some of the incidents. He brought up Stu Peters, CMC Founder and race promoter who also spoke about the history of the Raceway. Oscar Jackson, from the Sports Car Club of America and a former motocross racer at Carlsbad in the 70’s spoke of his switch to Honda performance race cars. A special guest to the event, who congratulated those involved for getting this tribute to the former Carlsbad Raceway finalized, was Motorsports Hall of Fame of America and International Motorsports Hall of Fame member, Don Prudhomme. Don was a member of the National Hot Rod Association and won many events racing dragsters and funny cars, many at Carlsbad. Mike Palm and Lance Smith, professional skateboarders from years ago spoke about the importance of the skateboard park Carlsbad Raceway established in the 70’s, the first commercial skate park in the United States. Roger De Coster, a five-time Motocross Grand Prix World Champion spoke about how important this track was to “motor crossers” and his son brought up the large Grand Prix trophy he had won.
As the lengthy list of speakers ended, those attending were invited to stay, to visit with the different cars and motorcycle owners and speakers and to enjoy a lunch provided by Mexico City Cuisine Food Truck. The monument, when completed, will provide a scenic spot for visitors to sit, a chance to visit two of Vista’s breweries and to grab a bite from the different food trucks that visit them as well as looking out over a historic valley that once was filled with the sounds of powerful cars and motorcycles, now filled with quiet only interrupted with an occasional plane approaching Palomar Airport. If you get a chance, stop by 1347 Keystone Way in Keystone Industrial Park to see the proposed monument, and stop into the two breweries right across the street. For more information about the project go to www.Road2Recovery.com.
