What a flood of memories you just sparked. I could almost smell the track from your photos! ...and that coca-cola syrup in the corners, wow.

Do you know what age / who the riders were?

Nice Photos.

I think I raced against you Damon! Mich 3 rider either number 994, 122, or 7 Crankin' Chris Campbell depending on the year. I probably still have moto sheets from races at South Shore. I thought the guy in the Powerlite was Kevin Pugh out of Battle Creek. Hard to tell as it has been many, many years.

Damon, I think I might have been at the track but not racing. friends of mine raced and grew up with Tom Trusky. those bring back the memories.

Very cool pictures! That brings back memories for sure. I still have that same newspaper.

names in the 1st pic left to right:
jeff keagle
?dammn it i can't remember this one.
julie mix
tracy reitz
missy fred
billy newcombe
damon smith

these people on the gate were all people that placed in the main at the 81 jag world championship.
that was the purpose of this pic.


2nd pic:
me
duane maddox

3rd pic:
me
antwaan barns

4th pic:
me
jason reitz

5th pic:
me
jason reitz

6th pic:
me(barely)
todd lacky

7th pic:
me
jason reitz

Wow, Have got to chime in. Do you remember how I used to start the day by playing "Jonnie Reb" by Hank Jr. It was great fun to announce the races there, probably almost as fun as actually racing. Wouldn't it be cool if we could come up with the names of everyone who raced there. Thanks Damon. Wildman

Damon I used to race against you and we rode together for Samms. How have you been.

matt bock, "moto matt" back then

The one thing I remember about the music was "Blaze of Glory" by Kenny Rogers preceeding the mains. A few years ago, when I was trolling Limewire, I downloaded the song strictly on that basis. I can still smell the VHT every time I hear it!!

Photos to come this weekend (think I have one or two)

Best,

M

Great pics Thats awsome!

Wow Mike, I completly forgot "Blaze of Glory". Now I remember, Wow. Lets see, 82? or so, I was 42 or so. That makes me almost 70 yrs old. No wonder I can't remember. Thanks Damon, Mike, and everyone. John"Wildman" Kiernan

The only surviving photo of South Shore in my archives. Must be because I was in the lead (I exercised editorial privilege and "edited" out all the other ones...probably steps away from the Photomat).



Spy my sah-weet "Hotfeet" pedals. Lots of gas was purchased due to those babies. That is about as UN clipped in as you can get (without riding on the shaft-only of your Kingsbury or Hare pedals after that little clip got lost). Hard to tell if I was slipping a pedal and headed into the pavement, or just that WFO.

M

Mike,
do you know who is in the picture with you?

aw man...that is awsome mike!

me gettin ready to put the swoop on j.kick
if i can stop staring at the camera....lol

Great camera presence!

I would have forgotten about "Factory Wizard" without that pic! Top notch.

Damon,
if you get a chance in the winter on Fridays, Jason usually comes out to the indoor track in Hobart. get on the gate now days with him and you might have trouble. he hasn't lost a bit of skill. Jeff Venekamp has pulled gates with him and he rides like a mad man, still.

Wildman and "Hack" Starbuck double teaming on the mic, poor lighting and harsh jumps. So much fun and lots of great memories. I met my first long-term girlfriend there. Not necessarily great memories associated with that, ha ha.. Mike, the spot in the first turn where you are is almost exactly where I slid out and dislocated my shoulder for the first time. I put my hand down like you would in any normal slide-out, but my arm stuck to the VHT and literally ripped it out of joint. Most pain I have ever been in, to this day. Now that I re-live the memories, maybe I should have stayed away from that place! thanks for nothing Damon. ha ha.

[size="3"][/size]Holy cow!!! Nice to see you're already here Damon! Awsome pics! I've got a few pics from the indoor track 83-84 but none from the outdoor. I'll post them soon. I also have a couple t-shirts from a couple double points races at the ol' South Shore. I'll try to get pics of them up too.
I raced for the first time in early 83. I went to the indoor track a week earlier with my friend, Matt Kay, to see his older brother, Tim Rogers, race. remember him? I think he got his drivers license soon after and quit racing.
I still have all my old trophies from racing...tons of second places and a handfull of firsts.
I remember stuffing myself with hotdogs at the track and riding with Duane Maddox, George and Sue for alot of those races. I was forced to quit when the South Shore tracks closed up, my parents wouldn't take me anywhere else.
I started racing again in Hobart and Portage when they opened up the track there and was the track points leader in 2000. Then I snapped my wrist in the second corner and raced only a couple times after. My son, ended up with State champ that year too.
Great memories of racing for sure.
I'm 37 now and really don't remember most of the people that I raced against. I just remember having lots of fun!
I just opened up"My Bike of Michigan City" a small bike shop here in town on Franklin St. If anyone here wants to stop in and talk BMX, your more than welcome.

Superbowl of BMX Qualifier shirt, South Shore 1984 and a "Champion" Battle Creek Mi.
They don't fit like they used too!

That had to have been painful, 'cause I remember an accident you had a few years ago involving a rotating rear wheel and a little thing called a sack!

JP

south shore bmx outdoor track
ill guess 1982-83?
jason kick ....then me (getting ready to bail)
still a cool pic

Wow! look at all that mud off the track! I remember one time, it rained so hard during the mains... and we just kept on racin'! People were carrying they're bikes cuz you couldn't push um...the mud got so thick that the wheels wouldn't roll. It was that thick sticky mud that would pull your shoes off!
And I remember helping a couple people, pushing cars out of the mud too! I'm pretty sure I didn't even stop to go and get my trophy.. just went home and sat in the bathtub for an hour!
Great picture Damon!

hey Damon,
not to hijack you thread but are you coming out next weekend to the vintage show in Valpo? btw, South shore was Da Bomb!!!!!!!!

hey Damon,
not to hijack you thread but are you coming out next weekend to the vintage show in Valpo? btw, South shore was Da Bomb!!!!!!!!


MyBike1, sounds like a cool little bike shop. where at on Franklin St.?

I'm located at 1801 Franklin. Barker ave is a block down, that's the nearest "busy" intersection. If you've ever eaten at Albano's Pizza, I'm almost across the street. If you haven't you're missing out, great Italian Beefs!
I didn't know about the valpo show. I'm there!!!

Hey My Bike 1, I meant to tell you that I was the first announcer at the South Shore indoor track. Wildman

I've been reading some of these older posts and kinda thought so.
I swear I can still hear your voice whenever I looks at these old pics!
and you anounced at the outdoor track too, right?
You guys worked real hard from what I remember.
I don't think the south shore would have been such a blast if it weren't for you
guys up in the tower. I remember when I was a beginner and really didn't know
what I was doing, If I had questions, You guys always helped me out. You were
and still are very much appreciated. Thanks for being there.
I was just 15 when the track closed down and I never knew why it shut down.
Was it financial reasons?
and didn't you have a son that raced then?
I used to race some kid that said his dad was up in the tower. Was that you?

I never really worked at the MC outdoor track. I was there once and did a couple motos. The other announcer was named Starbucks, he was from Benton Harbor. Had a son named Jeff. He took over in MC when they opened to outdoor track and in Elkhart, I think 82. WM

When I get a chance, I will stop and see you on S Franklin

This thread is awesome. I raced at South Shore for years. This was also my hometown track. I raced Damon several times, but unless I had a great start, it was hard to keep up with guys like Damon and Jason Kick. I bought a new bike last year and I am contemplating going to Steel Wheels to give it another shot. I hear Jason Kick is still out there kickin' butt. Any other riders in that 35 -40 year old group still racing? Thanks for all of the great posts. It is nice to see that there are still some old school riders out there.

I have quite a few from the indoor and a few from the outdoor, Ha, even a couple from that grass track they made one weekend next to the indoor track ( what was that all about? ). I'll have access to a faster and better scanner soon and post more.
Duane

oh...hell ya!!!

i must of had the flu in that first pic...lol
look how crowded the place was in that 2nd pic...geezz
keep them pics comin duane.

Yeah!!! those pics are great! That's how I remember the track... full of people!
I gotta see more pics Duane! post um up!

Ok heres a few more that I have scanned allready.

Can you put names here Damon?


This one was not taken at South Shore, but it's the South Shore bunch in Tulsa I thinks at the Grands.
I'm sure you were there, but must have been laying down with the flu.


If you look real close you can see we are the first over the jump. The pics are better.


Do you remember there names standing behind me and on that practice gate?

Ok Jerry you asked for it.
Ain't that great!!!

HA! are you holding jr in that second pic??? ..lol,
These pictures are classic. I'm looking foreward to
seeing some pics of the outdoor track. Do you have
any good ones? ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!! I just saw
that pic of me!!!! That's the best one I've seen so far!
lol.........OMG. what I dork!

The box of pics I found today are mostly on the road pics, but a few locals slipped in there. I know theres a box thats loaded with South Shore indoor and outdoors but going to have to get out the bloodhound and find it. It has'nt been more than a year that I looked at them but with all the remodeling around here who knows. They'll surface and I'll get some up here ASAP.

DORK, Naaa dont think so, you should see some of mine. OMG!!
And ya that's JR the race dog, As I swallow a lump.

Duane

Can you put names here Damon?
lane 1=?
2 damon smith
3 duane maddox
4 ?
5 brandon spike
6 mark nasser?




Do you remember there names standing behind me and on that practice gate?
on the gate is wes searer looks like
behind him could be joel taylor
this pic could be from kalamazoo

hey is that wes sear on the gate or was it his lil brother blake

Jr was an awsome doggie! more personality than a movie star!

I think #85 was Brandon Spike. I raced him alot.
Mark Nasser on the end? I don't know... him and
his brother were just in my shop a while back asking
about the new Redlines!

Here's a picture of Brandon out in front of me in one
of my very first races! I think my helmet was borrowed
from you Duane!!!

Hey Gang. That is me on the end spot with plate #301. These pictures are awesome. Thank you for posting them. I seem to have lost all of my pictures. If there are any other pics with Damon & Duanne & I, that would be killer. Is this from 1983? Thanks.

yeah that could be blake i almost forgot about him...
behind him is not j.t. taylor..thats gotta be kris moody,i dont think thats me
now to the left is j.t. taylor.
hey j.parrett...is that your dad in the upper left corner of the group photo.


this is when i first started riding for tahoe...looks like i diden't get my tahoe frame & fork yet
very late 83 or early 84 ill say 1984
and duane,why were you smiling/making faces at the camera?
this was serious stuff.look at me focusing....lol

I'm glad theres someone out there that can remember names.
Ya pretty sure that was one of my helmets Jerry, I cant find any of my old race hemets anywhere and that sucks. Fatty barrowed my red ECHO yeaaars ago and well, never got that back.
Serious stuff Damon?, of course it was but thats perma grin on my face because I was having the time of my life.
Just a cool pic


I thought this was an old sheet and when I through it aside it opened up a bit and I was like WOW.


Heres the pic I was talking about Damon, I have a few from this race. For anyone wondering it's the main at the superbowl in Toledo. It took days of motos and semi's, seemed like well over a hundred 11 experts there. It did'nt happen to often to get a main like this,
Lind, Sigler, Finney, Cunningham, Smith, Johnson, Maddox, Kaufman, Ok you got me, thats serious stuff.

That is serious... great pics!

yes damon that would be my dad (art ) in the red shirt upper left also see dick taylor in there also brandon spikes dad in there totally cool pics really sucks that i cant find very many of mine at all. i only could come up with like 5 or so and there all from my very first day of racing (which is cool) please if u ever happen to run across a picture of me would ya please send it my way thanks damon

Heres a couple more of the South Shore group for ya.
Motel party

This seemed to have got pretty wild from some of the pics I have.

holy cow im in them pictures so is my mom and dad and sister any way u can email them pictures to me maybe i can try and print them somehow thanks for posting u to damon if tehres a way to send em to me would ya be able to thanks jason

is that Craig Treble in the blue hat standing behind the Tahoe guys?


http://i724.photobucket.com/albums/ww247/m...ng/scan0003.jpg

yes it is,he was sponsered by "b.m.x. underwriters" at one time
mike carruth was on the team also.
who else was on that team?