I am sure there are alot of you guys out here so pipe in and recall some old races, stories and old riders to stir up those lost memories. Remember the old Sertoma track, Westlake, Goshen, Old Liberty Bell Indy indoor and we cant forget the old Fort Wayne Colosium Classic.

I have been away for about 18 years in motorsports but I am back and getting back into the scene. Meeting old friends and catching up on old times and of course meeting new ones friends.

If you see me at the track stop me and say hello.

Lets not forget logansport,andeson,warsaw,galveston,fort wayne outdoors,lake sullivan,evansville and the pepsi col.indoor track in indy.indiana had some super fast guys back in the 80's.Some of the best times of my life were at some of those tracks and the riders.almost for hunnington track sorry about that rich.In 86 i think they held a state race at lake sullivan in indy and it was on local tv had it on vhs and it got trashed anyone out there have a copy or any from the 80's from any of these tracks.Will try to post some pics later.

Shelbyville had a track for a short time it was like riding in a plowed field. Ah yes moto mountain in Anderson that track was fast. Dont forget Lafayette had a track also in a park the first straight was like an 1/8 mile long. You had nothing left by the time you hit the first turn.

Yes we had a bunch of fast guys back in those days.

Lets not forget South Shore Indoor and Outdoor Tracks in Michigan City. Both tracks were great, except when you fell at the indoor track, damn cement floors.

Mark, South Shore indoor rocked. anyone remember the name of Fort Wayne's outdoor track. I remember being there for the Summer Nationals in '85 and breaking my ankle. I was sitting next to Eric Rupe in the pits watching the rest of the races.

The family packed up and moved to Fla when I was young, but my first race was as in the 10 - 11 beginner class at Sertoma. I still have the trophy. I raced Moto Mountain and Westlake as well. I don't remember any of Westlake, but I remember the right hand first turn, flat second turn, and long straight after the 3rd turn at Sertoma.

The outdoor track in Fort Wayne was in Rock Hill park if I am correct.

A voice for Northern Indiana. Wakarusa BMX was one of the first tracks in Indiana and probably the midwest. Later Buds BMX became the first ABA track in Indiana, and held the first ABA national east of the Mississippi. I was involved with both of these tracks, and have great memories. If you raced at either one or both, chime in. Let em hear from us. John"Wildman" Kiernan

Huntington was a fun and fast track. And how can anyone forget racing in the lower level of the Fort Wayne War Memorial Coliseum. I remember running stadium tires and trying to maintain traction on polished concrete coated with rosin. That didn’t work so well. Then one of the later races they started using some sticky substance, someone told me it was cola syrup. It did help with traction, but if you fell you stuck to the floor like flypaper.

Thanks K, I remember that track was very fast, very big and very scary at times.

80s racing in Indiana was great.......

Friday night racing under the lights in Richmond [Rose City ]

Saturdays at Camp Sertoma.........remember when the gate fell backwards?

Sundays at Westlake.......long left handed sweeping first corner with a drop off at the exit......even had Moguls down the last staright away one season.


Winter time....Liberty Bell Flea Market on the Westside. 2 laps of Coke syrup and two wooden jumps one wedge and one table top.


Fort Wayne Colliseum[sp] three or four times a year......how did they pack that many people into the place.


Rockhill was over rated, Huntington was scary fast down the first straight, Moto-Mountain...they reuined that place with the re-do, Goshen....next to the Boys Club - tallest starting gate that I have ever rode on, Vincinnes[sp].....biggest set of S-Turns. I know there was a lot more.........memory is like the hair line, goin' fast.


Longere

First National I attended was Wakarusa. I remember parts of the track were no more that 4-5 feet apart. I always drive by Westlake on 465 with fond memories of the craziest national I ever attended with the BMX mud nationals. I think it was an 81 NBL WOS race.

Does anyone remember a track that was located in a barn?

We found this track when we were racing a Double National in Indiana. I think the first National was either Fort Wayne or Evansville. After the first National and on our way to the second we got lost (for hours might I add) and stumbled upon this track in the middle of nowhere and it was located inside an old barn. Since there was know chance we could make the second National we all decided to go ahead and race this track inside the barn. What I remember most about this race was how much fun we had. There was no pressure to win-just some good old fashion racing.
If anyone can recall-I have long wondered what the name of this track was.

Thanks,
Craig

Never raced at Wakarusa, but that was the first big race I ever attended (NBL WOS maybe 81?). I was awestruck at seeing Judge, Atherton, Haro, Hannah, Esser. The next spring, after I got my Murray for that Christmas, I talked my mom into taking me and a buddy over to that track one day while we were on spring break. I remember being so excited to be on an actual BMX track, that I absolutely gave it all I had for the first full lap and then spent the next hour in the car all dizzy and puking LOL. Great times.

Oh, and I do remember racing Scott House, Jim Bonewitz, Amondo Hopkins, Chad Cunningham, Eric Lahr (or was it his brother?). The other big names in Northern IN were Gangwer, Coles, Sabatini, Cress, Hopkins, Pinckney, Treble, Venekamp, Towne, etc.

Another track out there was the Fun City indoor track in Evansville. There was a WOS race there one year. It was a mix BMX and go-cart track. If I remember right, the first and last straights were drag strip flat.

Living in SW Indiana, I can recall in a three day weekend, you could hit races in Henderson, KY, Evansville, IN, Vincennes, and Olney, IL. You went to a Fri. night race, then a Sat. morning or early afternoon track, then a Sat. night race, and finished the weekend with a Sun. afternoon race. Other options included Owensboro, KY and Madisonville, KY on a weekend.

If I remember, the s-turn in Vincennes went from anemic to a two-story monster in 82 or 83.

Steve there was also a track in Petersburg.

Ya that cement floor was brutal. I hated racing indoors for that reason. Cement floors and wooden jumps are no fun at all. I feel lucky I never broke my arm or leg.

Also raced in Calumet City, Bourbonnais, and Kankakee.

I raced back in 81 and 82. Anyone remember a kid with a 24 chrome JMC outfitted with two sets of sprokets and chains? That kid almost always beat me in cruiser class. Fun times.

Who is this?
Bourbonnais & Kankakee!!!
I was born & raised there! Roger Hertzberg here!
I raced regularly thru 1983 and sporatic after that for a few more years.
personally I LOVED concrete & plywood!

i race bourbonnais a few times,,dident the fred's live real close? remember the night richie anderson raced there.i was there that night.....

yes, they lived in Bourbonnais.... The Fred's & O'Connors were the directors at both tracks.
I remember you were fast and raced against Dana O'Connor. You guys were probably 10 or 11 at the time? I was about 18.

The only track I remember in a Barn was in Muncie Indiana. During the Winter months.........


Longere

Thank You Longere, The indoor track we found was the same weekend as the Double National in 1983 or 84'. I will try to find some pics of Muncie and see if this happens to be it.

Thanks,
Craig

If it was an SE Quadangle, that may have been a kid I knew that lived near Wawassee. Paul was his first name, IIRC. That twin drive system had to be the Clem Twin cranks. I remember he was one of the first people to have them, and knew the guy that created them. He also had a boatload of trophies, most of them first place.

.

chrome JMC with Clemtwins.....I think might be Kevin Stephens from Marion. He was way fast, but got killed in a motorcycle accident at 16.

Here he is on a 20"



That the guy your thinking of?

RC

i remember the first track in fort wayne was at foster park i think. was by a river and a golf course. only lasted a season or 2 then moved to the bigger one. the people i remember the most was the dagers. steve and his 2 sisters and the first guy i knew with his own halfpipe carey patow i think. and the griffith brothers shane and shannon. we all lived in the same neighborhood.

Foster park...maybe 1980? Steve Dager, me, then Brian Fox and Rob Roberts......first turn.

yep 1980 cause i was 14. had a dg if i can remember right. guess thats pretty old school.

other tracks were the first track i remember anywere round here was angola , it was out in the middle of a field. a year or 2 before fw, goshen,logansport, waukarusa, im sure a few others. other good racers were jeff keller whos dad along with mine helped start the fw track after a meeting out by the zoo. and paul dodenhoff who later did some of the local announcing at the tracks. i did race for fw bikes for a few years. didnt ever get a set of clem twin cranks but i remember his twin daughters and kevins funeral.

There was a track in Cromwell north of Fort Wayne near Ligonier too. I remember it was real long with small jumps. That was right after my buddies and I built a practice gate and were learning gate starts. My best friend Chris purposely jumped the gate big time and Bill Gangwer and a couple officials had a real nice chat with him and he played stupid like he didn't understand what he did wrong. They left it up to the rest of us to decided if we wanted him dq'd.

We let him race. He kicked our butts. Bad decision on our parts, eh?

This is my first post here. My name is Matt Rodenbeck and I raced in central Indiana from 1979 through 1984. Some good memories reading this forum!

Hey Dadoftwins....lets here some of your stories........

Your wife

I can remember Mr. Lyons at the starting gate at many of the Central Indiana tracks. He never missed a cadence..... or that I can remember. My steel trap ain't like it use to be.

What was the question again?

Didn't Rod Miles race in the early 80's in Indiana, where he was originally from?

Yes he did, only then he was known as Rodney


I haven't seen or heard anything from Mr. Miles in awhile. Hope all is well.

I raced a double national at I think Fort Wayne and Evansville. I don't remember a thing about Evansville but if my memory serves me correctly Fort Wayne had a big start hill and a downhill first straight. I also remember it raining during the national at Fort Wayne. The thing I remember most was sitting down at the finish line in the semi and getting past. I think I cried all the way home to Michigan. Anyone remember the year of the rainy national/

Im from Fort Wayne , Indiana .... I still race to this day 30+ years ..... some may know me in the ABA now. I remember growing up on the Rock Hill Park Track .... I was there everyday before school and after. I went to school next to the track ( Portage Middle ) , I also remember getting jumped by 5 people who thought it would be funny to beat on a child for 3 hours ...... thats another story in itself. I did grow up on that track though , and yes there were great times spent there. I remember names like Berry Mcmanus , Smokin ' Joe , Scott Yokoulett , Jody Donnley ect .... I remember one day after a race at Rock Hill a bunch of us went over to Snively house ( takes pictures for bmx action ) and he invited me to come along with Dan Lanerth , Berry and him to shoot some pictures for the magazine . Well turns out that one of the pictures would become the front cover .... i was stoked . It had Dan doing his ( Dan Can ) on his factory phaze 2 bike . The place was the famous Raveen by that school Lakeside " i think it's called" , we had to balance on a pipe to get there ..... one slip and you could forget about riding .... forever. I was scared the first time going because of that dam pipe crossing ..... that was the first of many pipe crossing to come

Does anyone happen to have the Race Results from the 1983 or 1984 NBL National from Ft Wayne or Evansville?
I have looked everywhere and haven't had any luck.

Thank You very much.

Craig

I was a member of the NBL and NIBMXA from 78-83 I think. Had great memories of Wakarusa, Goshen, Elkhart, and later getting a track at home in Fort Wayne.

Hey Mike, I knew Carey Patow, Shane and Shannon Griffiths. Do you remember a Carl Bartling, Todd Davis, or Paul Ferguson?

I think I raced there... it was some kind of circus animal training facility. It was hard to find somewhere to race in the winter!

Yeah, I only raced there one time. I caught a ride with Chris Pitman. I just remember the place being a little shady. Maybe a couple of laps and not a lot of people being there.



Longere

I raced big wheels at Fun city indoor in Evansvile then on to the bike at Burdette Park in Evansville. I'll throw out some names for you that I recall.

Eddie Mason
Bryan Mason
Jeff Colvin
Jeff Boyles
Kevin Murray
Tim Taylor
Tara Taylor
Chuck Effinger
Ginger Effinger
Chuck Barton
Peter Barton
Shawn Mitchell
Ryan Vanway
Kyle Mclain
Tony Lythgoe
Jamie Huff
Heath Neal
Barry McManus
Scotty Yoquelet
Jody Donnelly
Striebys
Garret Weiss
Devon Hodges
Eric Cunningham
Wes Searer
Blake Searer
Mike Cottier
Tommy Grawey
Jacob Nay
Greg Josey
Mark Josey
Trey Clark
Mark Modlin
Jimmy Moon
Dan Lienerth
Vince Potter
Ryan Nichol
Mickey Bullock
Stacey Lupfer
Mike Fickert
Columbus Schwinn
Weislers BMX
Gilles Schwinn
Mels Angels....

All I can remember....maybe it'll jog yours or their memories

Scotty Edmondson

hey rich....doesn't get much more old school than that...looks like a walking trail at the park.

wakarusa was the first track i raced about 1978...a dude named jerry stump got me hooked.
raced aba and nbl...buds bmx,goshen,edwardsburg,wakarusa. best bmx buddy was bob boone.
good times and even better people...best time of my life...
steve beam

first race ever...wakarusa track about 1978...dig the modified schwinn stingray's.

wakarusa bmx about 1979 or 80...me on the outside riding a laguna beach cruiser with randy johnson on the inside.

i raced wakarusa alot during that time...got anymore pics ...those are really cool

yes i have just a couple others.
also goshen bmx

buds bmx