CN
III ARCHIVES
CN
III ARCHIVES
BY LARRY LAWRENCE
I
t was one of the early tracks of
the AMA and Trans-Am Mo-
tocross Championships—Lake
Whitney Cycle Ranch—where
riders like Roger DeCoster, Tony
DiStefano, Pierre Karsmakers,
Kent Howerton, Bob Hannah,
Danny LaPorte, Mark Barnett,
Donnie Hansen and many more
raced and won. It might have be-
come one of the iconic venues in
American motocross, but the cir-
cuit situated between Dallas and
Waco, along the banks of the
Brazos River (that divides East
Texas from West Texas), was
plagued by scorching hot mid-
P112
A DECADE OF NATIONALS
with a section going up a hill into
a wooded area, Lake Whitney
featured natural elevation change
and a raceable mix of sand
and red clay. Racer Tim Adams
recalls the track's "sandy loam
with one hard-packed section.
Giant berms, huge whoops,
great jumps and a drop-away at
Chuck Sun Hill made for fun and
demanding racetrack."
The track was built sometime
in 1969. The first AMA MX Na-
tional was held there on August
12, 1973. One-hundred-degree
heat greeted fans and riders,
and many of the racers dropped
summer races in its early years.
By the time the race was moved
to earlier on the racing calendar
in the early 1980s, the Texas
economy was being thrown into
a recession after the oil industry
went bust due to low prices. The
track ultimately could not attract
enough fans during that period
to keep Lake Whitney going, and
after a decade of nationals, the
run of AMA Motocross Nationals
at the track came to an end, but
while it lasted Lake Whitney pro-
duced some of the most notable
races in motocross history.
Coming up from the river bank
Lake Whitney Cycle Ranch in its modern heyday.
