Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

fC\J 00 0') ...... High above Arroyo Cycle Park with the snow capped San Bernardino mountains in the background.lInset) Jeff Hicks glides his Yamaha off int o space. The rise, fall and rise again of Arroyo Cycle Park By Lance Bryson I t was nearl y 10 years ago that Arroy o Cycle Park op en ed its ga tes to off- road m otorcycle riding. At the tim e Arroy o quickly beca m e one of SoCal 's biggest and roughes t riding areas, bu t des pite th e loya lt y of some riders, the park closed its gates in 1973, for a variety o f reaso ns. 18 Alter ni ne years of simply occupyi ng a spot on the list of San Bernardino County's la nd h oldi n gs. Je rry McNea l fina lly trium p h ed in a six-yearbattle to reopen the park . McNeal, once th e fo under of th e Cali fornia Raci ng Clu b, one of Ca liforn ia 's la rgest promoting orga nizations, managed to get both co u nty approval a nd much n eeded Green Stickie mon ey to com plete th e task. , Fifty-five m iles east of Los Angeles, Arroyo Cycle Park is nes tled between the Devore a rea a nd Sa n Bernardi no State Co llege, off In tersta te IS. Ir' s ap proxi ma te]y the same size as Indian Du n es, encompassing 300 acres . Although no races are sche duled there befo re Mar. 7, the pa rk is open seven da ys a week for pl ay ridi ng or hot laps o n the motocross co urse. L i ke a hot local rider, Arroyo has co me to th e a tte nt io n of the facto ry motocro ss teams. Yamaha made a rrangements wit h th e park to bui ld a stadi u m-sty le MX tra ck for its riders to practice th ere a nd prepare their mach in es for th e Wran gler Supercross Ser ies. T he likes of Goat Brek er, Brian Myerscough , Bob Hannah , J eff H icks, Mike Bell , Bro c G lover a nd J o hnn y O ' Mara have a ll don e tes ting a t Arroyo. I met with McNeal recentl y to discuss the chain of events from th e park's close n in e yea rs ago to its present co me bac k. I was just o ne o f ma ny wh o had raced at th e park du ri ng its heyday, a nd like ot hers, I never reall y u nde rs tood how su ch a bea ut if u l pa rk had closed. J erry, co u ld yo u take us back 10 yea rs a nd explain just what ha ppened wi th Arroyo? O rig in all y Arroyo Cycle Par k was opened in 1972 by th ree part ne rs wh o go t th e pro gram goi ng . T hey were basicall y riders a nd rea lly didn 't have a lot of ex perience in running a motorcycle p ark . They were a ble to get financial backing from about five o r six peopl e who in vested in th e park. bu t th e investors kne w very little a bo u t running a motorcycle park as well . T hey ran the pa r k for a bo u t a year, q uite well for a bo u t si x month s. Alt er si x m onths th e inves to rs sta rt ed insisting on getti ng their money back. T here j us t wasn 't tha t much m oney co m ing in an d eventua lly the three pa rtners di ssolved th e pa rtnersh ip a nd th e park went o ut o f bu sin ess. It rea lly wasn 't because of lack o f entries ; th ey did quit e we ll here a t th e time, dra wi ng a nywhere from 150 to 250 riders on a motocro ss weekend. an d th e track was well th ought o ut. l n fac t it was very po pu lar at th e time . But because o f th e fin a ncial si tua tion th ey had to close it down. T he pa rt ne rs had a lot o f tro u ble wit h th e co u nty due to th e fact it wa s co u nty p ropert y a nd th ey had a lea se w ith th e co u nty, so event ually they went ou t of bu sin ess. O ne of th e things tha t they did do th o ugh , back in m id -' 73, was to p ut on th e fir st nati on al -cal iber 125cc race. Back at th at tim e yo u didn 't ha ve Yamaha or H on da or Suzu ki or Ka wa saki into th e 125s. Wh a t yo u ha d were Puch s, DKW s a nd H odak as - thi ngs li ke th at, a nd it wasn 't very lon g a fte r th a t th at the AMA p icked u p o n it a nd ma de a series o u t of the 125s. At th e time th ey went o u t of bu siness I ta lked to th e ma in fin ancial backer, bu t hi s p rice fo r th e p lace was j ust as tronomica l: way too much . I co u ld u nderstand wh y th ey d idn't mak e it. T hey ha d so much inves ted that thei r ret u rn on the in vestm ent j ust was n't that good. I didn't pa y too m uc h a tte n tion to th e p lace for a bo u t three years . T he n I started negoti a tin g wi th th e co u nty to try a nd ge t it reopened , a nd I worked with th em a n d th e state to tr y to ge t th e park o pe n up unti l 1979. So yo u passed on it for about four years, then came ba ck and started nego tiating with the co u nty and th e sta te to try to reopen it. And that was in wha t yea r? About ' 76 or '77. There were so me p roblem s th at had happen ed wh en th e park was o pe ne d. Origin ally, th e she riff was aga inst the park beca use th e roa d leads into wh ere h is aca de my rehabil ita tio n centers are. He reall y ( didn ' t want any body us in g the roa d. We fin a ll y ove rca me th at by ta lking , to va rio us people a nd th e she riff finally agreed to let us o pe n up th e park. One of th e p ro blem s th e or ig ina l partners had wa s tha t th ey used to co me ac ross th e sa nd was h . Th at was their ent ra nce to th e park . Well, everytime it would ra in th e roa d would wash ou t and th ey'd h ave to repa ir i t. Nea r th e end wh en th ey were o pera ti ng the pa r k th ey go t acce ss to u se th e sheriff's roa d. So wh en I negot iated w ith th e co un ty, I in sisted th at we be a ble to use th e roa d. That was one of th e big p roblem s we had to overco me . Once we overca me that , we go t th e co u nty rea lly exci ted ab out o pe ni ng th e park . It took a co u p le o f years to ge t every thi ng negotiat ed down , but eventua lly in ' 79 th ey dec ided to go a head with it, and it's tak en unti l 'SO to get it opened. T he co unty ha d approxi ma tely $50,000 in th eir G reen Srickie fu nd. T hey used that to upgrad e th e well , install a wa ter holding tank a nd bu y so me fen ce mat eri al. We as ked fo r a gra n t from th e sta te from th e G reen Stickie fu nd. T hey in itiall y a pproved $470,000 to be used to impro ve th e park. Now th at was to be u sed for a dditio na l fen cin g . deve lop ing th e trails , to put in a sprin kle r system a nd light s for the mot ocro ss track . They sent down 10% o f tha t money to th e co u nty, whi ch was $47,000. Th e co u nty has spe nt a bo u t $ 10,000 o f th at on an aeri a l survey o f th e propert y and th e rest is to be used for en gin eering work. Why an aerial survey? It ' s some t hing tha t th e co unty

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