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VOLUME 58 ISSUE 15 APRIL 13, 2021 P117 In 2003, I finally got the chance to go see the famous Unadilla for the first time. On my way from the airport in Binghamton, I decided to swing by and check out the town of Unadilla. It turns out that the community is a quaint little village founded in 1801, a place where the main street is lined with towering trees that shade large, turn-of- the-century homes. It's a small town where everyone knows one another, and people gather at the village park next to the library and lay down blankets under the shade trees to watch locals play some three-on-three basketball. The village even boasts that it's the home to Boy Scout Troop #1. Unadilla has a lot going for it, but one thing it doesn't have is a motocross track. After a quick look at the town, I drove over to the old Union 76 gas station, which is one of the first businesses you see after you get off the interstate. It's no longer a gas station; it's now a car repair and sales business. On this sunny Saturday afternoon, I saw a young man unloading a car off a wrecker. I pulled over and waited until he had the car off the flatbed, and then struck up a conversation. It was the shop owner. His name was Ralph Cuozzo Jr., owner of RC Sales and Service. Ralph and his dad, Ralph Sr., have owned the shop for more than 23 years, and it turns out that literally hundreds of motocross fans have pulled into the old station seeking directions to the track over the years. "We get some pretty funny looks from people when we tell them the track is not in Unadilla," said Cuozzo Jr. "A lot of them aren't too happy when they find out it's another 30 miles away." "If I had a dollar for every person that asked me where the moto- cross track was, I'd never have to work again," added Cuozzo Sr., who has lived in Unadilla for more than 50 years. "It used to be a lot worse than it is today." A big change came in the 1990s, when the State of New York began installing large, portable electric signs during July's race weekend on the interstate near Unadilla, giving travelers directions to New Berlin, the real home of Unadilla Valley Sports Center. "That really cut down on the number of people that pulled off here," said Cuozzo Sr. The Cuozzos have quite a few humorous stories about motocross fans gone astray. "Most of the time, it's people with trailers hauling bikes, coolers and grills," said Cuozzo Jr. "For the most part, everybody is glad to finally find out where the track is, especially if they've been driving around the countryside for hours, looking for the track. Every once in a while, though, we get some belligerent attitudes." One time, some guys told Cuozzo Sr. that he didn't know what the hell he was talking about and insisted that Unadilla was, in fact, in Unadilla. "I just told 'em they were right, and it was off that way a few miles," Cuozzo says as he points off to the opposite direction of the track. "One guy even said he wasn't going to the race after he found out how far away it was." "It's really bad when people pull in here from Utica or some other town north of the track," said Cuozzo Jr. "They've driven all the way down here and have to head back north to get to the track." As if on cue, I found out first- hand a little of what the Cuozzos went through every July. A couple of vans with Connecticut plates pulled in, loaded with young motocross fans headed to the track, seeking directions. Mother Cuozzo kindly gave them the directions while husband and son were out working. Some people even seek direc- tions to see Unadilla even when there's no race going on. "I guess the place must be sort of legendary and people just want to see the track," said Cuozzo Jr., who once owned a motorcycle but admits that he was never into racing that much. "I just read in the paper that that Carmichael is the big deal now." The Cuozzos find that most of the motocross racing fans are good people. "It's a lot of families and young people," Cuozzo Sr. explained. "You can tell they're excited about going to see their heroes' race. I've even had people pull in here after the race and thank me for giving them such good directions. I guess we've had a lot of practice at it." CN This Archives edition is reprinted from issue #17, May 7, 2008. CN has hundreds of past Archives edi- tions in our files, too many destined to be archives themselves. So, to prevent that from happening, in the future, we will be revisiting past Archives articles while still planning to keep fresh ones coming down the road. -Editor Subscribe to nearly 50 years of Cycle News Archive issues: www.CycleNews.com/Archives