VOLUME 59 ISSUE 45 NOVEMBER 8, 2022 P117
no doubt that LaRue has one
distinction that no other place
in the country can boast. On
October 11, 1970, LaRue hosted
the very first pro motocross race
sanctioned by the AMA. It was
the opening round of the 1970
Trans-AMA (popularly called the
Trans-Am Series). The site was
the then newly built motocross
track, named Marion County
International Raceway, built by
brothers Bill and Tom Guthery on
40 acres of farmland just south of
LaRue.
It was a big deal in its day. The
British factory BSA motocross
team featuring John Banks, win-
ner of the 1969 British 500cc
Championship and twice runner
up in the world championships;
Keith Hickman, third in the British
BBC Motocross Series; David
Nicoll, winner of that year's BBC
Series; Jeff Smith, five-time win-
ner at the Motocross des Nations
and Six Days Gold Medal winner,
along with team manager Bryan
Martin and team mechanic Nor-
man Hanks. AMA staff greeted
the team at the Port Columbus
Airport and hosted a dinner for
the team.
A little late to the game per-
haps, but by 1970 the AMA was
embracing motocross. It was
hard to deny the success of
Edison Dye's Inter-Am Series,
which was the first to bring over
the established stars of European
motocross to compete against
American scrambles riders. But
as innovative as Dye was, his
business practices rubbed some
of the manufacturers the wrong
way, specifically BSA and Su-
LaRue Trans-AMA winner Jeff Smith is
congratulated for winning the overall, while
second and third-place finishers Gunnar
Lindstrom (5) and Dave Nicoll (15) look on.
Nicoll went on to win the 1970 Trans-AMA
Championship.
PHOTO: ANDY WHIPPLE
Today, the LaRue
track is covered in
weeds, and a half-hour
slog through the field
yielded no remnants of
the old motocross track.
PHOTO: LARRY LAWRENCE
