Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1521822
B efore it was renamed Hang- town, the state of California was the land the Maidu Native American tribe once called their home. Entrepreneur John Sutter built (and lost) a fortune in the area. Outlaws and lynch mobs (whose egregious pairing put the "Hang" in the city's name) likely sought to control the town as well, but when it comes to motorcycle racing, the famous Placerville, California, motocross track is the sole property of the Grossi family, hailing from nearby Santa Cruz. In the early days, the famed Dirt Diggers motorcycle club race was dominated by Bob Grossi, who won his class four years in a row, 1969-1972. When injuries derailed Bob's promising career, younger brother Billy engi - neered his own win in dominating fashion, scoring a double moto victory in 1974, the year when the Hangtown event became an of- ficial AMA National. "Hangtown was a special place for me," says Billy. "It was the site of my very first motocross race ever. I had just turned 14, which was the minimum age to com - pete in an AMA District 37 race. It was 1970, and I competed on a stripped-down Yamaha AT-1." Grossi doesn't remember how he placed that day, but the memories of that day in 1974 burn as brightly as an NGK B9ES, and he remembers in great detail the story of his first-ever National win. "Hangtown was almost like two different tracks," Grossi recalls. "One half of the prop- erty was really hard-pack and the other half was pretty sandy. When it would rain, half of the track would be a mess, but the other half, the sand, would hold the moisture pretty well." Motocross was relatively new in America at that time, but each of the major Japanese and Euro- pean distributors were represent- ed in force on the racetracks. In textbook free-market fashion, champions like Gary Jones be- came a journeyman racer, taking his number-one plate to three different companies in as many years. Fast teenagers, transplant- ed desert racers, and European imports fell into line behind the forward-falling starting gates in 1974, and the battle for suprema- cy in this new sport was becom- ing more intense each year. It would've been impos- sible to have not noticed Team Honda's presence that day in the pits. While most teams had two, maybe three riders, the Red Brigade came to the race with eight wanna-be champs. All three classes were on the docket, nearly every motorcycle magazine was represented, and cool but sunny conditions kicked off the 1974 season, with Cycle News noting the "lush green hills, CNIIARCHIVES P142 GROSSI & HANGTOWN an NGK B9ES, and he remembers BY KENT TAYLOR 50 YEARS AGO Local Billy Grossi won the 250cc Hangtown National 50 years ago when it was held at Placerville. The race moved to its current venue in 1979.