THE SUPERCROSS EXPERIENCE
P96
Feature
Looking Back
The evening in Oakland had me re-
flecting on my first supercross ex-
perience all those very many years
ago. I am from the generation that
saw its invention. My personal
indoctrination to motocross had
been in 1971 when my dad took me
to the Saddleback Trans-Am. My
first exposure to motocross was
seeing 500cc World Champion,
Bengt Aberg of Sweden, blast up
the entire length of the start hill on
the rear wheel of his Husqvarna
and then sail down Banzai Hill.
I'd never seen or heard anything
like it. Motocross; I didn't know
what it was, but I knew I liked it.
A moment later the smell of burnt
premix from Aberg's Husky wafted
over me. I was hooked.
By the summer of 1972 I was a
full-blown motocross devotee rid-
ing a Yamaha 100. My fellow moto-
heads and I couldn't believe our
ears when a slew of ads hammered
AM radio announcing the inau-
gural "Superbowl of Motocross."
Rock promoter Mike Goodwin had
dreamed up the audacious con-
cept of trucking in loads of dirt and
transforming the hallowed playing
field of the Los Angeles Coliseum
into a motocross track. The L.A.
venue was site of the first-ever
Super Bowl, so Goodwin capital-
ized on the name, which would
eventually be morphed into super-
cross (an amalgam of Super Bowl
and motocross) when the indoor
stadium series became its own
championship.
Although that 1972 event re-
ceives the credit for being the first,
supercross had roots as far back
as 1948, when a track was con-
structed inside the Buffalo Stadium
outside Paris. In 1972, a track was
constructed inside Daytona Speed-
way during Bike Week, utilizing the
grass infield in front of the grand-
stands (with Jimmy Weinert winning
TO SEE WYATT'S
WIDE-EYED,
GAPING MOUTH
RESPONSE TO THE
RACERS AS THEY
NAVIGATED THE
COURSE ALLOWED
ME TO BE A KID
AGAIN.
(Top to bottom) This
is one photo Wyatt
will hold on to for
the rest of his life.
Surely you have
one like this, too.
You and...? Even as
an adult, it never
gets old walking
into a stadium and
seeing a motocross
track instead of
green grass on the
floor. Wyatt was
mesmerized by it all.
Wyatt gets into it.
