VOL. 55 ISSUE 7 FEBRUARY 21, 2018 P97
the 250cc class and Mark Blackwell
winning the 500cc race).
Goodwin understood crowds and
hype, so he bombarded Southern
California television and radio with
high-energy ads to whip up the excite-
ment. He'd lured top European talent
with a big purse and start money,
pitching the race as Americans versus
the world. Announcer Larry Huffman
(known as "the mouth") was brought
in to bring the atmosphere to a fever
pitch.
The atmosphere of the Coliseum
that warm July night was electric.
Walking through the dark pedestrian
tunnel and then having it open up
to reveal the track, banners and hay
bales laid out over the stadium floor
was incredible. For motocross pur-
ists—including a number of attending
Euros—there was a lot of skepticism
about the legitimacy of a genuine
motocross track being conjured out
of a flat football field. But as night fell
and the lights illuminated the stadium,
it brought an otherworldly aspect to it
all. It was different, but after all, it was
a dirt course, and it was still all about
racing.
In a perfectly scripted night the
inaugural Superbowl of Motocross
was won by an unknown 16-year old
Yamaha-mounted kid from Santee,
California: Marty Tripes. An unknown
American kid beating a host of Eu-
ropean World Champions on Ameri-
can soil added a storybook touch to
the evening, cementing the annual
race as a must-see. When the tally
of 30,000 paying spectators was
brought to light, the promoters knew
they had something.
What differentiated supercross from
