| June 9, 2024
Cycle News Archives
COLUMN
50 Years Ago
By Kent Taylor
Before it was renamed Hangtown, 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 engineered his own win in dominating fashion, scoring a double moto victory in 1974, the year when the Hangtown event became an official AMA National.
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.
“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 compete 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 property 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 European distributors were represented in force on the racetracks. In textbook free-market fashion, champions like Gary Jones became a journeyman racer, taking his number-one plate to three different companies in as many years. Fast teenagers, transplanted desert racers, and European imports fell into line behind the forward-falling starting gates in 1974, and the battle for supremacy in this new sport was becoming more intense each year.
It would’ve been impossible 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, wet with dew” and spectators throwing down picnic blankets in “sunny meadows.”
When the gate dropped for the first 250 moto, it was Billy and his Honda out in front. As his friends and family (including brother Bob, who was sidelined with a knee injury) cheered him on, Billy found a heady adversary in Marty Tripes. Tripes, who had been let go by Honda following the conclusion of the 1973 season, was now on Husqvarna and likely determined to show his old employer that they had made a mistake in letting him walk. Tripes pursued Grossi, eventually taking the lead from him on lap four. The two teenagers locked horns in a tremendous, all-moto-long battle that would see Grossi go on to the win. Not a bad finish, especially for a well-used old race bike!
Marty Smith (right) won the first 125cc National at Hangtown in 1974.
“My Honda was actually the previous year’s works bike,” Grossi said. “It may have actually been Gary Jones’ championship bike. I can’t prove that, but either way, it did work really well for me and my riding style. I could just get on it and go.”
In the second moto, Grossi’s start was not as strong, and he found himself slicing his way through the pack. Superstars like Pierre Karsmakers, Gary Jones, Kenny Zahrt, Tripes, and others stood between Billy and another moto win. One by one, however, these MX legends would find themselves eating dirt kicked up by the curly-haired 18-year-old from Santa Cruz.
“I remember coming to the finish line,” Billy says, “and there was my dad, who was jumping up and down. I said, ‘What happened—did I win?’ He said, ‘Yes, you won,’ and then he jumped on the back of my bike and rode with me to the pits!
“I remember that well,” Billy says. “That was the best part of the day.”
Team Honda’s good fortune would continue, with Marty Smith capturing the overall in the very first authentic AMA 125cc National. In the 500cc class, another Honda, piloted by Rex Staten, grabbed the first moto win. Unfortunately, a second moto DNF put Staten out of the top finishing order and kept the red, white, and blue boys from sweeping the event.
Sadly, many great tracks from the early days of MX have gone away, and the original Hangtown would be one of them. The final AMA National was held there in 1978 and the track was shuttered not long after. The Hangtown name moved to today’s location near Sacramento, but the original track in Placerville is off-limits to anyone who wishes to reminisce about the greatest days of motocross.
“We tried,” says Billy, “to have Bob’s ashes spread there. It was something that he had mentioned—the kind of thing that people talk about as they get older, you know.”
“We were all set to go there, but at the very end, it all fell apart. We weren’t allowed to go in.”
This weekend’s race commemorated 50 years since Grossi’s National win. Alongside his good friend Rick Johansen, who also worked as his mechanic that day in 1974, Grossi will serve as Grand Marshal for the event. The racetrack may have moved, and many things have changed in motocross over half a century. But on Saturday, June 1, 2024, Hangtown, once again, belonged to a man named Grossi. CN
