Track Guide
TRACK GUIDE
Greetings from LOUISVILLE
If you're planning to head for Toledo, Ohio to see the AMA Grand National Camel Pro Series race September 17th. . . stop! On May 1 a fire broke out at the Toledo Raceway Park completely destroying the entire grandstand area. Paul Schlegel, President of Delta Motorsport Park, Inc. (promoter of the Toledo National) was faced with the prospect of having to cancel the race when good news arrived.
Bill King, President of Louisville Downs came to the rescue by offering the use of the Louisville facility so the Camel Pro Series could continue without interruption.
Louisville not only has the world’s fastest and one of the most exciting half-mile tracks (which is why you’re going, right?) it’s also an historic city which offers a multitude of tourist attractions and plenty of hospitality, southern style, that is.
We suggest for a complete list of hotels, motels, and restaurants, including the tourist spots, you write to the Louisville Chamber of Commerce, 300 W. Liberty St., Louisville, Ky. 40202. It’s a good idea to make reservations early.
TICKET INFORMATION Tickets for the Saturday night, September 17 AMA Na tional Championship are avail able from Louisville Downs, P.O. Box 32457, Louisville. Ky. 40232. Ticket prices and seating arrangements will be the same as the June Camel Pro Series at Louisville Downs. Reserved seats are $12.50 and Sl0.00. General admission seats $8.00.
WHERE TO WATCH THE RACING
The best seats are the railbirds and the grandstand reserved. General admission ticket holders are seated •in bleachers and benchs in Turn Four. Louisville is an unusual track with many of the riders taking the high line and many times riders are able to ride four and five wide through the Louisville turns. There are no bad seats and plenty of action on the world's fastest half-mile track.
WHERE TO EAT
Louisville. Land of the blue grass, thoroughbreds and my old Kentucky home. There are restaurants aplenty . . . everything from Kentucky fried chicken and family restaurants to the ultimate in elegant dining. Check the list below and see if your taste buds don’t stand up and say “howdy.”
BILL BOLAND’S DINING ROOM
3708 Bardstown Rd.
(502) 458-2666
A 150-year-old Kentucky farmhouse featuring American cuisine. Reservations are suggested.
THE COW PALACE
6517 Dixie Hwy.
(502) 935-1315
A place the whole family can enjoy together.
NOT QUITE CRICKET
Embassy Square
Off 1-64 at Hurstbourne Ln.
(502) 491-9803
Elegant dining.
PETER OUTLAW’S
1930 Bishop Ln.
Off 1-264, Watterson Tower (502) 451-5377
Casual atmosphere and some of the best food in town.
WHERE TO STAY
Louisville offers many fine hotels and motels. We have listed the four below because they are all very close to the track.
EXECUTIVE INN
Off 1-264 at Phillips Ln.
(502) 367-6161
EXECUTIVE WEST
1-264 at Phillips Ln.
(502) 367-2251
RAMADA INN
Watterson City
Off 1-264 at Newburg Rd.
(502) 452-6361
RAMADA INN
(Hurstbourne)
Off 1-64 at Hurstbourne Ln. (502)491-4830
HOW TO GET THERE
Louisville Downs is located at 4520 Poplar Level Road off 1-264 East. The turn-off is approximately one mile from where 1-264 and 1-65 intersect. Coming into Louisville on 1-264 West, take the second Poplar Level Road exit and go about one mile. The main gate is on the right.
Parking for both motorcycles and cars is 50 cents. A special roped off area is provided for all motorcycles with ample security for the protection of your equipment.
Should you be flying in, Louisville Downs is just about a mile and a half from the Standiford Airport, also located on
HERE WE ARE IN RIVERSIDE
iverside is an established road racing track that’s never caught on with bikers. Last year’s AMA professional road race event was one of the best shows of the year, with all the stars plus some personal grudge racing between said stars. The fans who were there loved it, but there were fewer than 10.000 fans there.
Riverside is too good to miss, e track itself is laid out to provide a little of everything.
There’s a long straight for Daytona speed, a banked sweeper at the end of the straight so the bikes don’t lose speed before streaking across the start/finish and getting slightly airborne on their way to the esses, where they flick through the corners and rocket into tight Turn 6, down the short chute into reverse-camber 7 and 7A, then wheelie away on the straight again. High speed, tough turns.
TICKET INFORMATION
Information on ticket prices and availability was not firm at press time, so you'll have to check with Riverside Interna tional Raceway, 22255 Eucalyp tus, Riverside, Calif. 92508. Telephone (714) 635-1161.
HOW TO GET THERE
Riverside isn’t in Riverside. The actual track is tucked away behind the small town of Edgemont south of the city of Riverside.
From Los Angeles, use I-10 to Riverside, then take Hwy. 60 south from Riverside to Day Street. Turn right and go about one mile to the track gates, which will be on the left.
Orange Countians can use Hwy. 91 to Central Avenue, which runs behind Riverside and becomes Allesandro Boulevard at Edgemont. It’s a country highway, orange groves and all, very nice. After you cross Hwy. 395, turn left on Day Street and the track gates will be on the right. Fans from San Diego should use 395 to Allessandro, turn right and then left on Day Street.
WHERE TO STAY
Riverside is a beautiful place to stop with many fine hotels and motels to offer. We have selected several different places but for a complete listing write the Visitor & Convention Bu reau, Riverside Chamber of Commerce, 4261 Main St., Riverside, Calif. 92501 or call (714~ 1-71Oft
HOLIDAY INN 1200 University (714) 682-8000
RAMADA INN 1150 University (714) 682-2771
RWERSIDE TRAYELODGE 1911 University (714) 686-0590
SAGE & SAND MOTEL 1971 University (714) 684-6363
SKYLARK MOTEL 2140 University (714) 682-7675
CIVIC CENTER MOTEL 3225 Main St. (714) 686-8043
WHERE TO EAT
Upon entering Riverside with its blue skies, fresh air and desert-like atmosphere your stomach is likely to start talking. Riverside offers a wide variety of restaurants and here are some tongue teasers.
PALACE OF THE DRAGON 5600 Mission (714) 648-0123 Chinese
LORD CHARLEY'S 1329 University (714) 686-5040 English
PITRUZELLO'S 287 La Cadena Dr. (714) 686-6787 Italian
LA PALOMA 1795 University (714) 683-3697 Mexican
DEUTSCHER HOF 2308 University. (714) 686-1165
AESOPS 1414 University (714) 686-2212 American
WHERE TO WATCH THE RACING
If you know where to be, you can see the action up close and far away.
Ignore the giant grandstand at the start/finish line. Seats are on a first-come basis, so you can drive down the outside of the track to the stands outside Turn 6. The pack howls through the twisty bits and comes to less than 100 feet from the stands. Those at the top of the stands can watch the progress of the entire race.
If you like to move around during the day, drive through the tunnel beneath the track and head south. You’ll be able to park close to the concessions and hike from there to the inside of the turns. It’s crowded at the fence, so get there early.
Careful planners have the best place of all. For reasons the promoters didn’t explain, but which seem to involve facilities offered, Riverside does not have camping.
Instead, there’s overnight parking. What you do is arrive Saturday or Saturday evening. Drive your truck or whatever through the tunnel and across the parking lot to the inside of Turn 7. Park at the fence and when race day dawns you’re in the perfect spot. The bikes come down the chute, over the hill and sweep through the double turn, mere feet from you and your camera. (Best spot on the track for amateur photography as you’re as close to the action as the press guys are.)
LAGUNA SECA
Laguna thing. For Seca the has past every10 years Laguna Seca has been both the favorite west coast track for hard core racing fans and the place where people who don’t like racing are willing to watch the races.
For this year’s main event Champion Spark Plugs is sponsoring the U.S. round of the world Formula 750 series. For 1977 the F750 races are full world title contests, for the first time. The most powerful bikes in road racing now have complete support from the major factories like Yamaha and Suzuki. There are the best private national teams from the U.S., France and England. There are the names. Kenny Roberts will be there. So will Steve Baker. (At this writing
Baker leads the series, with Roberts close behind. Laguna Seca is the eighth of 10 rounds in the series and the U.S. race is likely to see the first American winner of an FIM world title.) Running F750 are Takazumi Katayama, Giacomo Agostini, Greg Hansford and Boet van Duimen. An international cast, as they say.
For supporting events, there’ll be a production race for all those booming Ducatis, Laverdas, Kawasakis, BMWs, et al. And a race for 250 GP bikes. And for thrills and chills, racing sidehacks, the full-race European versions. And for those brief pauses while the chairmen are hauling their rigs out of the trees, a stunt pilot will do in the air the gyrations bikes perform on the ground.
Sept. 9 Sept. 10 SCHEDULE 1 p.m. Practice 8 a.m. Practice 1 p.m. 5-lap Lightweight Expert, Production Novice, Expert 750 3:30 p.m. 20-lap Lightweight Expert race Sept. 11 8:30 a.m. Practice 11 a.m. 20-lap Production race 12:30 p.m. 32-lap First heat Championship 200 Formula 750 1:30 p.m. 30-lap Novice 2:30 p.m. 32-lap Second heat Championship 200 Formula 750 4 p.m. 10-lap Sidecar race
TICKET INFORMATION
Admission tickets for the practice on Friday cost $2. On Saturday admission costs $5, paddock passes are $5 and a grandstand seat costs $3. On Sunday it will cost $10 for admission, $5 for a paddock pass and $3 for a grandstand seat. Advance tickets will be available through Bass Agencies, Ticketron and the SCRAMP office (SCRAMP, P.O. Box 2078, Monterey, Calif. 93940). A paddock pass for Saturday and Sunday in advance will cost $9 ($8 for students and military). If you plan to attend the events on all three days, a three-day admission pass can be purchased for $12 ($10 students and military). If you plan to attend the events on all three days, be able to visit the paddock and sit in the grandstand, a special three-day VIP pass is available for $33 ($20 for students and military).
WHERE TO STAY
People not all that keen on racing enjoy Laguna Seca because it’s just outside Monterey, Pacific Grove, and Carmel, three of the more attractive locales on earth. The food is suberb, the scenery is incredible and the shopping equals both. You literally have your pick of quaint or sumptuous inns and restaurants. You can shop along Cannery Row, famous in literary history albeit the fishers of fish have been replaced by the fishers of discretionary income. There’s a walking tour of the historic spots; Monterey was the capitol of California in colonial times. Most of the best in California architecture began here and has been carefully preserved.
Monterey is a resort area. Because of this there are more good places to eat and stay than
can be listed here. We’ve given a few names of our favorites. There are 10 times as many, most of them good. Next, because Monterey is so attractive, it’s popular. That means you’d better have reservations.
Mark this. If you plan to attend the Champion weekend, make your reservations early. Put down this magazine. Go to the telephone and make reservations. Now. If the inns mentioned here are full, ask for more numbers and advice.
If you are from south of Monterey and you don’t have a room for the night, either you drive inland and find a trucker’s motel or you head south at dusk looking for a vacancy sign. There will be none. Take it firsthand. When Monterey fills up, it fills up all the way south to Santa Barbara.
BUTTERFLY TREES LODGE 1150 Lighthouse Ave. Pacific Grove 93950 (408) 372-0503
DEL MONTE HYATT HOUSE 1 Old Golf Course Rd. Monterey 93940 (408) 372-7171
LARCHWOOD INN 740 Crocker Pacific Grove 93950 (408) 373-1114
MONTEREY TRAVELODGE 675 Munras Ave. Monterey 93940 (408) 373-1876
WILKIES MOTEL 1038 Lighthouse Ave. Pacific Grove 93950 (408) 372-5960
For a complete list of hotel/ motels and restaurants write to the nice people at the Monterey Peninsula Chamber of Commerce and Visitors and Convention Bureau, P.O. Box 1770, Monterey, Calif. 93940 or call (408) 649-3200.
There are temporary campgrounds available on the Laguna Seca Ranch adjacent to the raceway. Temporary because the campgrounds are only open during major sports activities. There will be chemical toilets and trash barrels provided, and fresh water is located nearby.
Permit fee is $3 per night. For reservations or information, call (408) 372-0325 or write to Laguna Seca Ranch Campgrounds, P.O. Box 308, Monterey, Calif. 93940.
WHERE TO WATCH THE RACING
Laguna Seca is one of the more natural tracks, a curving road circuit laid out across rolling terrain. There’s a short straight, a series of fast bends and slow bends leading into the famous corkscrew, which is a reverse camber turn leading down a hill through the trees, then a short chute and a hard turn for the start/finish pine.
The fans are allowed to wander around inside the track with a fair degree of freedom. Those who like speed and wheelies prefer the grassy slopes looking down on the start/finish area and the first sections of the course. Fans who want their spectating up close gravitate to the corkscrew, where one can sit beneath a live oak tree and watch the bikes scrabbling for traction into the drop and yowling past down the twisty bits. Or you can do both. Begin by following the road across the bridges to the parking sections, then heft the picnic basket and hike from one good place to another. You can’t go wrong.
HOW TO GET THERE
First choice, ride a bike. Laguna Seca is about 150 miles south of San Francisco and 350 miles north of Los Angeles. If time and motorcycle permit, riding to the races along the coast on Hwy. 1 is as much fun as the races themselves.
The quicker-but-duller way from the north is Hwy. 101 to Salinas, turn right and follow the signs to Hwy. 68, then watch for the track entrance signs.
Southerners have two alternatives. Hwy. 101 is the starting point for scenic riders and the middle way. For good riding, turn left on 1 at San Luis Obispo. To save time, stay on 101 to Salinas then look for the bypass leading to 68.
The quickest way is the dullest way. Interstate 5 goes from Los Angeles roughly north in a nearly straight line. Must be the most boring ride or drive on
earth. Mile after weary mile of staring at trucks. Terrible. And there are long stretches without so much as a gas station, so if your mount has a peanut tank, go another way. 1-5 drones from Los Angeles to Hwy. 152. Turn left and follow 152 to Gilroy, then south on 101 to Salinas.
The campgrounds are located on the Laguna Seca Ranch directly adjacent to the Laguna Seca Raceway. Access will be allowed only through the entrance marked by the yellow and black campground signs on Hwy. 68.
WHERE TO EAT
In case you should get hun gry for things other than romance and the beautiful sce nery that abound in this area, here are some of the restaurants to try.
HOG'S BREATH INN San Carlos near 5th Carmel 93921 Don't let the name deter youthe fish and steaks here are deli cious. So are the grasshoppers! (No reservations)
GALLATIN'S 500 Hartnell St Monterey 93940 (408) 373-3737 A favorite with the CYCLE WORLD and Road & Track staff members.
THE CANNERY 350 Cannery Row Monterey 93940 (408) 372-8881 Old world atmosphere on Steinbeck's Cannery Row.
ASCOT PARK
TICKET INFORMATION
Adult Child Adult Child Gen. Gen. Reserved Reserved Adm. Adm. OCTOBER 7 * Golden State U GA only GA only $ 5.00 $2.50 OCTOBER 8 20-lap National Half-mile $10.00 $5.00 $ 7.50 $3.75 COMBINATION $13.00 $6.50 $10.00 $5.00 (two nights) * Includes Golden West Invitational half-mile for novices and juniors.
THE FACTS When: October 8, 1977 Where: Ascot Park, Gardena, California Who: AMA professionals What: Half-mile flattrack, counting toward the national championship.
Ascot L The is track for day is trippers. famous k and the annual AMA races on the half-mile circuit are great. If 1977 follows the 1976 pattern, the chase for the AMA national title can even be settled at Ascot in the last race meeting of the season.
The locale works against tourism. Ascot is in Gardena, California, an industrial section south of Los Angeles. There are few luxury inns, few gourmet restaurants. If you’re coming from out of town, stay at the Los Angeles airport, on the Queen Mary at Long Beach or south Anaheim and visit
Disneyland during the day.
The track is freeway close, meaning Ascot is northwest of the intersection of the San Diego and Harbor freeways. Whichever direction you’re coming from, leave the Harbor Freeway at Normandie, turn right onto Vermont and look for the track signs. Easy.
The track itself is, well, experienced. Ascot stages all kinds of races. They have flattrack, TT, motocross, jalopies and even Figure 8 races. All they do is move the dirt around to provide one big jump or a series of little jumps or no jumps at all.
There’s only one place to sit, in the stands that wrap around both short chutes and the start/ finish straight. Some places in the stands are better than others. Best is the first turn, where the entire field comes thundering over the line in a solid mass, flat out, and suddenly all the bikes bank sideways and spew dirt as the riders pitch their machines into the turn. The first two turns are banked more steeply than are the back turns, so speeds are higher and the racing more spectacular.
Ascot has been a breeding ground for professional racers for at least one generation. The
surface is tacky clay that offers high traction. The racers slide at incredible angles. The distance around is measured in some strange way, so by the usual tape it’s a bit short of a true half mile. But because the traction is so good we’ve clocked bikes into Turn l at 90 mph. The clay surface doesn’t become chewed into one fast groove, so the pack doesn’t have to line up for a chance to catch the leader. Instead they can each look for a way ’round, meaning action. And the clay is so hard the racers’ shoes and engine cases strike sparks when they drag on the ground.
