Speedway!

Speedway racing is a big thing here in So Cal, and the action’s on every Wednesday night at the Industry Hills track during the summer.  The Industry Hills track is only about 10 miles from the CSC plant, and our good buddy Kevin scored tickets for all of us.   Once a month they have a Harley night (more on that in a moment), and that’s what we went to see yesterday. Full dress Harleys sliding around a 1/4-mile dirt oval is not something you ordinarily encounter in the motorcycle world, and that kind of action (along with serious Speedway racing by the real race bikes) is something I sure don’t want to miss!

We had a grand time…a nice summer day, a cool evening, and a great ride to the track.   Steve, Josh, Tony, Kevin, and yours truly rode over, and when we arrived, the reaction was one we’ve come to expect.   Everyone was all over the California Scooters.  The Industry Hills track folks let us park right up front with the show bikes and cars…it was a cool event.

Our CSC parking spot, right next to the stands at Industry Hills Speedway

The video dudes wasted no time in filming the California Scooters

The reason they call it Harley night is that the Harleys get out onto the ¼-mile dirt oval.  The first pass around was just for show (and sound, as the Harleys were pretty loud).

Harleys parading around the Industry Hills 1/4-mile dirt oval...I can't make this stuff up, folks!

A cool custom paint job on a full dress dirt tracker

Later in the evening, the track actually ran real races with some of the Harley street bikes.   They ran just like the real dirt trackers…four at a time…

A Harley heat...check out the Road King on the left!

And speaking of Harleys, I grabbed a shot of this Harley show bike parked near our Scooters…

An interesting paint job...it would look awesome on a California Scooter!

After the Harley action, it was time for serious racing.   Speedway bikes are cool…they run 250cc and 500cc bikes.  They’re real torque monsters, designed to do one thing only – race around a 1/4-mile dirt track, sliding sideways most of the time.   One speed, no neutral, bump-start only.  Purpose-built racebikes.   Cool stuff.

Here are a few shots of the racing…this is exciting motor sport, with lots of action…

Sideways is a way of life for these guys!

Coming into Turn 1

Awesome racing action...the dirt spray actually hit me while I was shooting these photos!

And if you wonder how these boys manage to keep the bikes up in this wild racing action…well, sometimes they don’t…

Oops

Oops II

I brought my Flip video camera along, and I captured several cool heats.  This is the one I like the best…watch the bike at the head of the pack after they complete the first lap!

That was an awesome display of either incredible luck or incredible skill (or maybe both)!  The fellow riding that 500cc Jawa motorcycle probably would make a heck of a rodeo rider.  He literally was standing on one peg on one side of the motorcycle, with the bike pointing straight up, and he managed to bring it back.  Awesome stuff.

After the races, the ride home was great.  A cool California evening, open roads, and California Scooters ingesting lots of cold, dense air.  The bikes ran great (just like they always do), and it was a spirited sprint back to the plant.  Lots of fun, boys and girls…just another fun day with our CSC motorcycles!