My first trip to Laguna Seca was in 1984 with my riding partner in crime Toren Younquist.
However the most memorable trip had to be in 1985. King Kenny Roberts last race of his career.
At this race Randy Mamola on a factory Honda GP bike and Mike Baldwin on his US Honda raced side by side with Roberts. All three of them pulling huge wheelies and making Roberts final race a real show for the crowd.
A young Wayne Rainey was there with a broken arm (see photos). Rookie Kevin Swantz was there in believe his second race for Yoshimuria on the number 289 Suzuki GS 750 (see photos).
Our main reason for heading down in 85 was to continue exploring the killer roads and to support Seattle's Randy Skiver AMA #36 (Today Randy is winning races on vintage dirtbikes in the Seattle area)
There are a few shots of Jimmy Filice on the factory Yamaha FZ750 on you'll see just how short Jimmy was on this bike. At the USGP a few years later he went on to upset the 250 GP regulars with a runaway win.
A few years later at the USGP, Toren and I were leaving the track at the same time the GP class cool down lap was going on. In the distance we could see a huge smoky burnout happening on the track. A minute later we could see Bubba Sobert drive directly into the smoke, crashing into Magee.
At the time we did not know how bad the outcome was and since it was the end of the race day, little was said over the PA. The impact ended Bubba's career. A sad ending to the weekend.
In 1994 we arrived at the USGP to the news that Wayne Rainey had been gravely injured and so once again there was a pale over the race weekend. John Kocinski won.
In 1995 it was Colin Edwards teammate Yasu Nagai who who had been killed at the Dutch round who was remembered at Laguna as his helmet and bike at still in the paddock. (see photos).
We were there for the breakout of Anthony Gobert who was insanely fast and proved it by kicking some ass.
But there are a few other moments at Laguna that stand out. The nutty John Kocinski won multiple races on a 250, a GP bike and a Superbike. Despite his sometimes odd behavior he was damm fast at Laguna.
One of the stellar moments in USGP history was Jimmy Filice in Kushitani leathers and sponsored by Edwin Jeans. His 250 win was completely unexpected. He simply was the class of the field and ran away from not only the GP regulars but John Kocinski's factory Yamaha. It was really cool to see Jimmy win that race.
All in all every trip made for a great time and the American riders pretty much dominated all of the races I saw. (not all of them, most of them).
If you look through the pictures I have added a lot of goodies from the original programs that may bring back some memories. The riders gear of the day is something to look at as compared to what is used today.
But the best part of all of these trips were the rides down to the track. For Toren and I each year the journey through California grew longer as we explored more twisty sections of the map and my last trip out with him culminated in a ride around California that lasted a month. We started in Red Bluff and criss crossed the state to LA and then back up through the Sierra Nevada's, through Reno, over to Lake Tahoe and back to Red Bluff.
Years later and many trips through many states across the country, thousands of miles of curvy, twisty roads I still think that some of my best riding memories were on California asphalt!
Now if I can just talk Toren into buying another bike and making one more journey just for the hell of it :)
