Just came across this video. Awesome!! Both my brothers raced that weekend, I decided to stay home, glad I did. They said the 1st lap 1st moto, no one could make it up the hill, and they ended up diverting to bypass the hill. The Carlsbad clay was NASTY!!! You almost had to chissel off your bike. Thank you for sharing and bringing back some great memories.

Thanks for posting this...brings back memories. I ride past the Carlsbad Raceway Business park every day, sucks that it's gone. It was a fun place.

Ahhhh Carlsbad in the rain.. hell it was like that every weekend before practice. Took you life in your hands if you were one of the first ones out.. broke my collarbone on that uphill section during practice once when it was like that. great track though and loads of fun. I think i won more races there then anywhere else.

Hi all These are 125cc bikes. The problem is not any lack of power, but rather lack of speed. I think that any bike would have a problem there, no matter how powerful, the key to this left turn and uphill in these conditions is to keep the speed UP ! Don´t disrespect the old bikes, chances are you might have one nipping at your heels and even crushing the new techno-shits (if well maintained and ridden correctly - that is :) Thanks for a great MX-history video, Mr. racerace

I love racing in those kind of conditions..sure brings back memories..nice video..

Great footage,thanks for sharing!

The last race I saw there was 1971! Thanks! great Vid ,and choice of background music!!

Love that 2 stroke sound.

I was there on that day and it was maybe october or november of 1982. Like the other guys have said, there are some 1983 bikes in the video. When Carlsbad was this muddy, it was like riding on mud over the top of ice. ZERO traction. Its funny how some of the comments say that the tires were not as good back then so thats why they can't make it through or that the riders suck. Not the case, at all. Pick your best new tire and go ride on wet blacktop and see where it gets ya!

That was the golden era covered in mud, great track.

One day when I was riding in the woods on my way over to this little track that was just a good little work out,I run into a bunch of guys just as I get to the track on race bikes,first one I see beautiful MAICO 490 that all these guys worship ed,turned out we all friends of friends and my little track belong to and was built by my co-worker who was good enuf and was the expert in the group...so we all hook up and start riding their old stumping grounds that were mind now...on the way over to the old big track one guy rides over and starts riding a wash out area but his front wheels goes into the mud and three of us could not pull the front wheel out for shit it was like it was super glued in there,I was think some one in China was just holding it messing with us,kind like guy two guys forget go get the backhoe...some dirt when water gets mixed in from heavy rains,I think when there is a heavy rock base it becomes super slick,or just the clay base...like oil..no fun you get more traction in snow...no lie.

Anyone see first heat of Unidilla in '77? Pouring rain and the course included a steep downhill, off camber 180° and right back up the hill. The whole field with the exception of Roger DeCoster and an English dude on a 4 stroke Honda, got stuck at the bottom of that turn and most of the riders didn't complete the first lap. There were many frustrated riders and fans but I had a great view and it my favorite mx race of all time. It literally separated the men from the boys.

i never had ridden in clay till i came out west, now when people say 'if it rains a drop, dont go there' i listen. lol it is fun riding in the mud tho

awsome vid

This is too funny! That’s me #B56 at 1:08. As I come into the pic I stop and check things out just to make sure the coast is clear. Lol. Then I proceed up the infamous Carlsbad freeway…..a little squirrely but I think I made it! Probably a CMC points race…..practice maybe. 29 years ago! Ian Fitz-G

13 years later this is on my feed page.......................wth?

Does anyone have a link to the full video of this race?

You SoCal sissies. It looks like just another winter race at Sandhill Ranch in Brentwood, CA. If you showed up, they would race. Tom Anderson made men of us.......

Only one weeks worth of rain? Come riding in the UK, My bike once got stuck in so much mud it could support it's own weight, it came up over the discs.

@racerace Great Video!

oh how motocross has advanced! modern day bikes would breeze this, so cool to look back

If Kevin Windham was there the title would be "The race that everyone got beat" lol

To all the gentleman from other countries saying the Americans can not ride in the mud. I believe you should type in the search, 1987 Motocross Des Nations. Nuff said.

They dabbed more than me, and that is hard.

Wonder whats on the track now..homes condos..someone tell me the track address..where it was anyway.

@ridebmmxxx the mud in englannd is different than the mud in california... do i need to get scientific with it? because i will

Good times 👍🏼🇺🇸

no mano, no. estoy que no puedo escribir rapido, es divertido lo que hacen los corredores, parece q perdieron la ruta, unos van subiendo pero otros bajan x donde estos quieren subir,

Imagine 8 laps in that shit lol would take all day. That was a real track. Concrete covered w a thin layer of dust. RJ lapped that track faster than any human in history . RIP

I have been in some rase like that

@macroevolve I agree 83 on it is. Why so many older bikes, was this a newbies comp. The more you go round the drier it gets!

Is there any better footage available?

i always struggle with a 2-stroke in the mud... i need to get used to it :P

Back in the days when it rained in California

Man this brings back memory's. Gimme a K990ST! And that 48 tooth rear sprocket!

wow i want to do that now

@nick4tivy 'paddle tires' very good idea

@gregf509 and 2008 Daytona Supercross :)

Doug Henry and John Dowd are the only Americans I know of who were great in the mud.

any day u wanna hit the track buddy

I would imagine this is just practice as I see 125 250 and open all on the track at the same time.

@ashman286 carmichael was 17 years old in 97. just a kid. look at the record books NOW.

Did a 5 hour enduro that was like this........never EVER again!

That fantastic hard clay with a bit of water? You'd have better traction on ice with slicks. I bet coming back down the Freeway was a bit eye opening.

remember guys... its just old bikes, with no power... the bikes we have today its no problem to ride in this stuff... (sry for my bad english) :P

0:50 hahaha nice line!

Looks more like a mud bog competition than a motorcross race!

This cant be 1982. Theres 1983 production bikes which wouldnt have seen a track in April of 1982. Your video begins with a 1983 CR250 shortly after you see a 1983 YZ250K.

looks like Southwick last weekend...

@kaseycoleman993 It dosen't Snow in Florida!

And their still talking about all the fun they had that day . . .

thats how the LLQ was at Thunder Valley this year. it sucked. but i still qualified!

I think this single race furthered the advancement of better tires Lol

Yes, and #37 made it too.

@HeffoG35 I'm sure..

too bad KDub wasnt racing back then, lol hes a mud expert!

@CODEEmx527 And the track went on to win the championship :P

cool helmets :DD

those riders have been raised on fancy dry dirt the way we were tought out on the farm is hammer down nd go not go half way nd wonder should da power band flip me

His father was a mudder, his mother was a mudder

was this pro or amatuer?

1983.

the guy at 6:10 til 6:23 was goin good as.

That hill is very slippery.

us here in england are use to the wet mud and non pristine tracks, to be honest if i was there id have ripped the lot of these people.. not that thats really an achievmant ANYWAY good vid :D i love seeing the old mx vids

this is like arcos tt its a free for all lol nice vid

i feel bad for that one yamaha dude at 5:40-6:20

because the 450 is to slow for the next class up so they threw it in with the 250 2-T's, cant remember the whole story but the rules alowed them to race in the same class as one another.

Is that a motocross race? :) looks more like enduro :o

Ah, isn't that just lovely? All the bikes are 2 strokes. I wish it would be like that these days as well

Never rains out there so no one knows how to ride muddy conditions

Should have used a lot WD 40 on your bike to shed to mud off of it l still do that to this day on all my bikes..

the days when 2 strokes ruled the show :) the good days

I can! In my last mud race I passed 34 people to go from dead last to first in 4 laps

More throttle, they need to work on their skimming technique, similar to the way I cross my pond, and the exit from the pond is very similar to the consistency of this muck. Momentum is your friend, never forget or at least close your mouth if you do! That muck taste turrible after it's cooked for a few years!

toute un touriste!

Oxy Clean for the win

Two words: Paddle Tires.

where's dowd & henry when you need them!!

3 hr motos . One lap .

oh wow XD

Putting silly music over the awesome sound of 2 strokes was sacrilege.

are they riding with supermoto tyres lol !!! O and motocross has sure came a long way

@motoxdoc21 That was funny.. You looked around like you were questioning the whole race/situation

Reminds me of the first and last time I raced at Carlsbad. I let off the gas on one of these muddy downhills and the killer compression of my 125 two-stroke made the bike slide totally sideways. Ree-Dick-U-Lus. Good riddance Carlsbad. Hello Legoland.

This is not a race. Its probably just an open practice time. If it were a race, there's wouldn't be any doubt which direction to ride in.

Traction is 100% in this race I don't see why no one could finish? :P

yes, most of the bikes at this time were 2 strokes, and the very few 4 strokes they had were too big and heavy.

how did #73 not win?

Thats some funny shit. To bad M5B's we'rent available back then.

If this was in April of 1982 then how is there a guy @ 1:24 riding a 1983 YZ 250 then ??

at 6:10 thats how your supose to be riden thought the mud.

so why wouldnt you just go faster through the sticky sections.

that was 'long winded' but funny... I wonder how much of their troubles was because of limitations of the bikes? Didn't they make 'mud' tyres in 1984? Nice one....

":04 min. cool Whip haha :D

2:13 were is that goon going haha

hahaha actually looks like heaps of fun :)!

if i had to choose a bike for this i would probably choose a 2002 ktm 520

@ridebmmxxx there is a difference between clay and mud... wet clay is mushy and unpredictable, mud is more conforming and predictable

Kent Howerton must have not raced this race or there would have been a winner. Anyway this looks like practice or something since there are no spectators and guys would turn around and ride the other way once they couldn't go forward anymore. I wonder how Bubba Stewart would have fared on this track?