Cities in Utah that should have an ABA BMX track.

[bnd]

Ogden.
Northern Utah in one form or another has always had a track. With Ogden City being ranked nationally as one of the best places to move to with tons to do, this is a no-brainer. What's the latest?

Provo/Utah County.
Same as above over the years. The old Provo track & then Lindon used to be pretty sucessfull when under solid T.O. leadership. They have always had a great rider base when a track was open.

St. George.
Now back in 1983 St. George used to have a track called Dixie Downs, I stopped by there on a roadie to Las Vegas & got my very first intermediate win there. I don't recall how long it lasted, maybe a few more years but with So. Utah growing as it is this seems to me a great place to get one. The only reason I don't mention the Virgin track is because it's NBL, if it was ABA they would have the majority of Utah riders covered. Stout, Bill....St. George?

Discuss.

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[b2]

How about Holladay/Cottonwood area? There's this big empty lot where a certain mall used to be... I wonder how much of a bribe it would take to get Steve to bust loose with a front-end loader and bobcat in there... heck, there's a Diamond Rental right across the street... who's up for some "midnight track building"?!

On a serious note, I love the numbers of riders we get with Rad. At what point would it be where the number of tracks saturate the rider-base to the point where each track has moto counts so low that the competition is gone? I'm sure more tracks in the areas you mention would bring out more people who are closer to those locations, but where's that breaking point?

I'd like to have more tracks... of course I want them all a within a couple blocks of me, too.

[greg]

I totally agree bruce. Ogden and provo both have enough population to support a track. having tracks in these areas would boost moto counts to HUGE numbers for larger races, and vitually be a non-factor for weekly single pointers.

I'd like to see Rad Canyon branch out to these areas. It seems that by using an existing entity, it would be much easier to convince the local government agencies to go along. Rad Canyon has the proven track record to show that they know how to run a successful program, and it would be a much smaller gamble. In addition, by keeping the tracks under one unbrella, Rad could ensure that there are no scheduling conflicts, combine advertising, and maintain a much smaller administrative cost compaired to three seperate tracks.

I think it's time to tackle this and REALLY make Utah the meka for BMX.

[bnd]

I mentioned this excate scenario a few years ago & was met with a "no" more or less. I think Davis & Utah CO. are more than able to keep their tracks up & running with a local base without the SL Valley losing riders or moto counts. If I lived in Utah County I would be all over it. Race days shouldn't be an issue, when Lindon was open they had that prime Saturday morning spot (best ever) then it was off to Tooele. T.O.s could work together easily.

I'm just throwing this out right now during the slow months but you never know what could become of just "talk".

Brent, we could build a jump over the creek & could use the TGIF's as a snak shack/sign ups.


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[b2]

Brent, we could build a jump over the creek & could use the TGIF's as a snak shack/sign ups.
b.

Could we call it "Heck Track"?

[mhp800]

Bruce

My understanding is there is 20 more acres at the Virgin track that another track could be built . This comming from the old mayor of Virgin that was the mayor when they built the NBL track . I know that the NBL has a contract on this track till 2012 but I say contract are ment to be broken . Tell me who in the ABA do I or we need to talk to and get this contract bought out ? The track is not a money maker for the NBL . We race in the Nevada NBL state series and the those people never support are track .

If anyone has any info on how to make this happen let me know .

Also Heber City would make a great place for a track and it is not that far from Provo . There is also a big pony palace there to have indoor race . And for you point chaser Salt lake is not all that far away .

Bill

[LocoTone]

[/quote]Could we call it "Heck Track"? [/quote]

That's too funny!! Could we install a giant Jello bowl?

In all seriousness, I agree there should be more tracks around, But I also worry about rider turnout/moto counts. I think 3-4 hrs apart would be ideal. Close enough to get to for multi-point races, but not too close so as to interfere. St. George would be terrific, and we're hearing rumors of Vernal. Add that to Rock Springs, Idaho Falls, Grand Junction, even going further to say Boise, Caldwell, Kuna, Mountain Home, Casper, Montrose, and Vegas. I'd say we're smack in the middle of some prime BMX territory. I just wish there wasn't such a gap between the summer season and winter, and vice versa. I so need to get on a track!

[b2]

Could we call it "Heck Track"? [/quote]

That's too funny!! Could we install a giant Jello bowl?

In all seriousness, I agree there should be more tracks around, But I also worry about rider turnout/moto counts. I think 3-4 hrs apart would be ideal. Close enough to get to for multi-point races, but not too close so as to interfere. St. George would be terrific, and we're hearing rumors of Vernal. Add that to Rock Springs, Idaho Falls, Grand Junction, even going further to say Boise, Caldwell, Kuna, Mountain Home, Casper, Montrose, and Vegas. I'd say we're smack in the middle of some prime BMX territory. I just wish there wasn't such a gap between the summer season and winter, and vice versa. I so need to get on a track![/quote]
Tony, I like that Jello bowl idea! Nice one!

Re: Tracks, I think Utah County and Davis County would be great to have them there and not affect the current turn out too negatively... maybe even increase it. By making sure race days are staggered amongst them, they should be fine.

[Lee_Geddings]

Hey Bruce...what's the deal with the Lindon track? Does it just need a T.O. willing to run it? I think it would would be cool to race somewhere Saturday morning, then head off to Tooele.

[bnd]

Three things happened to the Lindon track,

- A bad remodel the final year. It was BAD & dangerous. Track upkeep was piss poor too.

- Some issues with the owner of the land came up. Not sure on the details on that.

- After Dave Halliday left the track to become the TO of RC, the new TO's ( I forget the names) & this is just my opinion ran it into the ground. I had a few discussions about promoting the track, ect, & it went in one ear & out the other. When Dave took it ABA they pulled 30 motos consistantly every Saturday morning for 2 years. After he left, it died fast & nobody seemed to care.

I think the track closed around 03-05'ish.


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[sparkoli2]

i think it would be great to have other tracks to go to in the valley besides the regular places.

if any of the county facilities realized that their insurance covered them already, you could have tracks like skate parks are now.

the sanctioning bodies dont want people to know this because it makes their 90 dollars anight goes away. usa cycling should establish guidelines and then let counties run their show like little league or ayso. aba or nbl could run a professional scene and make bmx like supercross. once this happens BMX will become what it should be in society. bmx instead of ball fields that would be the greatest thing to the sporting world to have a non traditional sport replace one that is recognized as the norm.

Vernal was a perfect example. they had more sign ups on non sanctioning days than on sanctioning days.

i know you are partial to a certain sanc bodie but realize that 45 for a mag and decal, 10 per bike, and now a pair of clips and clip shoes, and the average single parent thinks bmx is to costly. county run 45 for year race 4 times a month for 5 months we get 20 races for 45 dollars and a larger base to draw from, now bmx will prosper.

[bnd]

I was amazed at the new rider memberships when Vernal opened & I never got a straight answer as to why Vernal closed. Word is they might be opening a new track.

Why don't you open something up Mike, seems like you have time on your hands now eh?

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[slc-danza]

Here's my two cents on what's been discussed here;

I think the city that could benefit the most from a track is St. George. I grew up in St. George and started racing in 1995. The closest track was Nellis BMX in Vegas, so every weekend it was an hour and a half drive each way for my parents to hit the local races every weekend. Mesquite also had an AWESOME NBL track for a couple years back in 01-02. It had a concrete starting hill and paved turns right when it opened up, but it closed because of land ownership or some deal like that. While it was open though, it attracted quite a few new people new to the sport who were from St. George. Since St. George got a skatepark in 2003, a pretty decent BMX scene has sprouted up there. There is definately the population size to support a track down there. The biggest advantage St. George would have over everywhere else in the state would be year-round outdoor racing. I'm really surprised nobody has gotten a track going down there.
As far as the comment about how ABA and NBL run things, I couldn't agree more with Sparkoli2. BMX is marketed completely wrong. The way things are right now with ABA/NBL Nationals is that they are completely spectator unfriendly. Nobody in their right mind wants to sit in 100 degree weather to watch the pros ride when they have to wait for the Novice and Intermediate races to take place in between. It's also hard for people unfamiliar with the sport to know what's going on with 2-3 races on the track at the same time. BMX Supercross is going in the right direction, but it still has a long way to go. I don't think the pros of the sport get treated like they should with the way the National series are run right now. BMX could be and should be a much bigger spectator sport. BMX should take some cues from the AMA Motocross and Supercross circuits. Amatuer racing and Pro racing should be seperated much more than they are.

[sparkoli2]

b
i have thought about it but the politics are way to burly for me. I thought i would have time to ride but all the events we picked up makes it so all i do is print numberplates. Now we are doing stuff for the moto industry too. I wish there was a east side track. sugarhouse park would be great or the collective at 2100 south near the jazz bball center. Greatest would be to take real out and give us the stadium. or the salt palace who needs scrap booking bmx baby

[bmxchris73]

Can we go back to talking about getting a track in Ogden? Some of us northern Utah riders would really appreciate that. Or even better up here in Logan I think I might go over to the fun park(where they used to have the Logan track) and talk to them and see how much it cost to use their land. There is still all the dirt from the Logan track just sitting there.