Manager of Indian Dunes 1975-1985

Hi Gary. I'm Andrew. I ditched school many a day to ride there from 81-83. I remember watching them film Chips, heard about Air Wolf being filmed and was intimidated by Hannah. The National Track was my favorite, but so was a ride around the river.

Good times.

I raced with AME on wed,fri and sat. nites. CRC too. They also filmed BA BA Blacksheep that they used the airstrip or was it a parking lot? NMA started their too. Saw a few guys run into trees on the Shadow Glen track. Does LACR have their old starting gate? I thought that pic of your son was on the International track,,,,,COOL
Very good times,,,,,Thanks

Hello Gary,

You did a great job managing Indian Dunes! How I miss taking trackside shots of the AME, CRC and NMA riders there. Say hello to Daniel for me. Did I take that picture of him? Right now I'm archiving thousands of negatives from those days and hope to post them on a website for all to see.

take care,
TC
tcestudios@netzero.net

hi gary. my name is toby lawes iraced with your son .i road a yz 80 . my nick name was snake. my dad worked at travel village love to here from u.

Here you are Gary on the big yellow 12-G motograder...talkin' power here!

Tom--That pic of my dad is awesome. Ohhhhhh the memories I have of that grader. On a few occasions I would sit on his lap through the sandwash on shadow glen and build parts of the track. Shows you how much times have changed though. That beast wouldn't make it 10 feet on a modern mx track.

Toby--Whats up? I can't seem to put a face to the name but I do remember knowing a kid whos dad worked at travel village. Do you still ride? I've been racing off and on for my entire life. Recent back surgery has sidelined me though.

Danny lamb, son i don't know if you remember me, my name is Jim Dodge,in 1976 I drove a blue Chevy LUV truck,raced a YZ 125,i use to pick up your Indian mini mini,pick you up from school on friday afternoon,we would stop by the hot dog place and head off to the Dunes for some friday nite racing.Don't know if you remember this,i use to ride a Yamaha DT 100 around Simi doin wheelys all over and sh!t,well i had major hots for your sister back then,dam i can't even remember her name,anyway your dad had just bought your mom a new washer and dryer, I was coming up Heywood one day to see your bro or sis,i don't remember,yes i do,it was your sister, your sis was standing out side with one of her GF's,so this dumb azz wants to show off, we were all young at one time,i fly up your drive way,did'ent see the edge of the garage door,door takes me off the bike and the bike gos right into your moms new W and D,I'm knocked the F out laying in your drive way and when i come to your mom and sis were standing over me calling the FD to come help my Dumb AZZ! Anyway, I felt like a complete Fuc tard. your mom was sooooooooo cool to me,she was all worried about me,sh1t,your mom did'ent even want to kick my AZZ, But i think your dad did.Hope your back surgery went good Dan and all is well. I would love to hear from you and see how you all are doing.I'v had dirtbikes my whole life and my one year old grandson loves sitting on MY KTM's,not his dad's Kawasaki's. I love it. Give me a call 805-210-9405 or PM me here. Just like to know how your doing.. Jim

Daniel, it took me awhile to find a shot of you under the lights at Indian Dunes. It was fun shooting the minis and getting to know them too.

HI DAN DUNES . U OR YOUR FATHER MIGHT KNOW ME SNEAKY SNAKE #23 W I RACED THE MINI TRACK FROME 1978 TO 1981 I GUESS I GOT THAT NICK NAME FROM KYLE LEWIS OR MOUSE FOR LOTS OF WINS,WE ALL WENT ON TO RACE AGAINST EACH OTHER AS EXPERTS ON THE BIG TRACKS. ME AND MY 12 YER OLD SON JARRETT LAWES STILL RACE UP HERE IN SACRAMENTO CA. HOPE YOUR KNEES AND BACK ARE FELLING BETTER!!!!!!

Toby Lawes? You gotta be kidding me. You remeber me? Ken Lewis? I have a twin brother Jim. We went ot Mint Canyon Elementry school together, then Sierra Vista. You live in Sacramento? I live in Lodi. Man its been forever since I've seen you. How are things? We need to get together and catch up. You remember Steve Kotajarvi? He lives about 5 min from me. Hit me up. Ken

Hey Gary! Wow...Indian Dunes....some of the best days of my life from 13 - 17 yrs old.My name is Jim Radwick ,and from 1974 to 1978 I practically lived at Dunes.CRC on weds. nights.AME on Friday nights.Sundays on Shadow Glen or International track. I raced an xr 75 and then a couple of yz 125's (monoshock!!!how can suspension possibly get any better than this??!!).I made it to the pro class on 125's ,but didn't race much longer after that.Some names I remember.....Roxeanne Dougherty,David Lynch,Doug Spiker,A.J. Whiting,Dave Haugh,Mike Pillar,Paul Lane,Rob Peeples,Ed Armstrong,Mike Inman,Duffy Phelps,Pat Nellis, Chris and Dave Calquhoun,Mike Antes,Kenny Zahrt,Johnny Whelchel,Steve Schmidt,of course Jimmy Holley,Johnny O'mara,Billy Payne,Kenny Morgan,there was a girl named Sue something(not Fish,but I saw her there too)that we were all in love with.She rode an xr75 and broke all of our hearts when she became Dave Haugh's girlfriend.He rode a 501 Maico(as I recall) for goodness sakes,how could we mere mortals compete with that kind of machismo?Anybody remember any of these guys?Jim Busby,Glen Lichon,I'll try to think of some more. I remember when Bob Hannah was there when he first got his Yamaha factory ride....backwards day on International track.I believe he rode 2 or possibly all 3 classes(125,250,500)and he just SMOKED all the local guys that I thought were gods.I remember him jumping over somebody going up the big dropoff....INcredible.Talk to you later!!!

ken!!!!!!!! wow!!!!! how the hell are you ? it has been a long time!!!!! call me so we can catch all the way up. to many questions for me to do on a computer!!!!!!!!!! 530 -289-0420 IM IN AND OUT OF MY OFFICE ALL DAY .IF YOU MISS ME LEAVE YOUR PHONE NUMBER CANT WAIT TO TALK TO YOU!!! 530 289 0420!!!!!!!!!!!

The riders are underway on the mini track at Indian Dunes. #23 Kawasaki is closest to the camera, could that be Toby Lawes or some other rider? Only "The Snake" knows the answer.

yep thats me!!!!! A LONG TIME AGOi have never seen this picture befor. my son is looking over my shoulder right now. he wants to know how we can buy this picture? thank u tom so much for the new family memory!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

hey tom! toby lawes again from 1981 to 1983 i raced the big tracks on ayz 80 and a yz 100cc and a rm125 my #was 23-s any old pictures? by the way i talked to your mother on the phone yesterday. she is one nice lady!! talk to u later. ( SNAKE)

awesome to read these stories, I grew up in ventura and worked at the track in piru, everytime we would drive by where indian dunes used to be my friends would point off in the distance and i would just imagine how bad ass it was "back in the day"!!!!! thanks again for the stories guys :-)

Toby, Sorry I havent called yet. Got some work. Been busy. I will get you next week sometime. Ken

NO PROBLIM! CALL WHEN U HAVE A CHANCE . PS BRYAN GELDORF SAYS HI !!!! TOBY AKA (SNAKE)

I had this start from the Indian Dunes Mini track and wondered if you would like to identify these riders...give it a try.

HEY TOM FROM LEFT TO RIGHT #43 I THINK IS TONY PUGA ? I KNOW # 47 IS TROY WELTY!! I CAN REMEMBER #60 AND #45 but not ther names DAM!!!!.CANT SEE ALL THE BIKE #ERS TO THE RIGHT. COME ON OLD MINI TRACK RIDERS HELP ME AND TOM OUT. SOM ONE OUT THERE KNOWS WHO THESE OTHER RIDERS ARE!!!!!!!!! TOBY AKA(SNAKE)PS AT THIS TIME I WAS RACING THE BIG TRACKS AS A80 INTERMEDIATE.

#47 Troy Welty. The Weltys were the coolest family ever in existence. That's a family I miss a lot. I used to ride at their house all the time. They lived right by Mouse in Canyon Country and had a cool little track we'd all ride on. That family was a 100% motocross family.

Ken Lewis? My name is Dan(Danny back then) Lamb.Do you seriously talk to Steven Kotajarvi still? Him and I were practically best friends.I would love to talk to him again. The flying fin!! I loved his dad Zepo. How old are you? When did you go to Sierra Vista? I'm 38 and I went there with Willie Surrat . I was in 7th grade when Willie was in 9th. Do you remember Dan Lamb ? Both you and Toby sound so familiar but I'm so bad with names. If anyone on here remembers me and would like to talk feel free to email Dan Lamb at dandunes818@yahoo.com.

Tom...Thank you so much for that picture of me. You'll be happy to know that it's framed and on my wall. Once again your work has turned into a trip down memory lane. Thank you,Thank you,