July 8
1972
Arguably one of the single most important races in the history of the sport took place for the first time: the game-changing Superbowl of Motocross at the Los Angeles Coliseum. Southern California rock 'n roll and race promoter Mike Goodwin, possibly working off an idea from the indoor TT races at Madison Square Gardens in New York or the Houston Astrodome in Texas, or maybe even the great Victory Day stadium motorcycle races in Prague, Czechoslovakia, talked the Coliseum folks into letting him fill the home of the 1932 Summer Olympic Games with dirt and holding a motocross race upon it under the lights. He invited all of the top young U.S. riders, as well as some visiting Europeans on hand for the Inter-Am Series, including Swedish stars Torsten Hallman and Arne King and Thorlief Hansen.
A reported 27,000 showed up for what was being called the Yamaha Super-Series Cup, and the winner was a shocker. Yamaha’s Marty Tripes, just 16 years, 10 days old and hailing from Santee, California, went 2-2-2 to take the overall and found a place in the record books as not only the first winner of what we now know as supercross, but also the youngest winner in the history of AMA Supercross/Motocross. The moto winners would all for be the visiting Swedes: Hansen, Kring, and Hakan Andersson, in that order.
The 500 Class was won by Suzuki-mounted Bryar Holcomb, who would go on to become a Maico and Bultaco factory rider and also the founder of Factory Effex Graphics.
1984
In another “youngest rider ever” moment, Team Honda’s Ron Lechien, just 17 years, 6 months, and 25 days old, won the FIM 250cc U.S. Grand Prix at Unadilla, setting a record in the FIM Motocross World Championship. It would eventually be lowered to a ridiculous 15 years, 54 days by Ken Roczen in this millennium, but Lechien’s remarkable effort in his first trip to the fabled and difficult upstate New York track—just two years after he was racing the 100cc and 125cc A Stock & Mod classes at Loretta Lynn’s AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship—was one of the bigger stories of his wild career.
1989
In a rare Saturday Grand Prix, Italy's Alessandro Puzar defeated FIM 125cc Motocross World Championship series points leader Trampas Parker in Kilinchy, Northern Ireland. The American KTM rider Parker was followed by yet another U.S. KTM rider, Mike Healey.
1979
At High Point Raceway in Mount Morris, Pennsylvania, Suzuki's Kent Howerton knocked off defending AMA 250 National Champion Bob Hannah aboard a Yamaha, with Honda's Marty Tripes third.
The 500 Class went to Kawasaki rider Gaylon Mosier with 1-1 finishes while Yamaha riders Mike Bell, Rex Staten, and Marty Moates followed.
