Join Us for 31st Annual Big Dave Vet Homecoming at High Point This Weekend

The GP-style Moto-X Country racing is a hybrid event combining elements of off-road racing and motocross into one unique competition. Taking place over a roughly three-mile course, racers will encounter woods sections intermittently separated by big European-style grass track areas. There are classes for all ages and skill levels, and you don’t even have to be a “Vet” rider to participate! All classes will race (2) 30-minute motos on this hybrid course.

On Saturday the High Point Mountain Bike Park will be closed for to the GP Moto-X Country Racing. The park will be open on Sunday for Mountain Bikes to use.

31st Annual Big Dave Vet Homecoming Weekend Schedule

The fun continues Saturday evening with Pit Bike racing kicking off at 6pm and a full evening of vintage racing movies, karaoke with Racer X John and of course, some great bench racing with old buddies. Even if you’re not here to race, Saturday evening promises to be full of fun and serves as a great time to catch up with old friends.

Sunday the focus will shift to the motocross track as the 31st Annual Big Dave Vet Homecoming will take to the famous High Point Raceway. Racers will be able to compete in numerous Vet-aged classes, Vintage classes and some Support classes for younger riders as well.

The afternoon will feature a Vintage Bike Show, numerous Vintage Contests with the opportunity to win some great prizes, and a Swap Meet. So clean out your garage, shine up those vintage items and get ready to show-off your sh**… stuff at the Country Club of Motocross.

View the classes for the 31st Annual Big Dave Vet Homecoming

It has now been 23 years since we lost Big Dave in 1998. This presents us with the opportunity to make this year’s Big Dave Vet Homecoming the best yet. This event is a fun, laid back and enjoyable weekend with friends. This is exactly the kind of event that Big Dave enjoyed, so join us September 18 and 19 as we honor Big Dave by doing the thing he enjoyed the most – racing with his friends.

High Point Raceway is also pleased to announce Bob Show as our DC Vet Homecoming Ambassador. Bob Show runs the Western Pa's Motocross Time Machine Group on Facebook and frequently treats us to a look back at early years of racing in Western PA.  Make sure you join the group so you too can enjoy all the remarkable memories of the greatest sport on earth.

We welcome the Morgantown Grom Squad, a fun group of mini street-motorcycle enthusiasts who often cruise the cafe’s in and around the greater Morgantown area.  Meet Sunday at Triple S. Harley Davidson and enjoy a scenic ride out to High Point Raceway to enjoy a fun day at the races. Admission is free for this group.  Follow these cool cats on Instagram @morgantown_gromsquad.

So, Who Was "Big Dave"

While this event revolves around the racing, it’s so much more than just another weekend of competition. The name “Homecoming” is a perfect fit as it serves as a unique chance to catch up with friends but also honor the memory of a man who helped to bring motocross and off-road racing to the professional stage it enjoys today. Of course, Big Dave wasn’t always a racer. Dave was once a school teacher and an accomplished musician whose band (Elderberry Jak) had a pretty good regional following. However, one trip to a motocross race would change things forever. He’d immediately fall in love with motocross and started racing.

To help finance his new-found passion, Big Dave helped out around the local racetracks, putting his wife, Rita, and three kids to work as well. It wasn’t long before Dave was promoting races of his own and this experience would lead to the formation in 1975 of the most infamous off-road race of all-time - the Blackwater 100 in Davis, West Virginia. Coming from humble beginnings as a one-off event, the Blackwater would morph into the Wiseco 100-Miler Series, and then later become what we now know as the Grand National Cross Country Series (GNCC). Our friends at META recently released an article discussing the Blackwater 100’s rise to fame. Make sure you give it a read. 

But Big Dave didn’t focus solely on the off-road scene. In 1976, brothers Jack and Carol Holbert approached him about building a motocross track on their family farm near Mt. Morris, Pennsylvania, and soon after High Point Raceway was born. The track would host its first ever AMA Pro Motocross National in 1977 and has remained a staple on the Pro Motocross circuit ever since.

The success would only continue, and in 1982 Big Dave was able to strike an unlikely partnership with country music superstar Loretta Lynn to host the AMA Amateur and Vet National Motocross Championship at her ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee, where it’s been every year since.

His legacy extended to the foundation of MX Sports Pro Racing, organizers of the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship, as well as Racer Productions, Racer X Illustrated and Racer X Online. Big Dave Coombs passed on August 3, 1998 after losing his battle with leukemia. He was 57 years old.