In 1976 I finally convinced my folks that racing dirt bikes wouldn't be immediately fatal. I started on an RM100 and I haven't been able to look at a bike with a downpipe or piston port intake since. When that bike fell off the pipe it would take 2 minutes to clear it out. The smashed-flat pipe didn't help matters any.

North Iowa riders concentrated on four tracks back then: Forest City, Fort Dodge, New Hartford,  and West Bend. Those 4 tracks along with the occasional trip to Minnesota filled out our schedule so Tipton, Springville, Creston and Otter Creek usually got left out.

The fast guy in the north was Mark Miller, who worked at the Suzuki/ Yamaha shop in Algona. After Johnny Spaw graduated out of the mini bike classes he was the fastest of the southern Iowa racers. Those 2 usually only faced off in qualifiers for the amateur nationals and in the Labor Day 3-day race weekends. Miller would race 125 and Open; Spaw 80 and 125.

There never were as many riders in north Iowa as in the south, so our points really piled up. I managed to end the 1978 season 8th in 250 B points. Those points all came from Forest City (run by the Bennetts from Mason City), the Fort Dodge brick and tile factory track and Humboldt, a track built in an old gravel pit by the former West Bend promoters. All three are long gone and Forest City is the only one that was fit to race on. But I may be biased.

That was the high point for my points totals after some injuries and time off for college. After college I lived in Clinton for a few years and raced in District 17 at Byron. After moving to the Twin Cities I now race in District 23. We have a local track running Thursday afternoon practices, so now I can prepare for my attack on the +40 class.