From Hangtown to Prairie City and Back: The Story of the Prairie City State Vehicle Recreation Area from a personal perspective

By Marc Louis LeRoux

In 1968, the Dirt Diggers North Motorcycle Club was organized, becoming an officially state-recognized corporation on March 29, 1968. The club had ambitions. After a trip to Southern California to race in the Dirt Diggers Hopetown Grand Prix, members began fantasizing about an event similar to the Hopetown event. Motocross racing had just arrived from Europe as the exciting, new circuit race over natural terrain. All members were active competitors in off-road events from hare scrambles to enduros. Many also raced at the many popular AMA-sanctioned flat track and scrambles races, at tracks like the Lodi Cycle, Bowl, Three Star Raceway in North Highlands, Marysville, El Dorado Raceway, and other locations, such as the impromptu scrambles track on a privately owned plot in Orangevale that the unofficial club The SQWLRS, used. After its incorporation, the DDNMC began to envision a big motocross race that had the potential to become a classic event like the Hopetown GP. Later that autumn, a race was being planned. How and when the name "Hangtown" became the future classic race's name is explored by the author of the book. Because of the wide availability of open, undeveloped land in Sacramento and neighboring counties, many fields became the sites for riders of all sorts, racers, recreational, and new motorcycle owners to learn. The "Honda Hills" on Madison Avenue in Fair Oaks was a popular example of that time. Almost every suburban home had a field near it open to use. As time went on, the availability of open land began to shrink quickly as Sacramento County's growth exploded. The need for officially designated areas for off-road use became a growing issue. Author, Marc LeRoux (aka Mark LaRue)was beginning his career as a racer in early 1969. He was present at the first Hangtown MX in January of 1969, and the "makeup" race in May was his first motocross race. In June of 1970, he found a job at the first attempt at a motorcycle park in Sacramento (and the surrounding region), the short-lived White Rock MC Park, which was located in Rancho Cordova along the then, desolate, White Rock Road east of Sunrise Boulevard. As the park's sole full-time employee, Marc wore all the hats, except track design and promotion, which was done by Claus Nielsen of Husqvarna in association with Edison Dye, the promoter of the early InterAm events before the AMA displaced it with the the TransAMA events. This is the story of the club, the race, the land, and how the parks evolved from two private attempts in the early 1970s to the final park, the Prairie City State Vehicle Recreation Area, through the eyes and experiences, as the only party that can tell the full story of White Rock MC Park, during its short, but event laden existence. The story includes the background histories of the relevant region from the time of the Gold Rush, when the first settlers ran roadhouse to and from the mines near Placerville and Coloma (the gold discovery site - by John Marshall, and employee of Captain John A. Sutter, on January 24, 1848), farmed and placer mined, and the boomtown of Prairie City, for which the modern park is named.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0D8B36XL2
• ISBN13: 9798328604840
• Release Date: June 2024
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 267 Pages
• Weight: 1.26 lbs.
• Dimensions: 10.2" x 0.8" x 7.2"