Trail Rider Magazine

8 Trail Rider www.TrailRider.com Florence Grand Prix Florence Grand Prix Florence, Kansas Florence, Kansas By Jeff DeBell By Jeff DeBell Photos By Phoebe Janzen Photos By Phoebe Janzen I remember being surprised several years ago to learn that one of my heroes, Preston Pe y, had won a motocross race in Great Bend, Kan- sas, which, back in the early 70s was a sleepy oil patch town literally miles from established civi- liza on. I found it hard to believe that a na onal caliber rider would travel to the Midwest to race on some backwoods track but then discovered that Kansas actually had a fairly rich off-road racing history back then. Edison Dye brought his traveling circus of Swedish Husky stars to win an exhibi on race in sleepy Atwood, KS around 1970, and li le crossroads towns like Bald- win City, Pi sburg, Dodge City, and Maize had well-established motocross tracks that a racted racers from far and wide. There was also a thriv- ing flat track circuit throughout the state and Midwest. The development of interstate high- ways and the growth of suburbia put all of these towns further off the beaten track, and the li le towns and their tracks were doomed. Florence, Kansas, once a bustling railroad town, hosted the 100-mile Florence Grand Prix from 1972 to 1978 un l the town started drying up and could no longer support the event. Na onal and interna onal pro-riders turned out for those early years, with Rolf Tibblin taking the win in the two years he raced. The Grand Prix a racted over 600 racers and thousands of spectators in its heyday and started on brick-lined Main Street in the center of town. The course used city streets, alleyways and residents' backyards before exi ng town to the surrounding pastures and farmland. Start and finish were in the middle of downtown and you can imag- ine the occasional carnage that resulted from the combina on of slick brick streets, knobby res, and anxious thro le hands. It was tremendously popu- lar and the locals who raced it back in the day held great memories of the biggest race in Kansas. Fi y years later, a group of local racers who rode the early years decided to resurrect the Florence GP, led by event organizer Tobe Moore. They approached the city and in 2022 celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Florence GP by resurrec ng the Grand Prix. The old downtown was mostly boarded up two-story storefronts and abandoned buildings, but the racers

• Cover