
Early
Perris Raceway
Perris
officially became a race track in 1957 and was the dream of Gerry and
Grace Burton. Originally a TT scrambles track that hosted events from
racing clubs throughout California.In
the 1960's Perris made the big time and was featured on ABC's Wide
World of Sports. There was also a parade down main street in the town
of Perris. Famous director Bruce Brown (On Any Sunday) even filmed at
Perris. The entire racing program was a family affair with the Burtons,
with Gerry doing all the track building and prep, starting the races
and grooming the track between races his signature white attire became
a trademark. Grace could always be found at the front gate and later in
the snack bar being the driving force of the whole show. Daughters
Carylon and Darleen would handle scoring and arranging the heat boards.
Perris located within the AMA's District 37 boundries hosted many
weekend day AMA events as attested to by the club logos still seen on
the rocks to this day. The events were so filled with entries that both
Saturday and Sunday were needed to run a full program. 0-200cc on
Saturday with 201-open bikes on Sunday. Not to forget the regular
Saturday night races that were put on each and every week by Perris
themselfs. Flash forward to the 1980's when moto-cross came onto the
scene and the TT scrambles entries began to fade as the up and comming
racers switched to jumps instead of speed. Recollections by Jamey Blunt
Link
to Early Perris page two



1 Jim Hunter

8a
John Apple - 7a Bob Taylor

167 Bill Harden


Cheney
BSA B50MX at Perris - 1977 Dirt Digger Dinosaur TT - by cyclenut48

PERRIS 1962 - 673 John
Wilson - 652 John Wiley - Photo By Manuel Burton

Link
to Early Perris page two
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