La Mirada BMX: The Fast Start and the Big Downhill
BMX Racing History · Track File · Legend Bike Co
La Mirada BMX: The Fast Start and the Big Downhill
La Mirada is the track the cameras found. When Boys' Life magazine wanted to show every Scout in America what BMX looked like in 1977, it came to the track at La Mirada Regional Park. The footage and photos that survive show why: a fast gate, a big downhill, and fields stacked with the kids who were about to become the sport's stars.
Built by Parents, Designed by a Track Builder
The La Mirada track came out of the same formula that built most of the great early tracks: one determined parent and one good track designer. Wanda Curran pushed the project through the Southeast Recreational Park District, and Rick Troy — the same builder behind the Corona downhill — designed and oversaw construction. Race days were run by the La Mirada Bikers, a volunteer crew of parents and riders who handled everything from membership cards to rake duty. Riders remember it simply: a fast starting track with the big downhill.
The Boys' Life Moment
In 1977, Boys' Life — the Boy Scouts' magazine, in millions of American homes — ran a BMX feature shot at La Mirada. The riders in it were a who's who in the making: Bobby Encinas, David Sebring, Scot Breithaupt, and Greg Hill. For a lot of kids far from California, that feature was the first time they ever saw a real BMX track. Rider memory also identifies a young Tinker Juarez in the first-straight photos — we flag that one until it's confirmed against the original issue.
The Races
La Mirada hosted the Powerlite 1000 in 1980 — the race behind some famous footage long mislabeled as 1976, corrected by Mark Rink of the Peddlepower and Torker family. An ABA California Cup at La Mirada in 1980 also shows up in period photo captions. The track's sanction history is genuinely murky — sources split between NBL and ABA across its life — and rather than pick, we note the split and keep digging.
The End
No documented closing date survives in the available record. Rider memory has the track torn down by the early-to-mid 1980s, and the park long since returned to grass. If you know when the last gate dropped at La Mirada, the record needs you.
Raced La Mirada? Got the Boys' Life issue, race flyers, or photos? Legend Bike Co wants to hear from you — this page grows as the people who were there fill in the record.
Sources: "The Tracks Rick Troy Built," BX Weekly — firsthand account by art director Jim Curran (design, construction, the La Mirada Bikers, the Boys' Life feature and its riders, the Powerlite 1000 correction by Mark Rink); bmxmuseum.com Southern California track-history forum (rider recollections, marked as such); period photo captions on the 1980 ABA California Cup (to be confirmed). Open year, closing year, and sanction remain unconfirmed in the available record — stated plainly rather than guessed.