Elsinore Grand Prix
Place to have FAMILY FUN!
If you like to have FUN then you will defiantly love the Elsinore Grand Prix. The Lake Elsinore Grand Prix is a dirt-bike race that takes place in and around the Lake Elsinore city. The annual race is typically held in mid-November. The attractiveness of the event hit its peak in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, drawing the likes of dirt-bike greats such as Malcolm Smith and Steve McQueen, to name a few. The race has always been set as an “open” format, meaning anyone can ride; usually only about 200 or so take this event seriously, whereas the rest use it as an opportunity to have fun. In 1971, the documentary movie On Any Sunday by Bruce Brown included scenes from the grand prix.
In the mid-1970s the Elsinore Grand Prix hit a snag, none of the big riders were participating, and the event was drawing the wrong crowd, mostly violent motorcycle gangs. The race was canceled indefinitely soon afterward. In 1996, several dirt-bike riders, with a hint of nostalgia, decided to lobby the city of Lake Elsinore to revive the Grand Prix. Promising that the violent motorcycle gang crowd drawn to the Grand Prix in the 1970s had gone and that dirt-bike motorcycle riding was more of a family event, the city allowed the event to resume on a provisional basis.
In 1973, Honda named its CR250M Elsinore—the first motorcycle designed by Honda for the dirt rather than a modified street bike—after the Elsinore GP race venue.
