After a 50-year dormancy, grand prix racing will return to California’s Catalina Island on December 3rd. The Catalina GP was one of the biggest events in American racing in the 1950s. Now, five decades later, the tiny town of Avalon will again welcome hundreds of motorcycles and thousands of race fans to the island for the event.
The race has taken an amazing amount of planning on the part of the organizers, the island community, and environmental agencies. It will also take a substantial level of planning on the part of the competitors, as all bikes must be taken by boat to the island. Also, all tuning must be done before the bikes arrive at Catalina because no tuning will be allowed on the island.
The two-day, AMA sanctioned event has been granted a one-time permit. The possibility of future races will be determined by the economic, environmental, and social success of this year’s event.
This is a truly historic event and All About Bikes will be there to bring all the news and images from the race to our readers, so check back often for event reports. For more race details, visit http://www.thecatalinagrandprix.com/.
Here is a cool video of the Catalina Grand Prix racing from the 1950s.
