| One of my Heros Wayne Gray Host of The Chehalis Classic |
| and Owner of The Farm |
| I decided to make Wayne Gray 49 yrs old. My Hero this month in the One of my Heros series, because of his generosity and the hard work he does every year hosting the two Vintage MotoCross events on his farm. They are "The Chehalis Classic" and "The Premier/Classic Weekend". |
| Winter 1998 Ken Burningham is on his way back from Woodland,maybe a Monte Price Race. He stops into see Wayne and they walk around a snowy, wet field which is now where the pits are. They both look at each other and say, "How the heck are we going to throw a race here"? |
| Chehalis, let's say it right. The "halis" part is easy hay-less. It's the pronunciation of the first part of this Native American word, that is where most people get lost. "Che" is said softer than the "Ch" in chopper but harder than the "Sh" in Sheila. If you blend these two together and practice you'll get Cha-hay-liss or Chelhalis. |
| The story of Wayne and the farm goes back to the pioneer Lowry family of Lewis County,Washington. Arriving in 1896 this is Wayne's Mom's side of the family. They settled where the farm is and built the main farmhouse in 1921. The house was built by Wayne's Grandfather. |
| Wayne grows up on his family farm and really doesn't get involved with motorcycles until he turns 18. In 1977 he buys a new RM250 and goes racing in 1978 wearing number 168 racing mostly Mud Slinger events in Grand Mound, Woodland, and Spanaway. He stays in racing and meets Ed Parsons who moved up from Arizona to work in a papermill. Fast forward to 1992 the Centralia Mudslingers host a Vintage Motorcross event. This brings Ken Burningham down from Canada and into the mix of players involved with the forming of the Chehalis Classic. As a matter of fact it was Ken that later named the event after events of this type in his home country of England. |
| In 1994 the Keach family decides to sell the Gray family their 70 acre farm. The site of the current motorcross track. It was all planted in corn,wheat, and sweetpeas. The farmhouse was built in 1911 and the barn was built in 1941. |
| Wayne farmed the old Keach place for 4 years. During this time the biggest Vintage Motorcycle event held in the Northwest was in Eugene, Oregon. Wayne says it was an MX swapmeet kind of a thing with Steve McQueen involvement. |
| Early spring 1998 Ed Parsons calls Dick Mann and convinces him to come to Washington to check out the track. He does, driving from Nevada to Washington over Memorial Day weekend. Up until now Wayne Gray had just thought of the races at his farm as just a maybe someday kind of a thing. Now standing on the railroad tracks on Tune Road was Dick Mann, Wayne had seen him race at the Castlerock National as a 15 year old boy from Chehalis. |
| Mann was impressed with the property and says he would like to throw an Ahrma Regional Motorcross there. Wayne says he remembers thinking my peacrop is planted and the hay should be cut lets do it in September. Right then and there is when Wayne Gray decided for sure the races we love so much would be held at the farm. |
| The tracks were built on about a 5 year progression. The land behind the barn wasn't used at first. As time went on more and more of the rolling natural terrain behind the barn has been utilized. The barn itself wasn't used for the first 3 years as it was full of Keach family leftovers. Now most years it's used for signups and the big dinner during the premiere classic weekends. |
| The farm,when not a racetrack produces 350 tons of hayn for the Gray family cattle business. After the races are over 3400 pounds of garbage are produced by you and me. Wayne gathers it up with his tractor, loads it on a farm truck and pays 135 dollar dump fee. Twenty-one port-a-potties are rented at 80 dollars each for the motorcross events. |
| Wayne says the when Motocross European and World Champions come and see the races at the farm they all say "This is the way it was" That to Wayne is the highest complement.Thank you Wayne for all your hard work and devotion to the sport of Vintage Motocross and for sharing your beautiful farm with us. |
By Robin Hannah #960