RedBud MX

About RedBud MX

RedBud MX sits on rolling farmland in Buchanan, Michigan, just above the Indiana state line, and it carries a title no other track in the country has earned. America’s Motocross Track.

Built by One Family Since 1972

Gene Ritchie was in Buchanan for a snowmobile race one winter when he looked at the hills and saw a motocross track. He and his wife Nancy brought in the Patterson and Miller families as partners, bought the land in 1972, and started holding races in 1973.

They called it RedBud MX TNT, short for Track n Trail, named for the road it sits on, the redbud trees all through the region, and Buchanan’s own nickname of Red Bud City. The first AMA National came in 1974, won by Michigan rider Mike Hartwig. Gene opened a bike shop near the entrance and his shop mechanic, a teenager named Doug Domokos, filled the Friday night intermissions with wheelies before going on to become the Wheelie King.

The track is still on the same cornfield surrounded ground, and it is still run by the Ritchie family. Amy and Tim Ritchie, Gene and Nancy’s children, operate it today.

LaRocco’s Leap

The course has been reworked many times over five decades, but one obstacle never leaves. LaRocco’s Leap was built in 1991, modeled on a jump called Kong at Mike LaRocco’s personal track. It stretches 120 feet and remains the biggest jump on the circuit. LaRocco, the AMA Hall of Famer from just down the road in Indiana, was the first man to clear it, and he did it on a 125.

The Fourth of July Tradition

RedBud MX has held the Independence Day weekend date on the Pro Motocross calendar since 1978, and it draws the largest crowd of any motocross race in the United States. It is also the first American track to host the Motocross of Nations twice, in 2018 and again in 2022. Anyone who has stood in those hills knows the call and answer that rolls through the crowd all weekend.

A Full Season, Not Just One Race

The gates open well beyond the National. A typical season runs April through October with Open Ride days, amateur race weekends, a Loretta Lynn regional championship, a round of the Michigan State Championship, VetFest, and the Throttle Jockey Grass Race each fall.

More information on RedBud MX; Click here https://redbudmx.com/

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