Hi I’m Kelly Z, and this is the history of motorcross, Motorcross began in the United Kingdom at the turn of the century. In the early 1900s, automotive clubs hosted time trials, which turned into off-road versions called “Scrambles.” The very first official motorcycle Scramble went down in 1924, presumably with wool pants and a lot of British mud flying. For decades, the sport evolved lap by lap as bikes became more powerful and tires improved. There is no argument that the UK invented the sport, but to get to the real heart of modern motocross racing, you have to follow it across the pond to America. This is where MX truly took flight, if only for short, throttle-twisting durations between berms and whoops. When were the 2 strokes invented and what’s up with their exponential growth? American motocross racing—and by extension around the world—really blew up in the 1970s. Before Dye had brought racing to the U.S., the AMA had sanctioned only 15 motocross races throughout America. In the 70s, the throttle was pinned, with hundreds of races happening annually. Considered the “Golden Era of USA Motocross,” this era made MX accessible to people from all ages and every skill level. Southern California was the epicenter. Since then, motocross has grown to become a massive juggernaut in motorsports, with multiple sister disciplines like Supercross (SX), arena racing, freestyle motocross (FMX), ATV and SuperMoto. The world’s fastest MX racers at the 2019 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship—the largest race series sanctioned by AMA Pro Racing—took home around one million dollars in pro purse money. But before then, it was all about partying and going fast. That’s a brief history of motorcross.