Forty-Five Years of Speed: The Costa Mesa Speedway Comes of Age
Photography: Rickett & Sones | Photo Assistant: Chris Doody |
Pyrotechnics: Trick Concepts | Design: Dustin Ames Shawn “Mad
Dog” McConnell  Somewhere inside the chaos of a speedway
motorcycle racetrack, between the war cries from fans on the
grandstand and riders controlling bikes without brakes while
careening in circles at 60 mph, overwhelmed by the desire to
cross the finish line first—somewhere hidden within all
that—there is a calmness.  "Speedway is more of a zen thing,"
explains Brad Oxley, the promoter and inheritor of the Costa
Mesa Speedway at the Orange County Fairgrounds, which is
celebrating its 45th anniversary this year. "You have to get in
the right mindset. You have to control your breathing, your
heart rate. You have to have fortitude—I call it fortitude, but
you know I mean balls, right?"  For all the fast-paced, tire-to-
tire, make-one-wrong-move-and-everyone's-going-down, done-
in-60-seconds action, the calmest place you can f