The Catalina Grand Prix was an iconic motorcycle race on the small island of Santa Catalina 29 miles off the coast of Long Beach, California.
In the 1950s the Catalina Grand Prix attracted hundreds of amateur and professional motorcycle racers from across the United States, it was run over 10 laps of a 10 mile course that traversed dirt roads, paved roads, rocky gullies, fire trails, hiking trails, and even a golf course.
Amateur California scrambler riders would often beat out the big names to win the 100 mile event, though some of the more unscrupulous competitors began to give the race a bad name. Eventually the Catalina locals had had enough, and 1958 would be the final year for the event.
There have been a few recent attempts to get the race restarted including a successful running of an all-new Catalina Grand Prix in 2010, but none have yet succeeded longterm, which seems a shame given the huge surge in popularity of classic scramblers and scrambling.
Each of these Catalina Grand Prix strapbacks are made in the USA by the team at Ampal Creative, they have a 100% brushed cotton twill upper, a micro-herringbone under brim and inside lining, an adjustable leather strapback, and a vintage style felt pennant applique stitched on the front.
This is a hat that would look perfectly at home at the actual Catalina Grand Prix in the mid-1950s, and hopefully if the race can be restarted, it’ll be able to attend a modern running of the event.
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Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
