By PHYLLIS ZORN

Staff writer

Tobe Moore’s family has been involved with Florence Grand Prix since the first year of the race in 1972.

This year will culminate in nine family members entering the race.

Tobe’s brother, Ronnie Moore, finished second in open class the first year of the race.

The second, third, and fourth years of the races, Tobe helped set up the tracks along with his cousin, Donnie Hicks.

“We were some of the founding members of the Flint Hills Bent Rims,” he said.

In 1975, Tobe entered the race, riding a 250 Bultaco. That year didn’t go as well as he hoped.

“I broke down and I did not finish,” he said.

There was so much rain in 1976, he still remembers it as “the big mud year.”

“That year, I took second place in the 125 division,” he said.

There was no Grand Prix in 1977 because Flint Hills Bent Rims was unable to find insurance it could afford.

In 1978, the Grand Prix returned with 400 racers. Tobe finished second in the 125 division. His brother, Ronnie, was second in the 175 division.

That was the final year for the race until planning for a Grand Prix was revived in 2021.

Finding insurance was a big deal that year, because the race could not take place without it.

Tobe didn’t compete, but his brother, Eric, won the 125 division.

In 2023, Eric and his two sons, Gavin and Gabe, raced. Gavin took first place, Gabe took second place, and Tobe’s daughter, Breanne, came in fourth place.

This year’s race has drawn 520 entrants, the most for any Grand Prix race in its history.

In it, Tobe; his daughters, Breanne, Jessica, and Rachel; his grandson, Mason; Breanne’s boyfriend, Steve Miller; his brother, Eric; Eric’s son, Gabe; and Tobe’s other brother Ronnie’s son, Steve Huntley, all will compete.