Moto Crazy is the name of the sand track in Hopkins Park. A friend of mine owns and runs the place. It's a hardcore sand track, very rough and whooped out with monster berms and it's long...lap times are comparable to a national track. When I say that it's sand, I mean all sand, there is no dirt whatsoever and it's just really deep, bottomless sand. It's the Illinois version of Southwick. The track gets groomed from time to time, and it will be smooth for a while but the bumps and whoops quickly return. The place is a real workout. The nice thing is that it's truly an all-weather surface. The wetter the better, and you can ride there pretty much year-round. When all the other riding areas are too wet, this place is primo.
As far as the bad neighborhood...yes, it's in a very depressed area. Hopkins Park and Pembroke are the two little towns you drive through on the way to the track and when you go through those places on the southeast side of Kankakee, you feel like you're in Delta Blues country. It's a different world over there. However, with that said, I do not feel the track is an unsafe place at all. The neighbors are friendly people as long as you stay on Moto Crazy property and off theirs. I've never had a problem out there with anyone and neither has the owner of the track. The incident involving the gunshot a couple of years back happened on property away from the track on the other side of the road and down a bit. That person was poaching on someone else's property and did not have permission to be there. I've heard conflicting reports over what really happened, but the consistent story I've heard is that the landowner told the kid to get off his property and the kid refused, a nasty verbal exchange took place and then a confrontation happened. Bottom line, if you ride where you're supposed to ride at Moto Crazy, you won't have any issues. The property is fenced off and has a very sturdy gate and the locals don't bother anyone. I wouldn't let the neighborhood and gunshot incident from a couple years back scare you off from trying it. I've been there many times and my wife has also ridden there with me and we feel perfectly safe.
If you like sand, you'll love this place. If you hate sand, you obviously aren't going to like it. If you're interested in trying it out sometime, e-mail me at bbrooks47@attbi.com and I'll give you more details on it.