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One lap around the Group Health Velodrome, located at Marymoor Park, is 400 meters.

REDMOND, Wash. - It was back in the '60s when the wheels started turning.

Free love was in the air, Nixon was headed for office and Seattleite Jerry Baker was campaigning to build a velodrome in Redmond's Marymoor Park.

The Group Health Velodrome finally opened for bike racing in 1975, and it's now a regional hotspot. Baker, now 66, still oversees many events as it enjoys one of its most successful seasons.

Each Friday night fans descend on the site, with Mount Rainier as a backdrop, to watch the bike races. Racers are now prepping for the grand-daddy of this summer's events. The FSA Grand Prix, July 25-26, will award $15,000 in cash prizes.

The event promises hot-shot racers (perhaps local favorite Kenny Williams) and even newbies who are still learning the basics of bike racing, most likely from Baker. It’s for these reasons some call him the "godfather'" of bike racing in the Northwest.

"If you don't know who Jerry is, you're just getting into cycling," said Brian Vander Stoep, events manager for the Marymoor Velodrome Association.

Velodrome lore

For starters, the velodrome is so special because it's the only one in the state, Baker explains. The racing arenas aren't so common anymore.

Baker said Seattle was once home to two velodromes. One was located at the Seattle Greyhound station at 9th and Howell, and the other was at Woodland Park.

"There used to be a lot of velodromes in the country," Baker said. "At the turn of the century, bicycling was a petty big deal. But then the car came along, changed everything."

A lap around the Marymoor structure is 400 meters and the banked turns are angled a precarious 25 degrees.

"So you're perpendicular to the surface at 30 miles per hour," Baker said.

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Jerry Baker, 66, is treasurer of the Marymoor Velodrome Association. He's been involved with events at the track since the very beginning. "He's certainly my mentor; he's been showing me the ropes," said Brian Vander Stoep, events manager for the MVA.

Track bikes are light, single-speed cycles with no brakes. In shorter sprints, athletes' speeds will climb into the low 40s.

Baker is one of the velodrome's founders. He now serves as treasurer of the Marymoor Velodrome Association, the nonprofit group that manages events there.

While velodromes may have enjoyed their hey-day years before, he'll tell you they haven't lost their appeal. Racing is growing in popularity at Marymoor.

"I think for here it's probably more popular now than it has been for some time," Baker said. "From a participation standpoint we have more riders this year - 15 percent more than last year, probably."

They currently host races on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. With the additional education, training and youth programs happening, Baker said they may have to add anther night of racing."

We're almost overbooked," he said.

The main attraction

So why is bike racing so popular?

It might be the sheer number of bikers in Western Washington. Baker points to the Cascade Bicycle Club, which boasts thousands of members. And with roadways becoming more developed and congested, the velodrome provides an easy, accessible place to race.

"I think bicycling in general is just growing greater and greater," Baker said.

And youngsters get hooked during summer training programs.

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College student Tela Crane said her mother made her take a bike racing class at the velodrome when she was growing up, and she became hooked - even going on to become a junior national champion. "It made a big difference when I was a kid to take this class," she said.

Tela Crane took an introductory class at the Group Health Velodrome as a teen, and went on to become a two-time junior national champion.

Now a student at Western Washington University, she teaches summertime "PeeWee Peddlers" classes for kids at Marymoor. She enjoys the sense of community.

"I've kind of grown up at this track. A lot of people have known me since I was 15," Crane said. "It's cool to have that support system."

The track has big names as well. Friday night spectators can tell them apart by their bib numbers. At the end of the season, the champion receives the bib number "1" and second place receives "2," and so on.

This year Kenny Williams boasts the #1 bib. Vander Stoep calls him a "freak of nature." He raced World Cup races all winter and came into the season in strong shape.

Eighteen-year-old Grant Boursaw is hot on his heels. He holds the #2 bib and at the time this article was published, the two were just five points apart.

Local leader

Ask around, and it's obvious Baker has his hands in most everything that goes on at the track.

"Basically, what Jerry says goes," Vander Stoep said.

Folks will tell you that he helped design the velodrome and that he recently helped with construction on a new storage building at the track.

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Sponsor Group Health has naming rights for the track, which is visible from SR 520 in Redmond.

Everybody relays the story of how he won the inaugural Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic back in 1979, when it was a race. And he's started every race since.

Baker says he started racing in 1964.

"I figure I've ridden about 180,000 miles so far," he said. "My goal is to get to the moon – 240,000 miles."

He's retired now, after a career that included a stint at Boeing and later owning a bike shop in Seattle.

He's often at the track. There's a lot be done. Like any nonprofit, they're in need of more volunteers and sponsors. They rely heavily on their sponsorship with Group Health, which has naming rights for the velodrome.

But perhaps most importantly, Baker is looking out for the future of the track each Monday night by training new and junior riders.

They're a pretty small group.

"But those are our future stars," Vander Stoep said. "So we like to pay attention to them."