LAKE ELSINORE —— Neither the glare of the low-hanging sun nor the fluorescent colors splashed across the motorcycles could divert observers' attention away from the racers' aging heads.

Not when the racers' helmets rested on their laps, anyway.

Some, like Dave Duane, 46, of Huntington Beach, still have thick, dark hair, but most wear their age proudly. Duane's buddy, Joe Lorenzen, 48, of San Clemente, also has thick hair, but it is streaked with middle-age silver. His face, which has weathered gracefully, hasn't been Botoxed.

No, the dashing and cool Steve McQueen was not present at Saturday's annual Lake Elsinore Grand Prix, motocross races that took place on the city's streets. But his legend was.

Duane, when asked if he feels like the late McQueen while racing, said, "No, I'm just hanging on. I wish I could be as relaxed as Steve McQueen looked."

More than three decades ago, the documentary "On Any Sunday," which featured a then-40-year-old McQueen racing in the Lake Elsinore Grand Prix, lured Lorenzen and others present Saturday into motocross.

"Absolutely, it made me want to do it," he said. "I started right after it came out."

Lorenzen still holds the cult documentary in high regard.

"My wife gets mad because we, friends and I, say the lines before they (the actors) do," he said.

It's almost to be expected. He has two copies of the film and has seen it dozens of times.

Motocross, like most extreme sports, is supposed to be for the young. But the annual Lake Elsinore Grand Prix is an equal opportunity event. There are races for the pre-teen, the X-Games crowd and the grizzled veterans.

"It gives us middle-aged guys a chance to have fun," said 56-year-old Geoff Alexander of Mesa, Ariz.

His brother, Greg Alexander of Tempe, Ariz., nodded.

"Yeah, we can't afford Corvettes," said Greg Alexander, 53. "So these are our mid-life crisis vehicles."

The middle-age crew participated in a race with vintage bikes —— big, bad bikes that handle poorly and whose motors scream. It's just the way Lorenzen, who was riding a 1969 Yamaha on Saturday, likes it.

"They have character," he said. "If you spray painted all those new bikes black, you couldn't tell one from another. Each of these (vintage bikes) has its own unique attitude."

But Greg Alexander noted that with vintage bikes, "you got to fight the bike as much as the track."

Geoff Alexander echoed his brother.

"On these old bikes, it takes a lot of work," he said. "You have to be more careful. These old ones don't handle as well."

Of course, there were several other races Saturday.

Michael LaPaglia of Murrieta bested his close friend Tyler Keith of Temecula to claim first place in a beginner race that preceded the vintage race. Keith placed second.

"I hate him," joked Keith, as pieces of mud fell from his teeth to the blacktop.

LaPaglia, who high-fived Keith after the beginner race's first lap, marveled at Lake Elsinore's street track.

"It's not like anything else man," said LaPaglia, 16. "It's not on dirt, it's on a roadway."

The track is rarely wide and open. Before reaching the final turn, a 90-degree shift to the left, bikers proceed down a narrow, downward slope that cuts to the left.

Considering the course's difficulty, Laird Powers, 9, of Lake Elsinore was just pleased that he completed the race —— his first —— unscathed.

"I finished and I'm alive," he said. "It was tiring but exciting."

His father, Chris Powers, acknowledged he was nervous.

"Oh, heck yeah, I was nervous," he said. "He finished and didn't crash."

After the 45-minute race, they locked the bike into the back of their pickup truck, and then it was off to the next —— albeit safer —— activity: Laird's soccer game in Lake Elsinore.

Contact staff writer Brian Eckhouse at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2626, or beckhouse@californian.com.