heck, the pink bikes are on the way back, let's do pink pants

Hey ,if were talking grudge match races I'm in too!

I'll be 46 in June, you still going to be in the class at Rockford E?

If I win, _everyone_ has to make their tracks downhill and danger filled, berms no less than vert, and long lippy doubles with no fill in between, and the race photos will be posted on every site on the internets.
My victory would also spark a resurgance of day-glo race gear.

46-50 at the Rock '06
the future of BMX is at stake!
be there.

BMX back then was dangerous.
BMX today is dangerous.
Kids dont have a problem with danger.
Adults dont dig danger.
Back then you were a kid.
Today your an adult.
Adults should not race bmx.
Refuse to grow up.

Scotch and sprints E, Im all over it. Since there is snow on the ground here for another few months, Ill double up on the scotch to make up for the lost sprints.

I simply must hear a duck infested lake story.

It's a fowl story believe me

I have no doubt. Any Yaks in it?

elvis, there's an older school track up there twenty minutes from you? I'm there!!!

i was not around back then but judging by the smiles on faces of riders at my track i would say bmx is alive and well. we may not have the rider count i would like but we have a great time. we had 73 on saturday and 76 on sunday. i will take that.

another thing that tells me bmx is doing pretty ok is one of our new riders. he is a developmentally disabled 9 yo and the whoop he lets out as he crosses the line in dead last is absolutely wonderful. this boy is having a great time and he thinks bmx is doing just fine.

ride on

bmxmom, i know what you are doing, you got ken pliska up there and joe dirt, and they are like paying people to show up. paying them in starbuck's gift certificates and like free microsoft downloads and stuff. you should hear the whoop i let out in last place, after i just ate a whole large pizza. pepperoni.

lmao. i think we need you to come race up here with us pat except i score on the line so when you let that big ol' whoop out as you cross can you point the other way please?

I think the new tracks are fun too, as Shawn stated, but there forsure slower tracks because of all the obsticals. Races BITD were drag races and usually the race was decided by the first corner... Not all the time but alot of the time.
Take the World's in 81. No jump until the first corner seemed kinda odd to me, and had there been a jump before the first turn there wouldn't have been nearly as many crashes ( via jag videos ) because it would have spaced racers out a bit more and basically slowed the race down more. I weak example maybe, but todays tracks aren't all bad, but BMX is alive.. is it well seems to be more an issue

oh , i see that is 73 riders, i thought you meant 73 motos, i thought you were rivaling rockfish there for a moment. still, very good to have 73 riders up there, good job. do they have new york style pepperoni up there?

oh my dear pat i would fall over and die of joy if we had 73 motos. yes i meant riders. to talk moto count is really meaningless. you could have 10 motos and have 30 riders or 10 motos and 80 riders. ya know? and yes. it is a good turn out for oregon.

hmmm oregon is not really known for pizza but we do have a couple places here in eugene that seem to know what they are doing. now if you wanna talk thai, vietnamese or korean, then i could take you to some really good stuff. mmmmm. and there is always the potluck after the race on saturdays. you never know what is gonna show up there...

looooong thread, and i'm kinda bringing it back from the dead, sorry.

jim stinson, hey there! you echo my thoughts, exactly. i think the crazy tracks of today are right up the alley of today's youngsters, but no way i could get around one. it would be great if they made tracks like the south park/north park duo of '84/'85, and i think alot of people could consider going back to it.

that said, i don't know if the old speedways of the '80's would keep the young people's interest.

I would, as long as all the b.s. that seems to come with bmx racing today, wasn't part of the deal.

Had to bring this thread back for one more comment. I was driving back from Rick Twomey's place in Simi Valley yesterday. As i was dropping into the San Fernando valley, I spotted a whole bunch of kids on BMX bikes zooming down one of the many fire roads/trails that are still part of the valley's hillsides.

The new Dave Clinton's JPs, Thom Lunds, Doug Takhashi's, Utterback's were having a blast doing something we did over 30 years ago. They have no concept of moto count, no idea of what BMX history went on on those very hills. No ideas that there is a whole bunch of old men debating about little kid's bikes They were just having fun racing each other.

That my friends, is BMX

amen!

Wow ... I just read the first 10 pages or so of this pretty long thread.

I'm a bit suprised that I couldn't yet find quite the response that I'm about to give.

To answer the question, sure, I'd race 80's style tracks ... occassionally ... just the same way I race the new style tracks ... occassionally.

Problem is ... the occassional racer doesn't do a whole lot to keep your track open.

Guys like me, who race less than 10 races a year really have no business deciding on the layout of a track. The kids who hit it up 50 times a year are the ones who will make or break the success of the track.

That said, earlier this year I stepped up, along with a bunch of other great guys in the Milwaukee, WI area, and we made a contribution to the future of the sport by building the first race track in the Milwaukee area in more than 20 years. One thing I learned during the construction, building a track is a fairly expensive proposition ... full of expenses and many, many volunteer hours. Whatever you build, you want to make darn sure that racers are going to be excited when they see it, and ride it. To be viable, a track has to have a loyal base. And, fellas, most of us "yeah, 80's style tracks would rock !!!" just aren't the guys who will keep the doors open.

If the kids were looking for old school ... Joe Kid would outsell any of the new school videos, say 10 to one ... because for all of the new school videos or DVD's, I can think of two that are old school (one only partially) ... Joe Kid & Viva La BMX.

BTW, the new Milwaukee track is full-on new school. And, yeah ... I'll plan to race it ... at least 10 times in '07. :-) That said, every new kid that comes out to visit during our building period this summer ... has said things like "cool" and "wow" and "this is so great".

Ted, if I were you ... I'd leave that open practice track an open practice track ... what a little jewel it is. You are super lucky to have access to that in your community.

Kevin O'

This thread hasn't been touched for a while and I would just like to go back on record to say "new tracks suck". I have been watching and burning my old VHS tapes from the early 80's onto DVD and while the tracks were very mild to say the least (in fact, the kids today would probably laugh in our faces if they watched them), but more importantly, the RACING was phenominal! There was a tremendous amount of passing and the amount of peddling that was going on made me exhausted just watching. That was BMX Racing!

Oh no Luxx back at the track look out ! Great to see your still kickin cranks Luxx .

Jim I remeber you from bitd , you were 12x national # 1 in nbl right ? You had plenty of skill then . When I got back to racing I had to just take my time and slowly gain back skill before I could go fast on todays tracks . Im still not that fast but i'm still learning . Todays tracks are a different animal , try to find a milder track to ride than s.park . Just go to practice and not race for a few months then you'll feel more stable on the bike . It's a big learning curve and you have to have the desire to spend alot of time on the bike .

This topic brough out some old names . Raced you bitd , your right veiwers would tune out .

HEY yall i've been racing nonstop circa 79. raced Factory kastan 92 won about 13 nationals back in tha day. i race 41-45 cruiser today and the national tracks kick my butt, i think i'm the only 41-45 who does not clip in and i still make the mains most of the time.I got to put a foot down at Guthrie Nats in OK this weekend i was stoked and i also got to talk smack to my old buddy Brian Pascal.I'm with anyone who want to build flat turns and oldschool tracks. It feels like someone took a bat to my arms from trying to early pull those doubles. Ted (tha hitman) bailey.DD Leone Rules. By the way i've got his complete kastan cruiser in storage.

You and your bike belong on the thread do you have something rare .

The only rare stuff i have is my 3 kastan cruisers from when i raced for kastan, and about every issue of bicycle motocross action, bicycles and dirt, and other mags that came out in the 70-80's . T.

Were all old and rare , welcome to Vintage .

My man Ted! Ladies and germs, Elvis's #1 homeboy has checked in, and has been racing more and longer than pretty much any moog on this board -- still on flat pedals, btw.

He & I run the track in Little Rock, and he keeps pumping for flat turns.

we'll, when I was a kid the tracks where I lived were crap so NO, I wouldnt wan't to race on that mess ever again. I am 43 and have raced the last 3 seasons. I started easy and worked up to a point where I gained confidence. I have had a few spills and broke a rib but I think that is normal. I love the challenge and welcome the technical part, only makes me better

The thing I liked most about old school racing was the speed, not the air. Who remembers flying down the track at Evansville, Ind and peddling your butt off down hill and then hitting that sweeping wall of a last berm at mach 1 - that was awesome! There are plenty of other tracks I could mention.






Great Subject here Jim, Yes indeed Evansville had a bad **8 track loved going down that hill hitting that last berm, I have a friend that has been trying to talk me into racing again, and after not looking at a BMX bike or watching anything that had to do with the sport since 1988, I was watching some you tube footage of racing nowadays It sure isn't what I remembered how could it be fun to ride a bunch of roller's looks to tech for me i can't imagine BMX without ever getting to go wide open down a straight then hitting a set of dub's then cranking your butt off until the next step up or little roller, hitting a small berm taking your foot off the pedal and sticking it out,

My only problem with BMX back in the day was that too many races were won out of the starting gate, I only wish they would have combined a little of the real old school downhill stuff into it a bit more, but I'm sure that not every town in the united states had a piece of land with a hill they could build a track on, But it would have been great to come flying down a hill then coming to a flat section with a bunch of jumps on so you could do some passing, and heavy cranking sprints until a set of dubs came up,

also as time went on and the sport got bigger and bigger around 1985 the tracks starting getting weak i think the NBL had some deal with their insurance about doubles or something,

I sure miss the old days of BMX I don't like the way it looks now, and after watching some footage i have of the 1986 NBL memphis classic and seeing how lame that track was, I think BMX would be Better suited sittting somewhere in the middle some good long tracks where there is some room to pass so every race isn't won with a holeshot, some good straights to pedal your rear off, and a few sets of good size doubles, and maybe a few rollers for the tech part, hey wait that sounds like some of the tracks back in the good ol days,,,So i guess the answer is yes i would race again if the tracks were like they used to be, I sure wouldn't want to get my kid into bmx now at a young age the tracks seem pretty tricky for a beginner, and knowing I have to go to work 5 days a week i sure wouldn't want to get back into it after not racing for 20 years

well that is my.02 on the subject,,

I would race more again if it wasn't for the paved turns. The jumps don't bother me too much but there are too many of them, I also like to pedal my bike too. I miss the straights that you could lay out some good horse power. I broke my elbow on a paved turn and 15 years later I still have problems with it. I think if the tracks would hold better organized work parties, we could get rid of these dangerous turns... It may sound like I'm whining but I don't want these kids getting hurt and paying for it down the road.

I don't think the tracks need to go back to the 80's, I'd prefer a mid to late 90's. Though I haven't ruled out suiting back up the level of todays tracks does give me pause as I wouldn't really be interested in racing locally, but nationals.

I don't think the tracks need to go back to the 80's, I'd prefer a mid to late 90's. Though I haven't ruled out suiting back up the level of todays tracks does give me pause as I wouldn't really be interested in racing locally, but nationals.

As the tracks get tougher the skills of the riders get better. I'd be lieing if I said I wouldn't want to race on track with some good ol' flat turns and a banzai, Those days are long gone unless someone with more $, time, property, and connections than me is willing to put on a true OLD SCHOOL national, complete with old dudes, old bikes, and old style tracks. I race on tracks they build because that's all there is. If I had a choice I'd prefer an old style track just because it would be easier on my old bones. It wouold be cool to see an event like Rockford go off in conjuction with a true OS BMX National, that would be epic!

I will ride them in a minute! - instead of going with my MB to the trails I would spent my time flowing around the track jumping those 1' doubles and 2' tabletops :-)

I went to Armadillo for the Redline qualifier and saw all novice and intermediate motos - those kids were going up and down on the r-sections like a toddler's roller coaster car, and it was boring to see and, I guess, was boring to ride. Make them pedal!, make them jump!. At least, BITD, all novices wanted to jump the small tabletop - now is all rolling and pumping, rolling and pumping.

I agree with cheez I 'm 40 so old school would be more my speed , I do mountain ride and road ride but some of the jumps I witnessed at blue diamond in Delaware where for young guys, bones do become more breakable then at 13

Only if they looked like Helltrack from "RAD"

I'd LOVE to give that drop in wall a try, and that cool bathtub jump thingy...lol