I don't know him........

I am not sure if he was a Long Island guy......

I just know he was from NY.

Next time I see him I will ask where exactly he is from.

Kmart- the father son thing that I remember was Karl Martin and his dad but they rode for Original Bike Shop (still there). I remember because I was in the same class with Jimmy Gnecco and Karl. Is that who you were thinking of? This thread has turned into a Long Island/ NJ thing which is cool because I raced all these tracks in the 80s. Jimmy and I were both Braddock locals and had a pretty good rivalry going for many years. I rode for Clifton Speed Shop for many years but then went on to race for a bunch of other teams like Air Wear and Marine Park Bikes. I also remember those teams that weren't really teams thing too. How about GDR and Team Contort?
-Chris Gulich

Anyone remember parmeadow race track,off william floyd parkway,,How about Jimmy little who raced for the schwinn team,,this is before shoreham,,and before tony at bmx country

what about team Ghost?

Chris,
Thanks for the refresh....You would think I could have remebered Karl Martin, with my name being Ken Martin..DOH!!!

I had a pretty strong rivalry with Gibby Graner (fellow Clifton guy) for a few years also, our ages overlapped for 1/2 the year...

Thanks
Kmart

The Gnecco's were 2 brothers and 2 sisters, Ghost just closed last year and as for Gulich, I have a pic of you and I running 1 (you) and 2 at Secaucus in 99 on SBC Cruisers. I have a really cool Ghost shirt that I wear from time to time that Vinny Griffen gave to me a few years back. In the real early 80's they were a hot LI Team. For 50 years, or so, Ghost was a cool motorcylce shop. You could not get down the street if they had a cool vintage motorcylce on dispaly in the lot. They had a bad rep for selling stolen stuff, including bikes. I never had a bad deal there nor did my dad, but I know people that claim otherwise. Cool thread keep it going and it is very much an LI/NJ thread. Kenny Hogg was a Jag guy. Some dude started that team with good riders. My bro works with a guy from that team, Greg L. I will see if he can confirm sponsorship or not. I think that Kenny may have been separate from those guys and had a shop/Jag deal like the SE Hot Shop Deal. Anyone else want to share stories about getting beat by Gary Mack or not. Perhaps you were beat bad by my Bro, Ed Gaglione. Again cool thread, been waiting a long a long time for an LI thread. How about Brookes Manback, any one remember him. Brooklyn guy turned POW.
James Gaglione

If I can put the pieces back I theink I raced in shoreham at a regional back in 87 tied for 1st locked pedals to spokes then got run over by 6 riders. 1 of those bastards locked his brakes on my back that was the big joke back in high school hockey you got skid marks on your back.

I got a film somewhere around here of me racing in i think 1989 in shoreham. i was getting smoked but there were some freakin fast dudes there in my moto- looked like pros. i would have been 22 years old in 1989 racing a free agent limo. some dad filmed it for me and i was supposed to copy it and send him a tape, then i moved to texas, but i got some footage of his kid on there, he filmed me and his kid. wish i could figure out he was after all these years, i always felt bad i talked him into filming it with my camcorder and never got a copy to him.

LIOS,

Don't forget to mention that Papa Gnecco ran the gate and the bike inspection at the Armory and Braddock. Great guy.He would always give me a hard time about my gearing. I used to run 46/16 and I would get the "you got to spin to win" speech every week. He would tell me to watch Jose Nieves (remeber him?) because he was a spinner. Then I beat Jose and he left me alone...
I remember my first year as a Novice I had to race Ann Gnecco and Leslie King (Sister to Wayne I belive). They were pretty quick (for girls, HeHe) They went on to have some pretty good Powder Puff battles...
Jimmy Gnecco was always small for his age but could haul the mail. Fast little monkey....

Good Stuff

james


The girl you are talking about with the pictures is Michele I cant remember her last name but I think it started with a W. One of her pictures from Bellmore is in my senior year book of Danny MacIntyre doing alittle flatty. As for the tape, I will look into making copy's and I also have about 100 pictures of Shoreham, Bellmore, the Armory and some of the local suffolk spots like the jelly bowl, rons trils in ronkonkoma, flowertime in centereach and others. I also spoke with Betty Mulligan last night and we are going to try and have a movie night at the track showing joe kid at the end of feb. And the first Vintage day at Shoreham will be in conjunction with the noreaster, and opening day, which will most likely be the last weekend in April.

I'm gonna try and get ahold of 'ol Gary Mack. Maybe he'll join us and bring another angle to the thread.

if i find the old 1989 long island tape do you guys want a copy for the movie nigh vintage night?

kmart,

The King's were a great family. I used to race with Wayne all the time at Braddock and the Armory. He would try to psych me out sometimes by looking all serious and pointing to me like he was goina kill me. It worked half the time because I bust up laghing on the gate and blow my start.

His sister Leslie was a few years younger than us. Wayne dated my sister from like '84-'88. We always had a blast way past our BMX days...He was a great guy...really funny too.

Jose Nieves was another really fast NJ guy who was like 13x for over year as I remember...hmmm I think his birth certificate was from Puerto Rico and didn't match up with his other documentations, so the story goes. Nice guy though.

Brad,

Wayne was super funny dude...Hell the whole Braddock gang was great! Wayne, Pete W, Marlon, and some other jokester that hung our with Wayne (his name escapes me).

One of my pictures on Brokenspokes.net is with me and Jose. He is #5 in JV colors and I'm number 307 in Yellow no sponsor colors. That was one of my most memorable races. I had seen Jose when I was a Novice and Mr. Gnecco "warned" me how fast he was, and we met up for the first time a triple points race at braddock and I took it to him first moto. I remember his father came running to the finish line to see what happended. He got me in the main but it was still pretty cool...

I remember hearing people say that Jose had a license and they saw him riding a Moped so he must be at least 16, and he was racing 13x...He just kinda disappeared after that.

Kmart,
You must have raced my bro. He used to race Jose about half the year and beat him many times. I heard he was actually driving a car when he was nailed. My brother raced him I think half a year as a 12x and 13x and then I think he was gone. The Cliffside father and son may have been the Palmisano's. Mr P owned the shop for a while and Robbie raced, probably with a Gnecco. There were a few sets of brothers and there could have been a father that raced, I am not sure. There was an article in a Braddock Dirt News about Cliffside Cycle and it mentions my brother. It was an issue that came out in the winter, I would like to see it if anyone has it. I was a year older and had race guys like Vinny Griffen, Rob Hughes and Tom Nieves amongst others.
John,
Vintage day at Shoreham is a lock for me. Count me in for 1 bike, some uniforms and some magazines.
James

James,
I do remember Brooks Manbeck. How about Billy Irwin, Robbie Morales, Miles Davis. Rob Poole, Rich Poole, Mike Ick... All those New York guys came out to Braddock and the Armory. This thread is hitting really close to home. I would love to see that pic of us from Secaucus in 99 on our Standard 24s. I knew that your name sounded familiar. Can you post it or send me a copy? Does anyone remember the Dust Bowl in Deptford, New Jersey? They raced on Saturday and when I was an ABA points chaser I would hit that race on Saturday and then Braddock on Sunday. -Chris

There were actually three Gnecco brothers. Jimmy was the oldest, then Damien, and Christopher. They were all on JV at one point. Jimmy was super fast and most of my bmx memories are of us racing each other. I remember when he was on TNT his dad bought a bus and painted it brown to go to the nationals. Kmart, were you his teammate on TNT? That was a fast line-up with you, Jimmy, Mark Z., Rob Hughes...who am I forgetting. Dave Clymer?

njracer,
I raced with Robbie M all the time...

Dude does Vineland and Deptford in the same day sound right? Then Sunday at Braddock. I seem to remember Vineland not requireing a helmet for practice. Seemed cool at the time.......
Yea I rode with Jimmy on JV and TNT, Dave "Spanky" Campbell was the TNT pro for that early team...Hughes was a mad man!!! Nothing like watching him kicking the cones into the guys behind him at the Armory in the last turn. That dude never trained or touched his bike and was crazy fast all the time(made me jealous)...I thought there was one younger dude (younger then Gnecco) also on TNT, he was first in overall Armory points one year and I was second. Quiet little dude that dominated the little dude classes..Paul Prestes took my slot on TNT after I got hurt.

Hughes did kick the cones. I will have to see if my brother has a scanner or if I can get a copy of the Secaucus pic out. It is from the Gold Cup Race in 99. I have not heard from Brookes in many years. We were pretty good friends. Growing up I spent everyweekend in Brooklyn because that's were my dad lived. Unfortunatley, Bill Erwin was killed on 911. He e-mailed about a year prior and said he had a crusier and was going to take some laps at Secauscus. I wish we would have hooked up at that time for some riding, he was a good dude. If you plug his name in any search engine you will find a dedication page.

wow, i wonder how many bmx'ers or ex-bmx'ers were killed on 9-11 , i never really thought of that

James,
What uniform and bike did your brother roll?

njracer,
The little dude I was thinking of was Glen Debello. Also George Salzman's little brother John races with TNT in the Mid to late 90's before they closed their doors.

I didn't know that about Billy Erwin. Sorry to hear that. Kenny, I remember Glen, he was really fast for a little guy. I remember George Salzman as well- SMB rider? I saw his brother when he was on TNT tearing it up. Ronny Gaska was on the team with him and Jeff Lamb in those final days of TNT. Anyone remember Kenny Bauso (sp?) on Action Wheels? -Chris

I rode for SMB for about a year before TNT, George Salzman rode for Scavones. John Salzman was really good when he got older....

Ken,

At only 13 I started working at Scavone's as a mechanic from '81-'84. John and Marie gave me a lot of support when I first started racing. They helped me out getting a co-sponsor with Thruster which eventually lead to a full factory ride in '82.

[ December 20, 2005, 12:56 PM: Message edited by: Brad Dalbec ]

Brad,

Your sister used to ride the Scavone's colors, right?When did she give up riding? Mark Zalewski had the Scavone's ride before his dad started TNT.

Kmart

Yup, my sister raced for them too. She stopped racing right after my accident. She did ok, but she wasn't big into training or practicing much.

I raced two Long Island tracks a couple times back in 81.
-Brooklyn (off Pennsylvania Ave.) worst sanctioned track ever. Had their starting gate stolen.
- Newbridge Rd. Park. (taught a clinic there in 81)

When up in NY, I hung out mostly with Long Island locals ( I lived near Trenton NJ, in PA)
Paul Washington
Phil Finkle
Also hung around with
Gary Mack
Peter Gwando (spelling lol)
His CW teammate whos name escapes this moment
Dave Masterson (went swimming at his house)


In North Jersey I raced Braddock most every friday night in 81 and the Armory.

[ December 22, 2005, 12:08 AM: Message edited by: Racer ]

KMart,
My bro rode a Hutch for several years. He would either wear the Cliffside Blue and White or Huth Co - Sponsor uniform with JT Pants. I still have both uniforms and will bring them to Shoreham Vintage day. He was born in 1970.
James

Racer, do you remember getting beat by Gary Mack?

Racer,
The Brooklyn track was actually pretty well ran. It was on state land and open 24/7. That left it open to all kinds of vandalism. It was in a secluded section of land in a park system. People still ride ATV and MX back there. Floyd Bennet Field, a couple exits away, would have been a better site. They still have Crits there. The track was ran by a guy named Pete L (could not spell his name without an old ABA paper). Pete was involved with the Armory, Lake Melody and Craigmere. He owned a cool old shop, Gateway, on Ave U. The shop was home of team Brooklyn. There were a lot of cool guys on the early Brooklyn scene and there were several good shops. I used to hang out in Marine Park and Gerritsen Beach every week growing up, when I would go see my dad.
James

Steve,
It was rare if anyone beat Gary Mack. He was a year older than me, but I would race him from time to time in a combined class and in open almost every week. I actually beat him in a moto once, not sure why. I do have a good story though. One summer Wednesday night, Pete Casano and Tom Christopher from team Tioga showed up at Bellmore. I don't remember why they were there. I beleive it was 84. Pete Casano was doing well nationally in 15x that summer and we all new who he was and were pretty stoked to race him. He won, but all of us local 15x's felt that we were competitive against him. On the other hand Tom Christopher had to race Gary and was of course dealt a beating. That was pretty cool, no one could beat Gary Mack. I saw him win a National at Egg Harbor. He out powered the factory guys in the last straight. That was in 83. He was very fast.
James

James, I like hearing those stories. 'Cause I just really knew him from riding around the 'hood with him. Sure, I went to the races with him a few times but that wasn't how I knew him.

Steve,
That dude was flat out fast. I have to beleive he could of gone on with BMX and been big. You needed a motor to beat him.
James

Steve,
That dude was flat out fast. I have to beleive he could of gone on with BMX and been big. You needed a motor to beat him.
James

I was 16 over X and Gary was younger, so I never raced him. Like Rich Farside and others it woulda been a good race though.
I rood thru the "hood" with Gary once as we played Bike Tag in the woods near his home. Definately one of the nicest, fastest riders to never make it big.
The Brooklyn track when i was there had like 4 moto, a 4 man gate or something crazy, and the track was all sand and just horrible. Only other track close to that bad I ever rode, was Spokane WA track. (That track had huge rocks on it).
The guy that ran it may have been supercool. The peeps that ran the Spokane track were.

What about Jim Leach? Any of you NY guys know what he is up to these days?

Total power rider.

Jim Leach was FAST!!!! True...true....
I have no idea where he's at....

BTW.... I'm in Long Island right now on vacation! Now I know why I live in Florida! LOL.

Wow, I forgot about the "Bike Tag" games we played. Thanks for the memory Racer!

Jim Leach was racing a few years ago, maybe 96 or 97. He was still fast.
James

Is that is for this thread?

No

I hope this thread is not dead. Does anyone remember going to Brands BITD. The BMX section was classic, I wish I had picutre of it from those days.
James

LIOS,

Any progress on the vids of Belmore and Woodward???

I do remember Jim Leach.
From what I do recall, he was a quiet, and nice guy, too. It's funny though, for some reason, I never really got to know him.
He was in the age class below me, so we never really got to race each other. I was in 17 or 18@over expert in 85-87 when I was down there.
I did get to feel his speed, and power in practice many times, though. Yep, he was fast!

Iceman

I did Shoreham back in the late 80s on a 24"..i think it was a NBL regional...not sure though..good track..u in a u..i think i won both days..21to27 crusier...the trip out and back sucked though...luxxy

Kmart,
Oldpro has the videos. I am hoping to get some too.
James

Kmart,
Oldpro has the videos. I am hoping to get some too.
James

James

I have the video of Woodward and Bellmore on my dresser, I plan to have it put to disk now that the holidays are over.

On Chrismas eve I went to the old BMX Country shop and some of the old boys were there Chris Celli and his dad Tony, Danny Macintyre, Steve Boyle, Tom Daluna, Dave Corbit. It was a great time I have not seen these guys for a long time and I think all will be in attendance for the first Long Island gathering the last weekend in April at Shoreham.

John

Is Bikes Fantastique still there on Union turnpike?