Mike, You've got that right about Walter. That poor kid took so much crap from people. I remember getting in a fight with these two jackalopes at the Columbia track over Walter.

He used to try sooo hard to be fast but it just wasn't his thing. I heard later that he had some wins in the bodybuilding thing and I was happy for him. He was always a nice kid.

I'll tell you what, he was HUGE the last time I saw him...far cry from the tubby Walter I once knew! Had one hell of a hot chick with him too. I ran into him at September's or P.J.'s or one of those joints.

Mike,
Holy Crap!! I always thought your parents brought you over!
Herndon to Oakton was like 20 miles man!! Sorry I wasn't more polite to offer you tons of food and drink. You certainly would have deserved it!!!

That 1/4 pipe was the bomb though wasn't it?

I missed the Wilson Center reference at first there Mike. Ahh.. The good old days....

harDCore

Scott
I remember Dan...DC #1. Do you keep in touch with those guys? If so, tell them I said hey.

Justin

Will do Justin.

Not quite twenty, but I bet it was a good 6-8 miles down Fox Mill Rd. Sure felt like twenty though! I think the time you're thinking about was probably one of the times when we were at the Mylls for dinner or something (my parents were friends with Bob & Sonya).

Speaking of harDCore, Kenny Inouye is burning me a copy of the un-released Marginal Man album on CD for a X-mas present...that will be the best present I've ever gotten...can't wait. I had to promise not to burn copies and sell them on eBay!

Bob & Sonya were down here last year for a visit. I never realized what a PITA running a BMX track was until talking to Mr. Mylls. He and Justin's dad and all then other TO's back then deserve big props!

Man, I love Marginal Man! Ask Kenny if he remembers my band; Simplex III. He was very cool to us when he was the booking guy at the old 9:30. I waited for sooo long for them to re-release their stuff. My band opened for them a few times and I had alot of respect for them.

*edited for spelling*

[ December 20, 2006, 02:08 AM: Message edited by: Scott Loveless ]

Scott,
I raced out there on the East Coast, SoCal, Co. and TX. '79-85.

Starlit 14X around 1980-81 #21. Remember the laid back Wednesday evening races, everybody wore jeans and T's most of the time, I had Dan, Robby, Justin, Sean, Dennis in my class, some are in the pics here. I think Dan Barbatini started out on a Raleigh Rampar and picked up a Patterson later on, he cut his Proline bar ends down real small and we'd call it a girls bike just to get him going..he was at least 6 feet tall at 14 from what I remember and could spin pretty good, he dropped out in '82 or so...Sometimes I'd ride with Robby's Mylls' Dad in their van out to Millersville Md. and race the double pointers and Nat's in the area.....If I remember one of the guy's family that owned that track was a black guy named Marvin Mathews?...used to hang with Bruce Bagley?.

I don't know if you remember this guy but I travelled with Robbie Wilkinson alot, mainly New Jersey, MD, NC, VA, Tenn, etc...his dad wouldn't flinch about driving 2 days straight for a National...too bad they don't make many parents like that anymore.


I'm in SoCal, a good buddy of mine lives close by that used to race on the East Coast (Mike Flaherty, he owns http://www.atomlab.com in Santa Clarita)..we both rode Robinsons and usually hung out together a lot back then.

Darrin
http://www.darrinstout.com



[ December 20, 2006, 03:40 AM: Message edited by: nitrotwang ]

Justin - I had a friend transfer the 8mm to VHS (that's the hard part) I have a bunch more I haven't done...it's not cheap to do.
He owns a place called Videoworx down on Grove Ave.
From the VHS, I dumped it into my computer through the video card.

Just the names of those old MD tracks bring back the memories! Man, Rockville had so much gravel on the track it was the total opposite of today's smooth tracks!

You guys are inspiring me to fire up the old slide scanner and post some pics...

Mike,
Those names sound familiar, but I think you may be a year or two older than I am, I graduated in '87. Blair hung out w/ an older crowd early in High School. On that note, however, did you date a girl named "Bobby" from Chantilly/Centerville?

While I rode from about 80-85, I only raced two seasons, at 12 and 13 in '82 and '83. I think the 13x state race in Hampton was my last.

I see by your posts that your next thing was cars. Mine too... I'm currently running a Turbo RX7 around Summit Point, VIR, and Watkins Glen doing open track days. This BMX thing is gonna sap some of my track money!

It's cool hearing all the old names though, and restoring the bike has been fun.


>>>>
Peter, Jennica Johansen went to South Lakes, she used to date Blair Elrod (and me too prior to him), she hung out with Marcy Campbell and Jennifer Dodd, ring any bells? How about Jennifer Tewes or Kim Kelly, do you know them?
>>>>

Yep, Bobby Kurtz was her name, she hung out with a girl named Tami Clegg, did you know anyone else from Chantilly? I graduated in 1987 as well, from Herndon, so we are the same age. How'd you know that anyway!?!?!

Mike,
I had a friend who dated (term used loosely) Tammi Clegg, and thus at some point after you did, I dated Bobby as well.

Mike & Justin:
Since you rode them BITD, do you guys still have JMCs? That's one of the bikes I wanted back then (at least when racing) but never had. Seemed like everyone then had a GT... Starlit was a sea of GTs. I don't think I ever actually raced the P.K. I have now, It was my Diamond Back, mini ripper, and then my National Pro.

I'm going to see if I can dig up any old photos as well...

I currently own 12 restored JMC's and a Vector Mark II (I got a factory sponsorship from them the last year I raced). I also have a complete Candy Blue Team Mongoose that is my rider and is unrestored.

WOW... 12 JMCs. You've been busy. I don't think I'll ever have more than the bike I have now, what with my crack... I mean track.. habit.

Sorry

Never rode JMCs.

Here is my list of bikes in order of appearance:

Mag Scrambler
Redline MXII (Blue/Gold)
Schwinn Sting (didn't work for me)
back to the Redline
MCS
CW (various)
GT (shortly after quitting CW, I rode GTs for the rest of my BMX career...6 months)

Only old school bike still in my posession: MCS 24" crusier

Justin

Ahh...the "Magnum 240".

Yo what up Starlit homies.
I've been real busy with work and another non-bmx project so I missed the development of this thread.

Peter Hahn - It really shocked me to see you add Jeff Malucci's halfpipe to your list. Jeff is one of my best friends to this day, we still ride freestyle a little when we can. He is a member here but seldom looks in. I had to have ridden with you at some point at Shadowwood, Hiddenbrook ramp, Howard County, somewhere. Your name just does'nt ring a bell, though. What did you ride back then?
Mike B does have quite a JMC collection, I've seen some of them. His black Black Shadow is just perfect. He's building up a replica of the white Long Standard I raced on in like '80-81.
nitrowang - post up all the gate pics you have of Starlit if you can - I used to be the starter there for the younger kids in the early '80's. I probably dropped the gate for a lot of you guys BITD at Starlit. I'm hoping you have a pic of me running the gate cause I don't have any pics from those days...
Yo Berkemier - how bout a couple progress pics? You are still building the white JMC I hope. Anyway, interesting side note about Ernie Thiel. A friend of mine who never had anything to do w/ bmx gets a custom-made propeller for his race boat. I'm admiring the craftmanship on this thing when I come across a signature etched into the side - Ernie Thiel! I asked him to ask this Ernie if he was from Herndon, etc., and sure enough, it was him! I guess he is living down around Lake Anna and is heavily into racing boats these days and making custom props.

Mike C.
If someone will kindly tell me how to add photos on this forum, I'll serve you up as shot of me laying it out on Jeff Maluchi's quarter pipe, circa '83, and again on "The Wall" at Shadowood! We've definately crossed paths.

I used to hang out with Ernie T for a while, as well as Bret Marshall, and Jerry Ketterer if you remember those guys. I rode a Diamond Back, a Cook Brothers, a National Pro, a mini Ripper, and a P.K. Ripper (white with black forks... still have it, currently restoring it).

Corvin...the Corvin Replica is coming along QUITE nicely. The powder came out PERFECT and I have an NOS set of blue Suntour cages and Suntour pedals for it. I have the wheels, tires, cranks, pedals, brakes, bars, stem, just about everything except for the headset and I still need an NOS "hammerhead" blue Uni-Seat. I'll give you a call sometime this week.

Peter...yeah, Ernie was a nut! I rode streetbikes with him and Dogan G. a lot back in the late eighties...I had an FZ750, Dogan had an FJ1200 and Ernie had a first year, red and black, 1986 GSX-R750. Dogan used to throw that FJ around like it was a YZ80. I remember being in West Virginia on a "leisurely sport ride", obeying all traffic laws (of course) when Dogan comes around me on a blind curve at about 80 or 90 and, as we popped over a hill, which was on a curve, Dogan's AIRBORNE and practically table-topping an FJ1200!!! That dude was INSANE on a bike!

I'm glad I skipped the superbike thing and went right to sportscars, or I'd be dead now.

Now I'm dying to get this bike done to see if I can still do a Harry Leary and/or bunnyhop a trash can.

Well, be careful, I think Corvin's the only one of us that's still able to do that (sad thing is, he's older than you and I)...I know when I hit a jump now it hurts a little more coming down!

Not me, dude - My age and many, many crashes in the past are catching up with me lately. Part of the problem is that I just don't ride enough anymore.
I was in one of the LBS's here recently and came damn close to pulling the trigger on another bmx bike. Some lime-green Specialized freestyle bike that caught my eye on the rack and felt good to ride, though it was a tad heavy. I just can't justify the expenditure right now, not being done with my Christmas shopping yet and whatnot. I may go back in January and see if it's still there.
The "Corvin Replica" - damn, I like the way that rolls out! I can't wait to see it.
Peter - I host my photo's on imageshack.us, it's pretty easy. I'm no computer geek by any means, and I figured it out.

... once hosted at image shack, how do you post them into the thread such that they're embedded in the post rather than appearing as links?

Sorry, the other forums I belong to allow you to just attach them right in.

[ December 21, 2006, 01:11 PM: Message edited by: ptrhahn ]

Some of the other forums I hang out on are the same, they have image hosting on-site. It's not hard to do Imageshack, but it is an extra step.
Once you host a pic you will be given a bunch of options for links. The option at the very bottom is "direct link to image" that is what you want to copy by right clicking on it and clicking "copy". then in vbmx in the "full reply forum" you can click on the image tab, it will bring up a dialog box in the upper left corner of your screen. Right click in the line and click on "paste" to paste the link to your image, then click "ok" to add the image to your post.
Or if you can't figure it out, send to me at:
burner19@hotmail.com
and I'll post them...

[ December 21, 2006, 01:29 PM: Message edited by: Mike Corvin ]

Here's some 80's nostalgia:

Circa '83, Jeff Malucci's quarter pipe. Note the Vector Haro bars:



Circa '84, "The Wall" at Shadowood jumps (this is the bike I still have, w/ a few component differences:

Sick, dude. That is old-school action there.
I'm gonna send this to Malucci right now, he's gonna flip.
I used to love the Wall. I always felt more comfortable doing fly-outs like that, vs. jumping gaps and such.
Peter - here's another old Shadowwood name who I still run into here in Herndon once in a while - Vince Bickings. He rode a Robinson if I am remembering correctly, I do remember not many kids going bigger than Vince at Shadowwood. Berkemier knows who I'm talking about.

Vince doesn't ring a bell... but how about Jimmy Taft & Jeff Swopes (R.I.P.) or Billy Regan, (I know all those guys rocked Starlit) or that burnout guy with the trials bike!

Holy cow I forgot about the wall. VaBMXDAD shredded his knee on the qp that was there for a while. We used to ride out from Vienna together. I did the biggest loop known to man off Mt. MFer. My bike ended up in the woods.

Billy Regan...I was gonna ask you if you knew him Peter. I used to be real close friends with him. He lived in Herndon, then moved over to Cabot's Point after his Dad passed away. He had Derek Fitzgerald's old JMC and it had been cracked and welded about three times. Billy had a track in the woods near his house, on Park Ave. in Herndon, right down the street from Corvin's house.
Vince Bickings was the king of the Total Auto Parts jump in Herndon. Hey Corvin, remember Vince and Carl Manikowski? They had a way rad track in their back yard on Station St. Vince had a Takara and then got that nice ProLine. I can't remember what Carl had, somrthing like a Puch or something wierd, but their buddy Camillo had a Diamond Back. Corvin, that's when you bought that awesome Torino!

Who had the track in the woods over on Fox Mill?

Hmm...I hate to say it, but that's not ringing a bell. What part of Fox Mill? East or west of Reston Ave.?

Towards Herndon past the bank.

Okay, past the bank at Fox Mill Estates, by the pool? I know there was a pipeline there (now Fairfax Co. Parkway). Past that, there was a few old houses and the radio station used to sit back in there before you got to the stop sign at Monroe, but I don't know of any track there. Where was it exactly...I am trying to jar my memory.

That would be very close to Vince and Garth Baldridge's house...any ideas Corvin?

It was a little thing. It was between the bank and Monroe

I don't remember a Fox Mill jump(s) either, but there was what were MX jumps out behind Memco (now Home Depot) in the area that is now North Point in Reston... it was called the "power lines" because that was all there was back there, and that would be near where FX county parkway comes through today. I used to see guys walking their YZ80's & 125's to Reston Ave & 606 before firing them up. It was basically all woods from 606 to 7.

I didn't know Billy Regan well, but we hing out plenty at Shadowood.

Not the ones Im thinking of. Andrew W and I went there a couple of times

Tysons pitts were cool too

Tyson's pits were WAY old school...those things were around back in the '70's. That's where all the Cycle Sport guys rode before they developed all that.

Peter, what you are talking about behind Memco was RDR (Reston Dirt Riders Association). I used to ride there all the time before Bennington Woods went up and North Point, etc. It was between Stuart Rd. And Reston Ave. and yes, it went all the way down to about Rt. 7...these were the SAME powerlines that crossed Fox Mill Rd!!! Billy Regan, myself, Blair Elrod, Jimmy Gibson and DeeDee Colley had a huge practice track (motocross track) on the other side of 606 down by the bike trail (this is now Reston Towne Center!!!). It was top notch and HUGE. There would sometimes be 15 or 20 guys riding at once...everything from 60's to open class bikes. I ate the roost of Jimmy Gibson's factory Cycle Sport 490 on my '82 water-cooled YZ125 more than once!!!

Speaking of OLD school...anybody remember the "Mall Wall"? It was a skatepark at the back of the Springfield Mall? I think it closed in about '81. I bought my first BMX bike, a supergoose with all gold parts, at Bicycles, Inc. inside the Springfield Mall and I remember "trying it out" for the first time in the parking lot and riding over by the skatepark. I believe it was already closed, even then, and that was like 1980?

What about the toilet bowl building?

Check this out if you dug the mall scene in the late 70's and 80's. This will bring back memories of Sultan's Castle, Orange Julius, Chick-Fil-A, Farrell's and, of course, "The Mall Wall"...
http://deadmalls.com/

"What about the toilet bowl building? "
At Tyson's?

Yes at Tysons

Farrelles was the bomb. Strangely enough itts a Haagen Dazze now

Kinda scary thing. This is one of the most active threads here

Only two hundred jillion more pages needed to match the 80's Minnesota thread!

Truly, there was no better place to grow up than NoVa in the '80's...it was no different than California in the '70's...and now that the Californication of Fairfax is complete, it is a zoo there. Quite unfortunate, but it's just so different than it used to be. My heart will always be there, and that is my home, but it is truly a different place nowadays.