Me and some friends hooked up with the tour around mid-July somewhere in the Northeast but for the life of me I can't remember all the tracks we raced.

I know we ended up at the National in Charlotte around late August before heading home.

Anyone have any memories or print of this tour? We raced nearly everyday in a new town.

Too funny, I have that still up on my wall at my Mom's house. I've asked my Mom to let me know what the cities are but in the mean time here's a picture of my room that hasn't changed since BITD.

Cool pic, what years did the OM wear a white robe?

Cool wall, mine was similar, long gone though.

Yea, see if Mom can rattle off the cities for us, I've always wondered where we went. I can visualize some tracks and have loads of memories.

I recall Greg Grubbs at most of the local weekday races, he was traveling with someone else from Nebraska I think.

Good days.

wow, sometimes I wish I could just go back to my room and chill with some BMX posters...

Here it is...

Clackamas, Oregon - Rose Festival Nationals June 13th

Lubbock, Texas - Summer Nationals July 3-4

Richfield, MN- North Central Gold Cup - July 11

Elkhart, Indiana - Midwest Nationals - July 18

Waterford, Michigan - Great Lakes Nationals - August 1

Millersville, Pennsylvania - Northeastern Gold Cup - August 8

Charlotte, North Carolina - Dixieland, Nationals August 15

What's cool is that I got 2nd place 16x at the Richfield Minnesota race. We were not fortunate enough to travel to Nationals back in those days but the MN races were really fun and competitive!

Thanks, but thats the major races on the tour, inbetween those the ABA crew and many factory teams raced local races along the way, thats what I'm looking for.

We hooked up shortly after Elkart and finished in Charlotte.

Anybody?

Anybody have any Millersville track photos?

Although there is a Millersville PA, I don't ever recall them having a BMX track, about 25 miles from my home town. Millersville, MD is about 60 miles away and they definately had a track in the early 80s. Any chance thats a typo?

Ray, I was thinking the same thing about Millersville. They definately had a ABA Gold Cup race there but I can't remember if it was 81 or 82. I was there and actually won my cruiser class.

The track was nick named Millershill because it had a HUGE starting hill. Like 50-60 ft tall. The track was built on a land fill. John Mcniel has a bunch of pics of it and some videos too I beleive. Maybe he can repost them for us?

Hey Scott, long time no talk. I was never at Millersville BITD but I have actually done some work at that land fill. We do a lot of stuff with Anne Arundel County. I'd like to figure out where the track was located since I drive by on occasion. Any photos or descriptions would be helpful.

Ray, good to hear from you too. All I remember is that is was about 45 min. from Annapolis and it was a long dirt road off a 2 lane road to get back to the track.lol

I will ask my parents tomorrow cause I'm sure they remember exactly how to get there as many times as we went.

PS: I hope to post pics of a finished build tomorrow that you had a major part in.

Okay, I just went and looked at my trophy from that race and it says "1982 ABA Northeastern Gold Cup. Millersville, Maryland". So there must have been a typo somewhere in RL's info.

Randy, the only MD. ABA tracks back then would have been Rockville and Columbia I believe. Most had gone NBL by then.

Howard County indoor and outdoor were both ABA. Scot let me know what your parents say regarding directions. I'm sure the roads have been much improved in the past 25 years. I know RT3 has been improved and I'm sure Crofton was in its infancy in 1982.

In 80/81 I raced once or twice at Howard County Indoor, once at Millersville and Overlea-Fullerton, all ABA from memory (In 81 I only raced ABA but in 80 I raced both). I didnt change my gears for Millersville and slipped a pedal at the bottom of that hill and sprained my ankle so bad I had to go to the hospital. I've hated mountain sized starting hills ever since lol. Other than that, the track was pretty cool and basic.

I still have some flyers from those tracks but no scanner.
(from the flyer)
Directions to Millersville
I-495 to Rt 50 east, to Rt. 3 North to Rt. 32 West.
Take Rt.32 West to Gambrilla Rd., go right. Track is 2.2 miles on left.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=mi...086517&t=h&om=1

Directions to Fullerton
I-695 to exit 32 (Rt.1 North).
Take Rt. 1 north to Ridge Rd (3rd traffic light).
Right on Ridge Rd, then make first left on Buckschool House Rd. Track entrance 1/4 mile on right.

looks like Fullerton, Md property still there.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=fu...010815&t=h&om=1

[ March 22, 2007, 02:30 AM: Message edited by: Racer ]

Hey Randy, I think that a tour race was scheduled in Elkhart, but was rained out. later in the year a tour race was held in Edwardsburg, MI (just across the state line from Elkhart. hope that helps a little. WM

Oh hell yeah! Millersville was awesome...loved the starting hill.
They shortened the track at one point cuz it was too long!
Justin Shepard and I raced there all the time bitd.

Here's an ancient vid I've posted before but it's me in a 10x moto on the lovely M-ville track.

Millersville Video

Thanks John, that was wild, I've had that visual in my head for 25 years, I did race there in '82.

Anymore?

I raced there as well.......Big battles with Tim Judge on that track!

Millersville hosted the Saber Nationals. Interesting track but not too challenging. It was one of those places you had to run the biggest gear you had in your stash.

I remember when they first opened that track they had to shorten it by 50% b/c it was so long. Everything was constructed on such a large scale. The tabletop was so big you couldn't catch any air on it. It was a total power/drag race track. I tripled at the Saber Nationals and then was picked up by CW racing for a factory spot.(sorry, had to throw that in cause I still think about it to this day. Still have the 13x, 12-13 open and Trophy dash trophies)

Justin

Turn One Millersville, MD Circa 1980

That Elkhard race was my first national. I was 12X. DIdn't do any good at all.

Ray, I asked my parents how to get to the track location and they pretty much confirmed the directions Racer posted. Although I'm pretty sure it's "Gambrills" road not "Gambrilla".

Thanks for posting the vid and pic John and Justin. Yeah, I used to run a 46 or 47-16 gear at that track! Abrowning two speed set-up would have been the ticket for that track. you needed the tall gear for the first half of the track and would get all bogged down on the flat second half of the track with the tall gear.

I had forgotten about that monster tabletop they used to have in the old track. Justin is right, it was about 20 feet long and was so big it really wasn't a jump at all.

Run by Marvin Mathews and Family l believe...those boys were fast when they were "on it" at that track..looked like mini bodybuilders on kids bikes.

Wow thats a lot of peddlin' on that video. Did we actually do that once?

sanjosebmx-
Haha...I can hear it now...
"Sonny...back in my day we used to actually pedal our bikes on tracks that had ruts and bumps on them..."

"...and our bikes had a finish called "chrome"..."...

Darrin,

Millersville was run by the Mathews family (I think the Dads name Was Ed). I think we raced Marvin. He was a biiiiiiiig Duuuude. And his older brother Maurice was even bigger and raced "A" Pro I think. They had another kid on their team that raced in our class that was super fast as well but I can't remember his name. I can remember that he would miss a race here or there because he was taking flying lessons. I always thought that it was so cool that at age 14 he was flying. What was the name of their team, Strokers BMX?

>Tiger

Justin,

I still have some pics that your Dad took when a bunch of us were jumping the first turn burm^^^. I remember that I broke my arm (well fractured my elbow) the next day at Overlea-Fullerton. Still kept me in a cast and out of racing for 6 weeks.

Eric Person was one of the Strokers. He was really fast. I remember the berm jumping. You couldn't see the other side.

Justin