My brother Mike and I started racing BMX in Mississippi in 1975. I raced NBL and ABA nationals as an amateur in cruiser classes until 1999, and then raced only local Georgia races after that. We had a lot of pictures and some old bike stuff that we had been saving at my mom's house in Pass Christian, Mississippi. Unfortunately, all our family photos and our original 1975 and 1976 Mongoose bikes were destroyed in hurricane Katrina.

I'm looking for any of the guys who may have raced in Long Beach, Hattiesburg, Picayune, and Gulfport, Mississippi, or Gretna and Houma, Louisiana back in the late 1970s who may have pics or movies of that time period.

I'm also looking for a 1975 or 1976 Mongoose frame with Redline forks and Mogomag i (made in Simi) wheels to build up. That was my first "real" BMX bike (ordered direct from Fred's Bikes and Hobbies in California, no less) and, although I've owned several dozen race bikes over the years, that nickel Mongoose still means BMX to me.

I'm living in Marietta, Georgia now. If anybody raced with us back in the day, or has pictures or items of interest from back then, I'd love to hear from you.

Richard Vogt
bmxmountainbiker


Left to right: Richard Vogt in American Flag jersey, Barry Page #11, Mike Vogt #7.
Image courtesy of Barry Page taken at the Hattiesburg, Miss. BMX track in the late 1970s.

Cool photo, sorry to hear about your bikes....
Welcome aboard....

Greetings and Salutations! I love the 70's pics

Well, since you like the old pics, try this one:



Barry Page (left) and Mike Vogt (right) on the reverse step at Picayune, Miss. circa 1980.
Photo part of Barry Page's collection.

Hi Richard, this is Alex Vesa from Biloxi, I have met you before but you wouldnt remember me. I raced a few times but mostly hung out with Alex Anderson and Ned Kramer and later with Tab Stringer and David Newman. I was at the Wheel House in Long Beach and later on Pass Rd. always bugging the crap out of Russell, lol.

Heres the kicker, I think I have Mike's 1982 Patterson Pro, I think you rode a Patterson cruiser. I bought it used from a bike and vacuum cleaner repair shop. The owner said a local in his late 30s, early 40s brought it in. I can't remember anyone who rode a Patterson other than you and Mike. I am assuming it belonged to one of ya'll. Is it possible?

Sorry to hear about your Mom's house and all the losses. We faired well here in Biloxi, very fortunate. I have the contact number for the DeOreo brothers who ran the Sugarmill. Talking with Paul, he said he even had video footage from the Sugarmill, I need to call him one of these days. He said he had lots of pictures too.

Oh yeah, Steve Eastman is a member of this site too. Geez, I could ramble on forever, lol. Good seeing you on here and PLEASE, share more pictures!!!

Alex,

I do remember you, Alex Anderson, and Ned Kremer. I especially remember Russell Rheaume who owned The Wheel House in Long Beach who sponsored Mike and me for several years. Ned's mom and dad helped run the little track next to our house in the early 1980s while Mike and I were working out of state.

Russell supplied us with Torker frames and then Patterson frames when I rode for The Wheel House in the early 1980s. I had a Torker Pro (long) and later both a Patterson 20" and Patterson cruiser, but quit riding 20" bikes around 1983. My Patterson cruiser may have been the best riding bike I ever owned, especially on a fast track like South Park, Evansville or Nashville. I won my first NBL national on my Patterson cruiser in 1984 at Ashville, NC. I went on to win NBL cruiser national #2 in 1985 on that cruiser and auctioned it off to benefit a track charity in 1986. I believe the track was Pascagoula BMX.

I would love to see pics of Mike's old Patterson Pro. Post 'em if you've got 'em. In the meantime, here's a pic of Mike and Barry Page racing in Chalmette, Louisiana in the early 1980s on their Torkers. They're still riding for Larry Johnson's Wheel House in Hattiesburg judging from the jerseys. Looks like the Mississippi boys were gettin' the best of the Louisiana locals in this one. I think the only guy who kicked our butts every time over there was D.D. Leone. Of course, he kicked everyone's butt back then!



Tell me more. I love it!

Richard Vogt
bmxmountainbiker

Heres a picture of the Patterson frame and fork. Its long since been parted out when I picked it up in 1994.

It had GT pro bars, 1 piece cranks, phil wood spider, GT layback post, blue arayas, shimano DX pedals, blue tuf neck, etc.

I have a few pics from the Long Beach track (my first bmx experience), and the Sugarmill, but my scanner is bad right now, I need to try and get it going.

Alex,

Which Long Beach track? 1976 or early 1980s? The '76 track only operated one year before they had to shut it down due to lack of insurance. That track was run by two firemen, Ronald Rutledge and another guy named Kenny. I called Ronald Rutledge last week and his wife says she has some pictures from the 1976 track (that track didn't even have a NAME... LOL). I'll post them if I can scan them when I go down to the coast this fall.

I can't remember exactly, but i think we made the track beside my house public in 1980 and 1981. The only thing I remember about that track was the stupid steep jump we built right in the middle of the first turn. It would really kick you sideways in the air and made for some crazy racing in the older classes. WLOX-TV came to the track to film a sports piece at the track one day when I was out of town and they caught this novice kid doing a huge endo and plowing up the track with his face over that jump. Of course, that kid crashing his brains out was what made the sports highlights that night! No "regular" BMX racing was good enough for the nightly news... LOL

Dang, man! Crank up that scanner before I have to drive down there and bring you one one so you'll go ahead and post those pics!!!

Richard Vogt
bmxmountainbiker

P.S. If you ever want to sell Mike's old Patterson ;-) I remember that bike well. Did it have the black Ashtabula 7 1/2" cranks on it when you got it? The blue anodized parts were definitely Mike. I think he even rode blue Z-rims for about a week before he blew them up and ripped the spokes through the rims.

[ August 17, 2007, 11:51 PM: Message edited by: Richard Vogt - bmxmountainbiker ]

Richard, i dont think we've met, but i raced a couple of those tracks you've mentioned, picyune, gretna(2miles from me and my computer as i type!!), chalmette(breithwaite??),(im 38) etc.........funny thing is that the city of gretna funded recently a new bmx track, which is 30seconds from the old track, and good ole dd leone is the track official, and still a real nice guy.....we are HOPING to open in 60-90 days or so....im guessing you may be around my age, so maybe we know some of the same guys....that picyune track if im not mistaken was on a motocross track ground that my older brother raced on in the early 80's.........i raced in pascagoula alot, as well as gretna, and chalmette.........im about to build two pattersons for my son and i, for neighborhood cruising, cause the newer bikes just dont have that old school flavor.......anyway welcome aboard, claude

pascagoula ' 85?



chalmette/breithewaite '81 ish (thats me towards the back causing that crash n burn!!!)



NEW ORLEANS JAM SESSION "84 "morrison road"



gretna bmx '86ish




and for you other mississippi boys runnin round breakin laws!!! my unc, chief of police "Alley jr" '75 ish

Claude,

I'm 47 now, was 16 when I started racing in 1976. I raced all of the tracks in south Mississippi and most of the tracks in south Louisiana from Baton Rouge down to Braithwaite. I think that picture of my brother Mike and Barry Page racing might be from Gretna, not Chalmette. These were the tracks that we raced most:

Long Beach 1976
Hattiesburg 1978-1980
Long Beach 1980-1981
Gretna 1980-1983
Chalmette 1981-1982
Houma 1981-1982
Baton Rouge 1980-1983
Sugar Mill, Gulfport 1983-1984?
Pascagoula 1983-1984

After 1983 I stopped racing 20" bikes and raced cruisers at nationals mostly. I got to travel all over the country and have a great time meeting great people doing what I loved.

When you see D.D., tell him I said hi. I still remember him tripling at the ABA grands in 17 Expert, Open, and Cruiser. That guy looked like he was flying that weekend. That Redline Proline was never in any place other than first! I'll bet he could have beat the pros as fast as he was going on that track!

If you have pictures, please post them!

Richard Vogt
bmxmountainbiker

P.S. What is your last name, Claude? I'm trying to remember names... but it is really foggy!

Richard, the Long Beach track on Beatline...the one with the Mountain Dew Mountain jump, lol. And hey, I myself wreck bad on that first jump in the first straight, I remember that well!!

Hey, you missed Lizana off that list!! Woo that was a sandy track!

More pics!!

I'll play with the scanner tonight or tomorrow, I dont have many pics, like three. I also have a few of me and Mike McDanials trick riding...remember him? Hes doing time right now for a meth lab bust.

Keep 'em coming Richard!!

Alex,

I had completely forgotten about Mountain Dew Mountain. That was back when I had gotten a sponsorship from the local Pepsi distributor for the track. They supplied a trailer for the concession stand as well as providing us with Mountain Dew team uniforms (we looked like giant Mountain Dew cans... LOL) that we wore when we raced and did clinics and bicycle rodeos at schools. The also gave me cash to buy the starting gate and for the machine to build the jumps with. The bike clinics were co-sponsored by the sheriff's department because they were teaching bike safety and registering bikes in case of theft.

Anyway, the jumps on that track were pretty big and very steep. Everybody got lots of air and there were plenty of flat ground landings. I remember the beginner classes poking around that track trying to survive. Russell told me that his wheel-truing and wheel-building business took off when we built that track!

I never raced Lizana that I can remember (I was traveling almost every weekend to nationals by then), but I did go out there with my brother and Danny Triplett and ride the track during the week. Very gnarly and sandy downhill... the whole first half of the track was the starting hill and there were dirt clods and sand was everywhere. You had to run 2.125 tires with real knobby tires just to stay upright!

Who built that track? How long did it operate? I don't remember much about it, but glad you jogged my memory! Maybe you could get some more of the old guys to weigh in on this topic! Love hearing from you about this. I will have to meet you when I go visit my mom later this fall. I'm sure Mike would love to see his old bike and hear the story about how you found it...

Richard Vogt
bmxmountainbiker

Richard, thats danny tripplett standing behind me at gretna bmx, with his arms in the air....he was a cool cat!!! also, the first time i raced sugar mill i couldnt believe i got beat by a girl!!.she was smokin fast!!!! GABY BAYHI!! (2 time #1girl pro, later on) havent heard from her in forever, we were pretty cool back then....im sure one day she will chime in as everyone out there learns about this huge vintagebmx reunion,,, i've got pictures coming up when i clean out my storage and officially move back in my house from katrina, of GABY clearing the doubles at tenn. world cup in '85, plus a couple of dd and other racers......two other guys that raced out of mississippi that ended up doing ok at nationals were mike n mitch jacobs, and a guy named "oakley".......i hung around with james dean while racing, too..let me know if they ring a bell, my last name is murphy

Claude,

I traveled to NBL nationals with James Dean and his family in their big brown motorhome in 1984 and 1985. We called it "The Sausage" because it was big and brown and because he was "Jimmy" Dean (as in the sausage maker... I know...lame!). We all went along with Gaby Bahi to the Ashville, NC NBL National in November of 1984. James made his 20" mains and cruiser mains, I got 3rd on Saturday and won my cruiser class on Sunday, and Gaby won her class both days. We were all together at the 1985 NBL Grands in Louisville where I got National #2 and I believe Gaby got National #1. When we were up there, Hurricane Elaina hit the Mississippi Gulf Coast and when we got back the National Guard wouldn't let us go to our houses! I think I was racing for Velocity at the time... a team out of Hilton Head North Carolina.

You weren't the only young man Miss Bayhi beat on a BMX track. I saw many trophy dashes where the boys were scoping out the other guys only to eat Gaby's dust into the first turn. The only reason she never beat me is we never raced! The last I heard of Gaby she was track director at a track in Indianapolis.

I think Danny Triplett has been riding mountain bikes, and ATBMX with Barry Page down in Biloxi and Gulfport lately. The pics I posted earlier in this thread are from Barry's collection. Barry also produced Transit BMX Video Magazine and owned XXX Sports in Nashville several years ago. I've raced BMX and skateboarded with Barry since the late 1970s and he is definitely hard core.

Richard Vogt
bmxmountainbiker

So Richard, you were on the Mountain Dew trick team? Man, I used to think you guys were the bomb!! I remember in 1982, I bought a Diamond Back out of the Wheel House on Jeff Davis ave. When I first walked in the door, I saw a black and gold PK Ripper that I just fell in love with. All I could afford was the DB so I got it. Outside loading up the bike in the car, I saw 4-6 guys, all on white PK Rippers, doing tricks in the street by the shop. Were you in that pack? I know Alex had a white PK with red tuffs. Oh God, there was someone else...hes a freakin' famous jewler to hollywood stars now, I can't remember his name. Mitch something. Do you know??

My other favorite shop was TJ Equipment (they sold lawn mowers and bmx, lol), remember that place on 49? My friend bought a Kuwahara in 1982 right before they closed their doors. I loved the smell of small engines, oil, gasoline, and new rubber in that place...THAT was bmx to me.

Your turn, lol.

That would be Mitch Turnbough.

Here's the story on the Mountain Dew team in south Mississippi. I needed money to sponsor a team and to build the track next to my house better. I went to the local Pepsi bottler, Allen Beverage Co. I think, and asked the president to sponsor a Mountain Dew racing and trick team as well as our BMX track. I knew that there had been another Mountain Dew team out west, so there was a marketing precedent. He agreed and introduced me to the vice president of marketing. They bought us uniforms and gave us a trailer to put at the races and demos for a concession stand. They also painted our signs and gave us money for the trick team ramps as well as a starting gate for our track and money for dirt to be brought in and heavy equipment to work the dirt into a track. The team was split into racing and trick teams. I ran the teams and the track and I had Mitch to head up the trick team. That guy could really ride a ramp and he already had a portable one at his house. He would go to shopping centers and schools with guys like Alex Anderson and others and they would blow kids minds with ramps and flatland tricks. On the racing side, we had my brother, me, and some guys like Mike McDaniels and Alex Anderson who were on both teams. I don't remember all the guys, and the pics are all long gone. It was a lot of fun, and we got to a lot of races because of our sponsor Mountain Dew.

By the way, I'm drinking a Mountain Dew even as I type this... LOL... I think I'm an addict!

As for where we got our early BMX stuff... the local Goodyear store in 1975 special ordered our Goodyear Eagle BMX tires and Beach Cycle Schwinn was where we would get Shimano coaster brake hubs and lace them to steel rims with 120 gauge motorcycle spokes after drilling them out... I think we drove the old bicycle mechanics crazy during the first few years... but we finally won and they carried BMX stuff because it outsold everything else!

Richard Vogt
bmxmountainbiker

[ August 19, 2007, 12:18 AM: Message edited by: Richard Vogt - bmxmountainbiker ]

One thing I do remember about south Mississippi in the early days of BMX (mid to late 1970s) is that just about every "bicycle shop" did something else on the side, like TJ Equipment Company... so you'd find an appliance and bicycle repair place, or power equipment and bicycles, or skateboards and bicycles... what the heck??? How come only the Schwinn shops (who were complete road snobs who turned up their noses at us BMX kids) were bicycles only? Everywhere I could find good people to sell us BMX bikes and parts dabbled in something else... I wonder if it was that way in other parts of the country?

Richard Vogt
bmxmountainbiker

YES, Mitch Turnbough!

Those are some great stories and information Richard, thanks! I remember I did a show with Mike McDaniels for the city of Biloxi in 1984. Since he had a truck, he transported my quarterpipe ramp, after the show he took it and I never saw the ramp again. Hes such a hood, no surprise hes in jail right now, he had it coming. Oh yeah, he ended up with my stolen Hutch Trickstar in 1985 with the serial filed off. Yeah, even he gave rednecks a bad name.

Back to the subject, I would love to see pics or even footage of a mountain dew trick team show. I remember Alex's pics and thats all. He even wore the SE "wing thing" on his arm like the factory SE dudes used to, lol.

Heres a link to Mitch's website...


http://www.mitchellwhitneyturnbough.com/about_designer.html

That was YOUR ramp??? Good grief... I heard that he got a ramp, but I (and everyone else) assumed he PAID for it... I guess you just don't really know everything that is going on... most rednecks are good folk... sounds like he was just using people.

On another note where BMX is on display, but not in the best light. Remember when the Biloxi jail burned down? And they showed a picture on the news of the crazy inmate who did it? He looked completely whacked... but I remember clearly the tee shirt he had on... it said "I Love BMX"... LMAO... we couldn't have picked a worse place to display BMX if we tried! Alex remembers seeing that guy on TV. We were all laughing our butts off!

Richard Vogt
bmxmountainbiker

That was YOUR ramp??? Good grief... I heard that he got a ramp, but I (and everyone else) assumed he PAID for it... I guess you just don't really know everything that is going on... most rednecks are good folk... sounds like he was just using people.

On another note where BMX is on display, but not in the best light. Remember when the Biloxi jail burned down? And they showed a picture on the news of the crazy inmate who did it? He looked completely whacked... but I remember clearly the tee shirt he had on... it said "I Love BMX"... LMAO... we couldn't have picked a worse place to display BMX if we tried! Alex remembers seeing that guy on TV. We were all laughing our butts off!

Richard Vogt
bmxmountainbiker

FYI, my first real BMX bike, the 1976 Mongoose with Redline forks and Motomag I wheels is the bike that was destroyed in Katrina and i want to replace. I'm looking for the following:

1976 nickel Mongoose frame with bottom bracket gussett
1976 nickel Redline forks
Motomag I wheels cast in Simi with Bendix 76 coaster brake
Cheng Shin 2.125 tires
Mongoose bars with Ashtabula super stem
Ashtabula 6 1/2" black cranks with KKT super pedals
Mongoose padded saddle (not sure of the manufacturer)
Black Vinyl snap pads
Oury grips (I wired them on...LOL)

I saw the frame and fork recently on eBay but hesitated and it was gone. Anyone who has any of this and wants to sell it, let me know. Thanks.

Richard Vogt
bmxmountainbiker

Oh thats too funny, you heard he got he ramp??! Yep, that was mine. He told me that Mitch Sitchatano (remember him) had stolen it but later we found out where he lived and there it was. By that point, I didnt care anymore.

I talked to Alex Anderson's mom a few months ago, she owns/runs an antique shop on Pass Rd. Alex lives in California. I have given her my info several times but I havent heard from Alex since like 1994.

I used to stop by and see Ned at the Marina but it has since closed after the hurricane so I have no idea what hes doing.

Tabb Stringer is a Navy F-16 pilot, that guy always was smart and had it together, hes doing well.

I need to try and track down Todd Jones and Todd Machatta ones of these days. It would be cool to have a reunion of sorts. Hmmm.

Was Ned running Kremer Marine? How are his parents? I haven't talked to Alex in a while. Pete Owens, a local Atlanta BMXer from back in the day knew Alex when he lived here in Georgia before he moved to Mississippi, so I have been in touch with him through Pete. Todd Machatta is a name I haven't heard in probably 25 years...

You are bringing back memories... thanks.

Richard Vogt
bmxmountainbiker

Yeah, Marietta Georgia...Free Flite BMX. I remember Alex talking about hanging out there when he was a local. I think his brother still lives in Georgia.

No Ned didnt run it, but he worked there doing pretty much everything. His Dad and Uncle ran it. He raced his old Hutch Pro Racer (remember his down tube sticker..."14 Eggspert") sometime in the late 90s over in Baton Rouge, said he did pretty good. I think he rides with Barry Page now and then. You wouldnt recognize him, long grayish scraggily hair, the guy always had mad skills though.

I never made it over to Mississippi, but it seems like I remember you at a race I attend in Baton Rouge in the early 1980's. I drove over from the D/FW area, and I can't remember if it was a national, but they had a pretty nice Pro purse, which attracted me. The main thing I remember about the race is the mud and rain. Also in attendance was the tall "Ragin Cajun" Mr. Johnson who peeks in here from time to time.

Let me know if that was you I remember.

Mark, "GONZO" Summers

Mark,

I only raced amateur, but my brother Mike raced as an A Pro in ABA races and a B Pro in NBL races. He raced in Baton Rouge a lot, especially when they had pro purses. At the time you mentioned, he was living in Houston attending a professional diving school and racing in south Texas and south Louisiana, so there is a good chance you saw one or both of us in Baton Rouge. As I recall, it always rained at the races I went to out of town...LOL... and when we got back home everyone would tell us how perfect the weather was at our local race that we missed. Mike also raced pro at Shreveport, Conroe and other tracks around that area. After he completed his diving training, he moved to Phoenix and worked for Gold Line. He traveled exclusively to ABA nationals, regionals and state championships for Gold Line for a couple of years racing as an A Pro before coming back home to Mississippi.

Richard Vogt
bmxmountainbiker

Richard, last i heard, james dean and family headed to australia.........there were some girls doin a topic in another section about a girl vet class possibility, and of course they discussed Gaby.... im gonna get some more pics posted soon!,, claude

Claude,

Mr. Dean had patented some sort of underwater cutting and welding technology. The last I heard of James he had just broken his femur and was on the mend. We had some great times traveling in the sausage motor home. I wonder if they're still in Australia?

By the way, I just saw a pair of Cook Brothers cranks that you polished up in another thread. Those things looked better than new!

I hope I can find another 'Goose with Motomags and Redline forks to build...

Richard Vogt
bmxmountainbiker

Geese are fairly common, shouldnt be a problem. Where did you originally get yours back in the day? Capitol Bike on Pass Rd. in Biloxi carried lots of mongoose. What year was yours?

I got my first Mongoose in the spring of 1976 when I was 16 years old. It was a nickel-plated new "long" version that I got mail-order from Fred's Bikes and Hobbies in California. I got Fred's shop number from a magazine or newspaper that had some BMX stuff in it. I called Fred and he said that he had sold Johnny Carson's boy a Mongoose and that this new longer frame was the hot ticket for bigger guys (I was 5' 10" tall), so we bought it and had them switch out the Ashtabula forks for the Redline chromoly nickel-plated fork. We got that bike and he was right. The longer frame offered plenty of knee room and was way more stable going down hill. The bike came with Motomag I wheels that said Simi on the casting. This bike frame, fork, and wheels never flexed, bent or broke no matter what we did to it. I had some KKT black super pedals that we put on it and the only things that cracked and broke were seat posts, seats, and bars. We finally got a Mongoose double clamp stem and some early cromoly bars and those things stopped breaking as well. I still have scars on my legs from where my filed-razor-sharp KKT super pedals would rake my shins from time to time. My brother and I shared this bike the first year because I raced 16 and over class and he raced 14-15 classes.

The following year, 1977, we bought another Mongoose from Fred's Bikes and Hobbies so that we would each have a bike. My new bike was a long frame Motomag model with Redline forks, Motomag II wheels made in Chatsworth, Mongoose double-clamp stem and chromoly bars. We went racing that year to the grand opening of the Knoxville BMX track, a fast downhill track operated by the Jaycees, and then down to Atlanta to Powerstrokers. We got our butts kicked by kids running aluminum FMF bikes and lightweight DGs with aluminum alloy wheels and freewheels. We immediately went home and replaced the Motomags with Araya 7B wheels with freewheels. We had to build a brake bridge for Mike's Mongoose because the old Mongooses didn't come with them. As a matter of fact, Mike's Mongoose had a coaster brake tab welded on so you didn't have to have a brake strap! We raced those Mongooses for another two years buying new parts (Redline V-bars, Tuff Neck stems, Araya 7C Rims, etc.) until the frame technology really was happening and lightweight chromoly was more dependable and reliable for a daily riding/racing bike. When I say dependable and reliable, some bikes were made stupid light and the steerer tube would snap off the bike if you, say, jumped a car and landed on flat ground... or a rabbit coup, or anything that required 5 or 6 feet of clearance before landing like a ton of bricks... LOL

Richard Vogt
bmxmountainbiker

By the way, we had a 22' diameter half pipe in my back yard in 1978. It had 2' of vert on one side with coping and 4' of vert on the other. My brother Mike would ride in this with his Mongoose going higher and higher (he wasn't actually doing kick-turns as we know them today, but rather sort of turn and slide on a 8' wide ramp) and then shoot out the side of the ramp and land on flat ground. Those Mongoose Motomag bikes were TOUGH!

richard, james crashed in front of me(where he always was, LOL),at gretna bmx, and i actually heard his femur snap!!! ouch!!! he made a full recovery and was back at 6 months or so after...to the best of my knowledge they are still in australia.......thanks for the cook crank compliment, im gonna build a cook cruiser after my son and i put together these two old school pattersons,,pics coming soon!!

Claude,

Did you see the '82 Patterson pic posted earlier in this thread? I can't believe all the nice bikes my brother and I have owned over the past 30 years... and not ONE of them still in my possession! LOL... but a lot of riding and racing.

By the way, I saw a post on BREC's website in Baton Rouge that listed some comments by Gaby Bahi regarding the new mountain bike trails. Maybe she's back in the bayou state.

Richard Vogt
bmxmountainbiker

This "Fred's Bikes?"

I go to meetings once a month in regards to the new track here in gretna....ive heard brec mentioned several times, will ask the guys next time ... yeah those pattersons are true bmx gems,,, i always wanted one as a kid, and cant believe im 38 n finally gonna be riding one soon!!!

Richard, awesome freakin' stories, I cant believe all that was going on when I was like 8 years old, lol.

Check out Reilly1 with the quick ad, too cool!!

Ok Richard, you twisted my arm. Here is Alex Anderson circa 1982 with the first Hutch on the Gulf Coast. Thats Mountain Dew Mountain right behind him. Check out the old Wheel House sign, memories huh!!!

YES!!! Reilley1, YES!

We had been racing at a track back in the woods... in a total vacuum in south Mississippi and at a local motocross track (in between motos) for about a year when I read the ad and called Fred. We talked about an hour that first time and I sent him a money order for (I believe) about $150 for my first Mongoose Motomag with Redline forks. That bike took over a week to get to me, but was assembled within about 30 minutes and was being jumped within an hour of arriving. I think I paid like $20 extra for Fred to switch out the Astabula forks for the Redline forks. Probably the best value for any $20 I have ever spent.

Thanks, Reilley1, for taking me back 30 years in an instant.

Richard Vogt
bmxmountainbiker

P.S. Who are you? Do I know you?

Alex,

Thanks for the shot of Alex in Long Beach. That track is directly beside my house and was Mike's and my practice track until I got the money, dirt and equipment to make it a full-fledged public race track. My mom eventually bought the land the track was on and we had 6 or 7 acres there with horses and a BMX track.

Alex is about 6' tall so Mountain Dew Mountain is pretty tall, too. I remember there was no speed jumpin' that thing... LOL I can still hear the squeak and squeal of the beginner's class brakes and smell the burning rubber as they approached that jump! Most of the experts wouldn't brake, but they would stop pedaling awful early. We learned a lot from that track. That was your first BMX experience? Did you race there when it was a little flat track with no starting hill and a line drawn on the ground for the start? Or did you start racing with the crazy first turn jump and Mountain Dew Mountain?

Alex looks good on that Hutch. I remember that bike well. Pepsi painted that sign for Russell through Alex's dad's sign shop I believe. Sometimes my memory is a little fuzzy.

Thanks for the pic. Post some more!

Richard Vogt
bmxmountainbiker

Claude,

I saw on another thread that you had a Patterson 20" F&F that you sold recently... do you have any more? I'd love to get my hands on a 20" or a cruiser. I had a Patterson cruiser and later a Boss cruiser (that appeared to be the same geometry with bigger tubes and aheadset) that were both killer frames and forks...

Thanks for weighing in on this thread... many people from the gulf coast messaging me now...

Richard Vogt
bmxmountainbiker

No, Richard i dont...they have been popping up on ebay the last couple months, though........i will keep my ears/eyes open for one....that patterson cruiser is way bad azzzzz!!!...claude

quote:

---

... many people from the gulf coast messaging me now...

---

You mean posting on this thread or sending you private messages/emails? Anyone else from back in the day contact you?