things I remeber from BITD

Tearing down the starting hill at Elk Grove and hitting the backside of the 2nd berm at warp speed and launching big air landing to flat like it was no big deal
watching a guy named Grant DuBois in Sundance colors lay out FLAT tabletops over this jump. Rode a jet black JMC with graphite tuffs. Guy was kinda cocky but was he fast! I wound up working with his ex girlfriend years later.
An African American rider who had UFO on the back of his leathers who could also jump like a kangaroo and had style for days.
An older dude who raced cruiser at Elk Grove with 'Crazy' on his leathers who used to walk around on all fours barking like a dog while someone held him on a leash. I also remember him jumping into the creek next to the track at the end of one season, which was s'posed to be for sewage.....
how about the hamburgers in the hut?
Itasca memories: Everyone always considered Itasca to be the major leagues around here. I recall that they consistantly had 90 motos, most with full gates every local race. I remember when Tommy Brackens, riding for Torker DECIMATED the pro class with a perfect double. I believe he went on to double at Batavia ( Funway ) the next day. Mighty BMXA covered the Batavia national.
I also remember a blonde haired little girl in pigtails, who rode an all pink, little bike, and all pink sweats who was 3 years old and raced every week. Her mother used to push her up one of the jumps every time. I also wound up working with her; she became a nurse, and is quite easy on the eyes. How about the rivalry between Sundance and Funway for the states top team?
I remember racing under the lights at crystal lake ymca friday and saturday nights. How bout Northbrook's manual starting gate?
I remember turning around and bumping into Wendy Rutherford in full factory Kuwahara colors at Lombard BMX and I thought she was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen.
Chicago's Best riders........? Missy Fred won Nat'l #1 riding for mongoose. Frank Nuccio riding for National Pro. Todd Blaser riding for Sundance/EL, and who could forget the aforementioned Dr Smooth.
Some of the best times of my life were at the track in the mid eighties................................

I raced in Springfield, Ill. It was a huge old building with lots of glass way up high, maybe the fairgrounds. I know it was an ABA Nat. in the early 80's.

Tim, Your name sounds real familiar, I used to race Riverside every weekend (early 80's). I was on the Springfield Cyclery(Schwinn) Team along with Jeff Davis who went on to a factory SE sponsorship. I ended up moving up to Naperville and raced a few of the tracks in the area, then decided it was easier to turn a throttle than peddle.
Steve Blake

Ahhh the memories.
I raced for C.C. Cycle (out of Buffalo Grove) at Northbrook, Itasca, Elk Grove, Batavia, Lombard, Joliet, Mendota, Peoria, Rochelle (indoor) Elkhorn, WI (indoor) and some others.
My older brother was lucky enough to race at the Zion track in 1977, but I can only remember him jumping into a huge mud puddle.

I recently picked up a Redline cruiser and will throw my hat into the 36-40 year old class at the Elgin track in the next few weeks. It is amazing how different the tracks are these days.

I will try to dig up some pictures to post.

Neil

Neil,

Did you know Lenny Ayala? I think he rods for CC Cycle too, before hooking up with Advanced Trickery.

Best,

M

Was digging around and found a few local IL pics.
This is my first race at Riverside, summer of 1980, on a borrowed SE Basher. Think the guy right behind me was Kevin Aggatucci (sp?) from Peoria.

Cool pic Tim, That brings back some good memories. wasn't that turn called "The Bowl"?

Yeah Steve, that was "the bowl"! I use to love that track. Paul Gossrah use to make his way up there now and then, loved racing him. He was one of the first real fast guys I started racing, learned a lot racing him. Is Riverside still there?

Was Paul from the St. Louis area along with John Piant? I think Riverside is still open, I haven't been through Springfield in years.

The names that come to mind from BITD are Stacy Scott and his older brother (can't recall his name), Craig Jeffers, Jason Kick, Craig Reynolds, Roger and Jeff West, Shawn Carmody, Fred Svobada.

Steve, yes they were both from MO. I raced "the goose" guite a bit both local and national NBL. John, if i remember, raced a bit more ABA. I would race him when he would come up to Pekin, IL Livestock bldg in the winter to race the indoor track a couple times a winter. John was plenty quick too!

Panda how old are you ?? I remember racing the indoor at pekin every weekend BITD . First rode a schwinn then on to a redline . Anyone got any old NBL papers that came inthe mail so i can look back and see who i used to race . I am still racing today in the old guys Nov class 35-40 All these guys are still amazingly fast
Scott Kelley Farmer City IL

Do any of you Illinois boys remember the Bailey's?? 3 girls and 2 boys. The girls all rode for Honey's Pizza on Thrusters back in the early 80's??? They moved out to Ca, back to Ill, and back to CA. Anyone?? Just curious. I think in Peoria and Riverside. Saw a pic of that turn refered to as the "BOWL". I raced in SO CAL and NOR CAL all throught the 80's so if I have some info wrong, sorry.

Lonny,
Yeah I remember one of the older Bailey girls.... was it Michelle? She'd be about 40 now. Always wondered where she disapeared to. Tim

Panda how old are you ?? I remember racing the indoor at pekin every weekend BITD . First rode a schwinn then on to a redline . Anyone got any old NBL papers that came inthe mail so i can look back and see who i used to race . I am still racing today in the old guys Nov class 35-40 All these guys are still amazingly fast
Scott Kelley Farmer City IL

Hey Mike,

You sure we're talkin' about the same Denny Owens? The one who, unfortunately, was killed rode for Advanced Trickery, Kuwahara and Tracker.

Or was his Cycle Sport ride before/after that? I was not aware that he ever rode for RRS, and from what I knew, he hailed from Rolling Meadows, IL. But, I got out of the racing scene in 1983, so I may have missed this big chunk of history.

This is the hommie we're talkin' about:




Just want to make sure we are not talking about another D.O. who may be alive and well in Decatur in 2008.

Best,

M

No, Ithink this is a different Denny Owens. I probably have the last names mixed up. I do remember the dude in your photo. He was very good. Mike

Actually, that was the setting for the Denny Owens photo above!

Those were a coupla good races. I remember that, after the race, a lot of us went over to an abandoned skatepark in the area. How new-school of us ('cept now it would not be abandoned)!

M

Pat,

Wasn't that the race that was called off because of a tornado?

I went to that race with Don Coppernoll (the owner of Kar City Big Wheels bike shop), Moto Mike Lydon, Clark Hejda, and a couple of other guys.

I remember waiting in staging wondering if it could rain any harder! Wow, what a crazy race that was.

Tell me about Don? It makes me sad wondering about him.

Unfortunately Don passed away a few years ago. I will get some of my things dug out and give you more details.
He had a lot of breathing issues the last few years he was alive, (remember that he smoked Lucky Strikes forever) and it made it hard for him to talk for more than just a minute or two before he would be out of breath.

I had a great conversation with Don shortly before he passed. He sounded just like he always had.
Hard to believe that he would not be able to talk when you think about all the races he announced over the years.

I wish he was still alive to see what he helped make happen. I think about him everyday...he really did so much for all of us.

We are better people because of him.

I went to one of those in 1986 or 87. If I remember correctly, the ceiling was very low in the section of the "coliseum" the race was in. And the Clem twins were there.

Mike - My name is Shawn Neastea, I was searching on the web for Mike Lummer when I ran across this site.
Brings back a load of memories - GOOD ones too. I remember you from the day. I'm a few years younger
but I remember racing you one time right before I stopped racing. It was in the cruser class and there wasn't
enough riders so the combined two different groups. I can't remember the the name of the track, but after going down hill forever it had a huge right hand turn at the bottom. The berm seemed to be about 25 feet tall back then.
I know all the tracks you all talk about, did you ever race The Jag in Indiana? That was a trip, concrete and wood, I crashed and burned there so many times I still hurt. I posted on one of the other boards looking for some other racers from our era. Check it out and see if you remember any of them.

Welcome to the forum Shawn.
The only 25ft right hander burm i remember was Landmark in Peoria. It wasn't a giant starting hill (like supercross), but it went on a while with a little LH sweeper before the huge RH burm. I remember a local guy Toby Sharp who'd jump off the back side of that thing! He was a little crazy that way. Tim

Mike - My name is Shawn Neastea, I was searching on the web for Mike Lummer when I ran across this site.
Brings back a load of memories - GOOD ones too. I remember you from the day. I'm a few years younger
but I remember racing you one time right before I stopped racing. It was in the cruser class and there wasn't
enough riders so the combined two different groups. I can't remember the the name of the track, but after going down hill forever it had a huge right hand turn at the bottom. The berm seemed to be about 25 feet tall back then.
I know all the tracks you all talk about, did you ever race The Jag in Indiana? That was a trip, concrete and wood, I crashed and burned there so many times I still hurt. I posted on one of the other boards looking for some other racers from our era. Check it out and see if you remember any of them.

Tim - What is your last name? I know we crossed paths racing. My NBL plate was 88N, my last year I had #1 IL State in cruser and #11 national plate. In expert I had a top 5 IL plate, finished 25? in the nation that year.
I raced Springfield, St. Louis, Quincy, Peoria, all the Nationals we could get to in IL, IN, OH, TN.

Hey Shawn,

Welcome to Vintage!

I definitely remember your name (maybe from announcing), but I also seem to remember racing you (you probably beat me )

I raced the 1980 Jag Race and wrote the Super BMX story (with some photos) for the 1981 race.

I made the main in 80 and got 6th in cruiser, if I remember correctly.

Best,

M

Shawn, It's Arnett. The only full season I raced was 1981 15x (at nationals) and 16X (local). Locally, I loved Riverside and Landmark. I also, got to as many Nationals as I could in the Mid-west. My plate number was 80a, '81 I was #6 NBL Nat. Had a Panda co-sponsor. The next year I blew out my knee after I crashed and someone hit me from the side, at an Indiana WOS. That was it for me, short and sweet. Had a lot of fun. Just couple weeks ago my daughter and I built a vintage GT mini... she loves it. Who knows, maybe there will be another Arnett on the track soon.
See you, Tim

Riverside was Springfield NBL track right? Where was Landmark? I remember your name for sure, I knew that it was Arnett when I seen the picture. But I'm good with faces and bad with names so I never guess. My son and I built some old school bikes when he was growing up. He is going to be 18 this year and never took to biking the way I did. I have a five year old and maybe he will go racing. I got to get the training wheels away from him first.

Shawn, Yes Riverside (NBL) is in Springfield and still there. Believe Jeff Tapscott is running it. Landmark was in Peoria on University, John Becker (Peddlers Palace) ran it, long gone.

Got any pics of you, I need a memory refresh?
Tim

Click to view attachment


OK. Remember how many years ago this was. I'm the one on the left.