Jrad,
I really like the old stuff like your Whitman's team photo too. I think the history of the sport is as important as the present. Many of the old photos you see are of west coast racers, but Ohio had a huge early history too. When I was part of the NBL, I looked for my old photos but they were already lost in time.
In the mid-1950s I had a neighbor who had many motorcycles. We all got together and built a small oval dirt track with banked turns for his motorcycles. I was less than 10 years old but all of the kids would get our bikes and race in the dirt. I had photos that I took, but no one else ever took any - man I wish they still existed.
That's why I photographed so many people later when Mike and Tiffany began racing in the 80s. I knew when they grew up they'd appreciate them.
Anyway at one end of this old oval track, we would jump the banked turn and we had a narrow path thru thorn bushes that was vaguely similar to what would later be called a BMX track. We would race through those thorns and bushes rejoin the oval track and finish on the oval. We always crashed, in fact my style was win or crash trying. My body is paying for it now. Anyway, one thing to take from this rambling note is that, bicycle racing in Ohio has a long history too.

Unfortunately there are no good photos of the Nomad:


And why I never took any with the bikes strapped to it I'll never understand.

The camera was a Minolta with a really good lens. I do some photography for work now on Nikons.

Mike

EDIT: I missed the part about a car and truck thread.

bump to stay up front

With the Buckeye National being right around the corner, how many coming to race or watch? I'll be there racing

When and where is the buckeye national??

February 13-15 at the Ohio Expo Center which is the State Fairgrounds in the Voinvich(sp) livestock building

Does anyone have any pics of the Celina Ohio track? I used to race there when i was a kid, early 80's.

I remember they had a pretty steep starting hill and flipping the gate with 3 other guys in practice at a state race. The starter said there was no mechanical problems! That was a long fall with some skin loss.
I also remember being paranoid about flipping it the rest of the day. No pics, sorry.

I have a request..............anyone remember a guy that rode in neon orange sweats? Pretty fast kid?

That was Donie Hier

Damn, don't remember his sweat pants phase

Joe used to bring the boys down to the river to go skiing, he could ski too

the sweatpants look was Doni's "hey I am looking for sponsorship" look

I think that they would just fit in with today's uniforms.

Who here on this thread is going to head to the national in Columbus next weekend? Going to try and make it down. Anyone else???

Already pre-registered.

KINGSKIP, I moved to Fairborn in 82 and the Angell's(Russ, Ryan, and Robyn) were big into BMX back then. I hadn't started racing yet but for some reason, the little city of Fairborn produced some fast BMXer's back then. Some of the older dudes were Russ, Dwayne Berry, Wayne Wilson, and Hank (can't remember his last name but might have started with a G?). As a 11-12 year old, I looked up to all these guys. I stopped racing in 88 but have never forgotten the friends I made through BMX. Glad to see Mr. Reddy on here, your son was always a class act to me on and off the track. Keep posting those pics, the BMX memories are awesome.

Wow just found this thread. Sure brings back some memories. Man do i have some pictures. If I have room i will bring them to the buckeye national for any of you to look at. Look for me at the vbs/kenda pit. Mark Hardy

I am registered and ready to go. Look for me in 26-34 novice. Can't wait!

Im coming not 100% yet on if im riding but ill be there ..Hope some of you that didnt make it to the oldschool race come down .

I'll be racing and bringing back some of the 80's vibe with my new candy apple green ghp cruiser.

Well, I am coming down but not racing. Still have some work to do on my rides to get them up to snuff.

I am going to put something together, like a sign up sheet or something, and everyone on here that is going down next weekend can sign up. Try and put something together for Saturday night, not sure what yet but I will see about getting something organized. So everyone be sure and give everyone a shout out on here or that isnt on here but know they would like to get together with all us racers from back in the day and lets have some fun swapping stories.

Nate,
Thanks for the comments! I'm about 95% sure I have no photos left now other than of Mike and Tiffany, but here is one of those anyway:




Mike

Good morning there Mr. Reddy. I'm not at work like yourself, but still up this early checking out the thread. Keep posting the shots of Mike Jr. please, seems I am usually in a lot of em. Even though you can't really see me, I am right behind Mike Kiniyacolis (think that is Mike K.) Thats my orange leg peaking out

Love seeing the pictures as well. I would also like to echo the comments about you and your son being class acts. Considering how many years we raced each other, and how close we always were on the track, Mike Jr. and I always had a great relationship and I believe we always raced "clean".

M

P.S. Any idea what track that was? (Trying to guess the track is one of the fun things to do while looking at this old pictures.)

Mike,

I am amazed that I have so much trouble remembering which track is in a photo. We spent long days on the tracks, but when I see photos I have trouble putting a name to the track.

You raced everybody clean! Of course you were usually so far out in front there wasn't anybody around you. As competitive as BMX was in the 80s you would think there would have been much more dirty riding going on, but as we discussed before the racing was more about friendships than anything else. Thanks for the comments about Mike though, he always makes me proud. Here is a photo of close racing and its all clean.


Mike

I liked that photo because so many people were visible (7 out of 8). Glad you could at least recognize your leg even if I missed the rest of you in the shot. I think I posted another photo a few weeks ago that only had your leg showing too. Anyway thanks,

Mike

All of us that raced back in the day were very clean. I dont really remember anybody that was "dirty" or that would have taken someone out on purpose. Now Doni Heir could make himself as wide as a house with his elbows.

Thats what was great about racing in Ohio. Just some great clean racing!!!

I was a few years older than most of you and remember some serious banging going on back then; I wouldn't call it dirty though, it's just how it was. I remember both delivering and receiving some big hits, BMX was somewhat a contact sport in my eyes. I did race B-Pro and perhaps our class was different? During the week I spent a lot of time riding w/ Steve Paul and when we were together it was game on, one min. we would be cruising down the street and the next min. I'd be laying on my butt in the bushes & Steve would be rolling away laughing.....and we loved it!
Ed Nelson please chime in; rubbing was racing right? were we"dirty"?

I like the photo w/ 8 riders; another great shot from M.R! I don't understand why today's races only have 6 man motos, what was the purpose of changing this?

Its a whole different ball game when your racing for cash!!

I'm thinking that track was Celina??? I only raced there once...I think a state qualifier or something.
You guys are right there didn't seem to be much dirty riding although I always remember banging the most with Doni. I think our class wrecked each other more in the 6AM practice session than in the actual races!!

Jared,
Since I've been racing again, I've not gotten a clear explanation on going to 6 person motos. But, I have two hunches.

1) Exactly what you talked about - 8 person motos, lots of banging, insurance got tough in the late 80s and 90s (remember the tracks taming down). Maybe saving the 8 person gates for semis and mains was a way of thinking they were keeping kids off the ground. Not sure I subscribe to this.

2) 6 person gates create more motos. A 7 person class is now 2 motos and it goes from there. At nationals, the charge vendors fees per moto count. It also helps marketing. I think running beginner (rookie) at nationals and plating them is a result of this too.

I'll tell you getting on a gate now with 8 guys is a little intimidating when you've been running with 6 or so. The first turn at the Presidents Cup and each day of the Christmas Nationals this year in the mains was tight for a group of 35-39 year olds at our version of full speed. LOL

Jim,
I thought that track might be Celina as well. Reed posted a question about Celina back a page or so and the photo looked familiar to me, but I have been wrong on so many I didn't want to commit. I just really liked seeing a track full of racers.

Most of my time was spent in the middle of the track watching for contact between all of you. Contact was inevitable. I'm not sure you guys realized it at the time but you were all great athletes and could give or take quite a hit and keep going. Doni always impressed me because you knew his moto was going to be raced hard. We watched him and some others intently because they were controversial but the fact was rubbing is racing. Today I cannot remember upholding a protest against Doni. You guys had to be pretty mad to file a protest back then anyway, you mostly straitened it out the next moto among yourselves on the track. As officials we knew that wad watched for that to be clean too. Everyone had their own style of racing but there was very little dirty racing among the experienced racers. Some of the very young racers made blatantly "dirty" moves probably because they were coached to do so. However I suppose, if you weren't having fun racing with friends there wasn't much reason to come out and spend your money to race. I remember Bob Branson practically sending me into the bleachers at Hilliard one race but it wasn't a dirty move and we always had fun together. I know am very fortunate to have been involved and racing during the 80s - great memories indeed!

Mike

Mike,
Dont really remember the Celina track. But hey, I am in the picture so I must have raced there at least once!
And that was probably the best thing about racing back then. I remember how when the weekend was getting close how excited I was that I was going to see all my friends. Hanging out at the track was one of the best experiences that I have from my teenage years. Going out of state for the nationals was an even better experience. Screwing around at the hotels. Going out to dinner. I remember my dad talking with other parents and discussing where we all are staying so all the Ohio people would be in the same Hotel. And that also should be noted, all the parents were great to. All the sacrafices they all made. They all need to be given an award for the "greatest parents in the world!!"

Rubbing WAS racing. I remember a few locals at the old Delco track where we would have a "Rat Race" and try to crash each other. Good Times...

Regarding the comment Mike R. made about dirty racing. The entire time I raced, I do not remember EVER protesting. I never saw the benefit. Unless there was going to be a do-over, I was not interested in protesting and going from 8th to 7th.

I did not think Donie was ever TRYING to take someone out, he was sometimes just WAY too aggressive. He would take a line in a turn that would NEVER work and end up taking out whoever was in front of him. (Having been passed "cleanly" by Billy Au, more times than I care to remember, Doni was a frustrating opponent

The NBL Grands in 1986 (or was it 87?) were a classic example. Going in to the 1st turn, it was Mike King on the outside and me about 1/2 a wheel behind on the inside. I am thinking "This is pretty good. We were tied for Nat #1 points and I had the inside line going in to turn 1." About 2/3 of the way around the turn, I see Doni coming STRAIGHT at me from the bottom of the turn. NO WAY IN HECK he was going to make the turn. If I was not there, he would have gone straight over the berm. That was some of the hardest contact I ever received from another racer. The next thing I knew, about 4 or 5 of us were scrambling for our bikes and I had lost my dream of a Nat #1 plate (always wanted to be like my brother!). A protest would not have done me any good. I would have gone from 7th to 6th and still would have ended up Nat #4 for the year. I KNOW Doni did not want to take anyone out, but no one could have held a line that low in that first turn at Louisville.

Ahhhh memories. Such an incredible sport to grow up with! When my kids get a little older, I have hopes that they will get into BMX...

Agree 100% Mike K. Rubbin was racin! I still can picture Doni comin into a turn with his elbows out as far as they go. I think if he could have taken his hands off of the bars and gone around a turn with his arms straight out he would have. Hey, he was just protecting his line. LOL!!
And I agree also with protesting. What was the point. Not going to re-run the race. I have a vivid memory from a national in Illinois where I was in 1st going into the last turn in my cruiser class in the main and Eric carter drilled me in the corner and I flew over the berm. He got 7th and got 8th. My dad asked me if I wanted to protest and I said what was the point. I did go over and have a few words with Eric (total a-hole) though.

I don't remember the incident in Illinois, but I do recall the one in Louisville now.



Kenny Au told me one time that I ride with my knees out. I had no idea until he told me. After that, I always figured it came from me being bow-legged
Mike

That is kind of funny. The first time I raced EC was down in Florida. I HAD the inside in the first turn unil he came under me from the INFIELD. Took most of us out (on the blacktop)... After the race, the owner of Word Class came running up to me with a video camera saying she had it all on tape and that I should protest. Again, it would have just moved me up from 8th to 7th (assuming it was upheld) and because it did not change our team points for the day (all of the World Class team had a bad day), I declined.

I was never one to seek revenge on the track, but I did take great delight in beating other racers who I felt had taken me out previously.

Also, Eric and I actually ended up hanging out quite a bit over the next couple of years. Once you got to know him, he was a nice guy.(at least to me) Just had a LOT of uhmmm... "confidence"

Let's see I had to race Doni at locals each week. It may have rubbed off. I used to train riding rollers blindfolded while Brian Case ( a guy who was a fast guy from canton who's parents wouldn't fund his racing) would hit me with a pillow. It came in handy against Doni. It helped me greatly because of my terible gate starts. Ohio NBL was so great in the day that Mike K was 4 ohio and 4 national the same year. Not everyone could hit the national seen. That's why Hilliard was the best racing in the country! Hands Down! JRAD We were Agressive and that was ok

Thanks Ed .

I raced at Celina at least once; here's what I remember:

1. Camo paint on the starting gate.
2. Steep starting hill, I think this is the first gate I actually hit & flipped onto my face during a race.
3. Jack Ling teaching me what a persons "bio-rhythm" is and showing me how he has kept track of Matt's since birth?
4. Turn #2 was a LH euro 90 degree, kind of like a flat tabletop w/ a turn in it, or basically a big hip jump (kind of like like Orlando's last turn in 87), this thing was so fun to jump, I have never forgotten about it.

The NBL Grands in 1986 (or was it 87?) were a classic example. Going in to the 1st turn, it was Mike King on the outside and me about 1/2 a wheel behind on the inside. I am thinking "This is pretty good. We were tied for Nat #1 points and I had the inside line going in to turn 1." About 2/3 of the way around the turn, I see Doni coming STRAIGHT at me from the bottom of the turn. NO WAY IN HECK he was going to make the turn. If I was not there, he would have gone straight over the berm. That was some of the hardest contact I ever received from another racer. The next thing I knew, about 4 or 5 of us were scrambling for our bikes and I had lost my dream of a Nat #1 plate (always wanted to be like my brother!). A protest would not have done me any good. I would have gone from 7th to 6th and still would have ended up Nat #4 for the year. I KNOW Doni did not want to take anyone out, but no one could have held a line that low in that first turn at Louisville.

Ahhhh memories. Such an incredible sport to grow up with! When my kids get a little older, I have hopes that they will get into BMX...

I remember a few rubbing races myself .
At the 88 grands in 20' i had lane 2,tl had 3 he was battling with rayner mattews for #1 and todd figured i would snap he told me to move over right outta the gate and i did he went on to get the #1 plate on 20'
The cruiser main rolled around and i was leading to the first turn tl assumed to pushing me over the first turn but it wasnt so bad that i crashed ,parnell haley passed us both and won and tl and me got 2nd and 3 ...I woulda won back to back grands 88-89 if it woulda just been a love tap..oh well..

I also remember 2 elder racing days the first was at hillard in 88 i think i got a new revcore frame and put it together 20 minutes before the race ,and went out in 16 over open and beat ba ,mcmannus and a whole list of other big guns .Still remember this like yesterday .

Another was ohio state final in 89 ,i raced the pro am with all the big ams from ohio ,ed nelso,chad lumpkin u know who u all were plus the greek bros and even lil nard ..I put on the biggest gear i could find i believe it was a 48-14 .In the main mike k and i battled all the way to the last turn where he dived bombed me and we rubbed a lil but he got off kilter ...Was a race to remember beating both tom and mike since we were never close enough in age to ever race before ..

Steve, it was a 48x14 I remember that; had that race on tape at one time. I could never understand how you could make those super hard gears work for you?

Greg C ...
I found a blue and yellow jersey + 03, but wrong letter:



Mike

No jumps on 80s tracks and a lot of torque ..Still wasnt easy ,i had virtually no rpm many times i never even got winded my legs did all the work.Cant do that on todays tracks 4 sure .

Would enjoy seeing that if you ever come across the video .

So I know that Mr. Cline is going to be in Columbus this weekend. Anyone else going there for the Buckeye National? I am going to be there Saturday.

I will be there with the family racing.

ill be there friday -sunday.im staying with schroeder

Lumpkin and I are out in Colorado snowboarding but get back Wednesday, I'm going to try and make it up to C'bus to watch the national. As far as Ohio racing goes BITD, I think most kept it clean, I agree with Mike K, I got A LOT of motivation in beating somebody the next time out who had taken me out previously. There were certain racers(Mike K and Mike JR.) on the track that I knew would never try an insane move and I respected them for their EXTREMELY clean racing. I always figured it was better to get 2nd than 7th( a la Eric Rupe). That's not to say I wouldn't line up crooked as can be from gate 8! LOL I enjoyed riding and racing with ALL of you guys, including Doni H, I think we were just very aware where he was on the track. I think racing him every week made Ed as fast as he was because although he tried passes that I wouldn't even consider, nobody can deny his speed. We were some of the fastest kids in the country back then and imagine how much faster we could have been if we could have ridden outdoors year round like in Cali or Florida? Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't trade Hilliard for the world, those were some fun races especially when you won. I'm just glad we all remember the scene back then and enjoyed it as much as we did.

Nate,
An excellent (and true) point. When most you you guts started racing Ohio was about number seven in NBL total rider count. Very soon you guys turned it to number 3 behind Cali and Fla all with no "big" track racing for almost half of the year. You guys thrived on the competition and were indeed some of the fastest and most skilled in the nation (world).

Looking at the photos always reminds me of how much fun it was for all of us to get together - PLUS we got to race that day too.

Mike

Some of the girls,





Mike

Mike, you scanning all these at work if you dont mind me asking?? Cause I would like to get a job there.

Hope to see you and lump at columbus too !I lost billy jones # and regular email he isnt responding to p.m.s on here anymore if you guys have it shoot it down..

Also that looks like dawn conn , lisa johnson ,and donna dragston behind tiffany.
Lisa is john johnsons sister .Johns son jared is nag #3 and sponsered by dk as we speak and one heck of a kid /racer too!