I remember Rich Long and his son Bubba. I think he also had another son but I can't remember his name.

I remember watching him race and thinking " I can't believe that old guy is racing". Now I am the old guy! LOL

Whats the story with Rockville every year? They have a race? or do they just do an old school bike show? I know there is a national usually that weekend but I didnt know if they put on an old school race as well? Anyone been to it?

Sorry, thats suppose to be Rockford

Billy, I may be completely wrong, but I think they have it in conjunction with the ABA national??

I have thought about going the last two years, but never wanted to use a "free weekend" to go there vs. racing a state race or national.

Billy,
Rockford is a blast-wife & I have been going for years (up till last year). Big national + party.
Jim Kavalec

Man, this thread has brought back memories from way back! Ed, do you ride Ray's?

Hey Jim,

I didn't realize you raced way back too. My twin brother & I raced a lot from 82 - 87. I'm the guy 2 blocks away from you now.

Jeff,
i raced from 78-85. Mostly locals. Started at norwalk (when they raced on the motocross track w/flag start) elyria,burbank,vermillion,avon lake. Raced a few times @ mansfied and some other sothern ohio tracks. Only nationals I attended were @ elkhart ind, waterford oaks (when it was aba) and maybe one or to others I cant remeber. I have some really funny super 8 vidio from BITD. Pretty much stopped racing after the x-mas classic 2 years ago when I blew out my low-back doing a gate and couldn't even load up my bike in the truck. Rode the pits/brickyards lake jumpin & basement pit bike races w/billy ross. Hung out w/ritch yox a bit. Picked up a bike in 98 raced a few times-road tri-city trails only to hang it up after dislocating my thumb in 99.
You'll have to come over for a been and a laugh (at my expence) and watch the vidio's

Chris,
Is this your old #54c?


Mike (sr.)

Wow, this thread has hit the big now with Big Mike Reedy joining in. How you being doing Mike.


Greg Boring

I'm doing good Greg, thanks. I've been scanning in some 80's BMX photos lately and buying new tires for my old Hutch so along with this thread I've revived many memories of the great racers from Ohio. Also remembering the wonderful people who supported the racers like your parents Jim and Connie did. Please say hi to your mom and dad for me. What a huge part of Ohio NBL they were.

Mike

Mike,
So glad you found this site. I hadn't seen you out at any car events since I got so heavily back involved. I skipped several corvette event in 2008 to go race BMX!

Yes, that's me with the 54c.

This site has been an excellent way to get in touch with many of our old friends. If you read the entire thread you saw we had an old school gathering in the fall. Many of us would love to do another one and hope for even bigger turn-out.

Chris

Hey Jim, I raced a ton at Burbank and a bit at Strongsville when they moved it. Also at Vermillion once and Norwalk when it was next to the dragstrip. Did you ever hit Canal Fulton when it was a hand held gate & the starter ran over & scored the race then ran back to the gate for the next moto? That was the first place I raced. I have a video i made of my old trails in the late 80's to early 90's. I'll have to bring it over for a laugh too.

Chris,
Yes, I saw you were having the fall event. I had an autocross event that day and could not make it to the OS gathering.

Over the many BMX years, I tried to get a few photos of everybody. Most of those I gave away to the people at the time. I did find several that I still had though. I'll post some in the following days to see if anybody remembers the racers.



Mike

Wow welcome aboard mike good to hear from you !That picture is sure bringing back a certain memory i had at hilltop in 85 .There was a certain team,state commisioner ,and racer that were all tied to this memory and you as well .You were on my side in the memory and i never forgot that !
This has got to be one of the coolest photos i think i have ever seen of me bitd..Thanks very very much .Tell jr to get his rear in here -theres a ton of folks that ask about you and the kids allmost everytime the 80s are in the discussion at the races/in here .You did alot for bmx and the kids that grew up around you..Steve

Anyone remember the Hubbard track? The first straight was short, then a 180 to the left, then down a big hill full of jumps , 180 to the right and back up the hill, then a 90 degree right turn and a short straight to the finish.
How about the indoor track near Pittsburgh? That was actually nice. Amazing what comes out of the recess of your mind aftter looking at this stuff.
Ed Nelson, are your kids racing yet?

Mike Schrader

Hello Mike! That's a super rad photo! What track is this and who can name the riders? I think that's Steve S. leading and Billy Norman in the DK gear, is the other Whitman rider the Wildman? Can't wait to see what else you got...
Thanks for all you did BITD and for posting on this site.
Jered & Nikki

I'd agree with Steve, Billy Norman,and the Wildman not sure about anyone else. Track, first was thinking Delco cause of the split rail fence but I don't think the first turn was that flat, so I switch my guess to West Chester which I think had a flat first turn.

Can anyone identify this Ohio track

The trees in back look like fort hamilton, but the first strait does not look right.
Mike

Wow, it looks very familiar and my first guess was Madison???

Jrad,
Talk about BMX stories, it's great to see that you and Nikki are married and I hear you made Charlie a grandfather too! How happy he and Chris (sp?) must be. A more amazing story might be that you and Bill were able to open the old Huffy plant as DK and bring some business back to that town. Even though Charlie invented the best BMX pieces decades ago, (my bike is still covered with DK jewelry quality hardware) it's is a tough business and the fact that you and Bill could grow the business to what it is today is a tribute to all of you.

Now, back to your question ... I am not sure of the track, there is a step-up right at the entrance to the turn. I think you have the three riders named correctly, but it is too long ago for my brain to remember the others. Here is another photo from the same corner, but it doesn't show much more of the track.


Mike

This looks alot like the first turn at Phase IV in Pataskala - flat left hander. Mike, I'm not sure that's a step up but more of an off-camber roller. I just talked to Tom J. and by description he thinks that's correct, especially with the corn field, and fence. Just a guess though.

Chris

Is it the Riverstar track near Cincinnati?

Mike Schrader

that is the first turn at Pataskala. That photo is Mike in front with me right behind him and Billy Au on the outside

Chris and Bill,
You are correct, that is a roller not a step-up. here are two more photos from the same turn showing the roller better.

and even better:


Mike

Mike,
The NBL moved Christmas Classic to VA this year (we are headed down to race). But, they added a national at the Ohio State Fairgrounds in February. I think a number of the folks from this thread are going to try and make it whether they race or not. The sport is starting to gain some traction with a number of 80's era BMXers. You may want to stop by. Who knows who you might run into.

Chris, say hi to Tom for me. He and his dad did a great job with Phase IV.
Mike

Bill jones ,john seavolt ,chris pennington,martin day?.

Sean bone

Also thought i seen chris applegate in there with the big boys.

Also seen mark dolby in the first pic- his mom always ran registration at hilliard [nice folks]

Chris,
Thanks, I'd like to make it in February. Too bad they moved the Christmas Race.

Ancient history here: The NBL had nothing going at that time of year. Rennie Roker was done with the JAG Race in Indy by that time. I knew that it would be a great race in Columbus so I talked to the NBL Ohio Commissioners and Bob Tedesco and then got Bob Millikin to talk the City Center folks. What a job we had trying to convince the Center to allow the dirt in for the first race. 110 double axle dump truck loads of dirt as I remember now. Bob M. stepped up and told the convention folks "we'll fill every room in the hotel" and that was the end of the arguing there, but we had to cover the new carpet in the Battelle room with plastic before we could use it as our staging area. Then there was how to pay for the race. At the time I think the Ohio NBL had about $700.00, maybe $1200.00 to it's name. Bob M. got the City Center vendors to kick in $10,000. Bob Lyons got a commitment from his station I think to donate astro-turf. Which arrived about two days late for the races. Jim Lyons stored everything from year to year for us. I found someone to make the statue trophies (not cheap trophies, I wish I had won one). The first year to get dry dirt in December we got it from an old barn floor, I still remember that smell. We learned our lesson there. The brothers from Springfield built the wooden starting hill starting with roof trusses. Man you should have seen them work, I'll never forget how easily they built the hill, but I cannot at the moment remember their names - senior moment?. I designed the starting hill pattern and painted most of it. Charlie Danishek worked everywhere in building it all and without companies like DK and their support the Ohio NBL might have gone under. There are many more stories and many more names, but I suppose everyone has stopped reading this by now anyway.
To finish up, I drove Larry Hembury (NBL State treasurer at the time) crazy with the money we spent but he kept it all in check. It was $100,000.00 to put that first race on. The state organization made dump truck load of money and it was a great success for the NBL. Although I know things and times change, I am sorry to see that race move.

There are lots of behind the scenes stories and people from BITD. I hope no one minds that I told this one and hopefully even enjoy a different side to that memory.
Mike



Good Job! Or should I say great memory.
Mike

Every time I see a Hole Shot jersey I get excited and hope its some old lost picture of me, but it never is. Dang! Cool pictures. I remember racing Shawn Bone, he was really quick.

32 is Jason Seavolt. 74 is Tim Boring.

Chris your close but it's West Jeff when they had the manual gate. I think Tim is on the gate. I think that was one of our first races.

I never would have guessed West Jeff.
Mike

I most likely had a photo at one time, a couple decades later now and most of those are lost. I mostly have photos of Mike and Tiffany remaining. The only Hole Shot rider photo I see right now is a number 10 plate on a white cruiser.

Mike

Wow, in my memory, West Jeff has a bigger hill than that. But, I do remember the starting hill being backed by woods.

Remember when the State race final was at West Jeff and the power to the gate went out and they canceled the races for that day(sunday) and everyone came back a couple of weeks later to finish the race.
Am I remembering that correctly? just a memory that popped in there
mike schrader

Mike,
That does sound familiar, something I tried to forget. You reminded me of another power outage story to go with yours.
Marietta - State Race the track was surrounded by huge old trees, it was late night and under the lights. What a wonderful track, but there was a huge net to collect any rider who went over the first turn berm. The river was right under the net.
Here's #3 Anthony Romero I think, it's a bad photo but shows the net.


The gate dropped, the riders were at about the first jump and heading for that first turn. The power went out and it was so dark you could not see your own hands. I started fumbling to the first strait hoping no one was swimming in the river by now. One thing about Ohio, we always had talented riders, no one was hurt or even wet.

Mike

I do remember when the lights went out in Marietta. I believe my brother was in that Moto! He did not go over the turn then, but did earlier in practice!

Mike,

It is great to see you on here. PLEASE say hello to your family for me!

Mike K.

Hey Mike,

I side note on that story. My dad was involved in building that first track too and helped with the weight issue on the floor. Something else the convention center worried about. Hay bails were used under the dirt to save weight. Did they do that every year and was extra weight on the floor a reason they moved the race out of there?

Jeff Schrader

Mike,
Thanks, I'll say hello and you do the same to your family. Especially your brother and Dad, what a great racer your dad was.

You always brought excitement and quality to your races. I loved to watch you race, you reminded me of Harry Leary - always on the gas.


Not a good photo, but here you are, both wheels in the air, chin on your knee and pedaling for all you had. Beautiful!

Mike

Jeff,
Thanks for bringing that up, I was just thinking about the weight. Your dad was a great part of the entire adventure! The hay bails were one of the reasons we were able to get the huge berms and jumps. We wanted a dirt track not concrete turns and wooden jumps. There were many people that helped, what a great time. I never did thank people enough.
Remember when we watered the dirt and the water leaked to the shops below?
Hey, tell your dad thanks!

Mike

Will do Mike. That Picture is TOO funny. Another cruiser pic! I was not one who liked racing those big bikes, and this is the second picture to be posted with me on one! (Really whish I still had those Vans )

OK, I'm going to be banned for posting too much. Can you tell I am on vacation this week?

If you want funny... I think this is you on a 20. Anyway it is the front strait at Marietta so it ties in that way.



Mike
p.s. I do still have my Vans - several pair.

That very well might be me. 57K was my number, and I definately had a Schwinn uni like that. That must have been 1981 or 1982... Ahh the memories. My parents had a fire serveral years ago and we lost all of our photo albums, so seeing these old pictures...

Hope to see you at the next old school reunion!

Steve has a hard core memory for being able to ID me in post # 928. I dont think I ever went to Pataskala. Is that the defunct West Chester track maybe? It was near the Voice of America towers on Tylersville Rd.

Even though I am not in the front, I think this photo dispells Steve's image of my Joe Peschi like characteristics. Joe Peschi would never race in pink sweat pants.

Martin

Mike K.

It looks like you're leading a Schwinn parade lap and chasing that monster in blue. Any ideas who that guy is??

You guys are stirring it up! This stuff is bringing back a lot of memories. SO many stories, and SO many races. Man were those good times.

It sure is good to hear all of those names again. I remember a bunch of those tracks and places!

Schraeders trails were the place! I'll never forget Dave Cullinan trying to triple that last set of rollers before the last big kicker table/dbl. That was the year he had that 19lb Robinson bike with all of the titanium stuff. Those trails were IT.

30th street was rad too. That was fun riding up there with Eddie Nelson and Gary Craft. Any of you Akron/Canton crew know what happened to Johnathan and Meredith Himes from Tallmadge?

I remember riding the coasters down in Middletown with some of you guys.

Hey Eddie, remember that time we were headed to Ft Wayne in your s-10 "Nascar passing" people on the berm on rt-30? I can't believe that we all didn't end up in jail that weekend.

I'll have to dust off my Jack Ling "JAX" rollers.

I keep thinking that leading blue jersey is Mike Hale, but I'm pretty sure he was older than Mike and don't remember him riding for Dorr's. So, I can't think I'm correct.

You are right about the Schwinn parade lap. Schwinn was big that day:


Mike

That's for sure, those photos are a moment in time but it was a long time ago. I'm envious of Steve's memory.

Mike

Mike,
I hope to make it to a reunion, Mike wanted to make the last one.
Sorry to hear about your parent's fire. Hope everything turn out the best that those things can. Fires are scary things.

OK, one last photo from the same jump as the cruiser photo. I had resisted posting it - partly because the focus is bad. It is cool though because it is a 20" but looks very similar to the cruiser photo.


Mike