Seems as if everyone has that certain thing in either the past or even recent racing (or freestyle) career that stands out, one of those moments that you savor and love to talk about!

Me

1. Makin the main for the 1st time at a National - 17 & over Expert - 82 Great Lakes national
2. Turning Expert in 81
3. My 1st race

getting my first national plate and getting sponsored.

I was ranked #5 in Pro Cruiser points in the spring of 1988 until I separated my shoulder at Woodward.

Here is the pic of the BT standings.




And then, after all that time, I won my first national/regional in Feb of this year.

My most memeorable moment was actually the last race I won as a Novice. As I came across the finish line all the experts of the day were waiting there to congratulate me since I had won enough races to move me up to expert.

It was very cool to get that kind of respect from my fellow racers. I wll never forget that day.

I won plenty of races back in the day, but my crowning glory was when I got the NBL IL #7 plate in 16 Expert in 1986....

I would have to say winning 2 out of 3 motos in 14X at the 1980 Indy Jag World Championships.
Actually, best and worst in the same day. Broke my ankle pulling a wheelie at the line in the 3rd moto. No main because of it.

I would have to say winning NBL National # 1 15 Cruiser in 86, also winning the NBL grands 2 years in a row,that was cool too.

Great storys guys! Keep em coming!

I love rehashing the old days, my wife just doesnt get it though! LOL

Some memories...

Anytime with Big E

Walking by a box in the carport for over a month. I opened it and it was a Bandito frame and fork and all the factory gear. WOW!!!

Times with my parents screaming for me

Racing well known factory guys and winning while being realatively unknown

Judas Priest, Devo, Thompson Twins, Madonna

ANY road trip especially Orlando Fl

Breaking my collar bone in Middletown NY WOS then breaking it again a few months later

Knocking myself out trying to be Timmy Judge at a Miami WOS

Rennie Roker calling my class "Wiggly Squiggly" Then yelling my name after I won

Being crowned King Neptune at Sarasota BMX with Cindy Hardenfelder as Queen

My little brother turning pro

I would have to say making the Vet Pro main on my second day of racing the class, on a bike I had never ridden until that weekend at Coal Canyon in 1997. Lining up in the gate next to Eric Rupe, racing with some of the guys I looked up to as a kid. I had always told myself that if I ever made a Pro main event at a National, I could retire happy.

That was probably my favorite moment in my racing career.

Good one Hink, that would have worked for me also.


I think another fond memory was working "beginner night" at the local track, they always asked a few of us to help out and it was always cool working with the kids.

1st race, 1st place

13N

Fun topic.

I couldn't get to the track very often but I did set the neighborhood record for distance jumping.
Previously most of us teenagers could/would jump 20 plus feet off of a great 2' x 8' portable ramp we had constructed.
I had jumped 27 & half feet and wanted to get to 30 feet; after several attempts that all seemed to be 27 feet I decided I needed to pedal all the way down the hill on our street until I got 4 feet from the ramp (previously I would stop pedalling 10 feet before the ramp) anyway I went 36 & 1/4 feet, landed a little crooked, went into a power slide until the rear tire caught a pothole that sent me flipping over the 1983 Mongoose ProClass and onto the gravel covered aspalt. I had some nice scrapes but my 4 neighborhood peers were impressed & I was the king of Jumping.

Winning two ABA Nationals. Maybe the making the main at the Grands 2yrs in a row was cool too.

first race, 4th overall, made the sports section in state newspaper!, thats me, 3rd from left attempting holeshot!

BMX

1. Organizing races on the weekends at "The Track" behind my house in 1976
2. Overall points winner for my age class multiple years
3. 2nd place, lost by a knobby, 16x state championship series.

Freestyle

1. First Freestyle show in 1982 peformed by myself, scary, thrilling, and really tiring!

2. Riding with and meeting all the existing Pro's, Wilkerson, Woody, Buff, etc. and upcoming talent, McCoy, Josh White, Dizz Hicks, Curb Dogs, etc. at the '85 Venice Beach contest. Still hangin' with these guys after all these years has been so gnarly! Oh, riding the Pipeline and Combi pools...that was so fun!

3. Starting my own Freestyle Team in 1982, bike shop in 1984, then full time Freestyle touring and making new friends from all over!

Still riding when I can

1976 4th Place - NBA Summer Nationals - Oklahoma
1980 7th Place - ABA Grand Nationals - Cruiser
1981 1st Place - A Pro Money : 1st Place - A Pro Trophy - ABA Lone Star Nationals - San Antonio

The 1st race is always one to talk about, but being on the pit crew at the local track and hanging with your friends was great. Having some of the big names in freestyle stay with you at your house and then riding with them. Taking your bike with you on the plane to go to a big event. All of these things and many more just to many to list!

For me, my first win. 15 Novice in 1981. Then waaay later at the first ABA worlds, won first moto, won semi, chocked on the gate in the main. Best and worst in the same race. Also not a race but big in my BMX life was being called in to the office of Skip Hess.

Changstar

Kind of a different slant here, but. I was turned Expert by a (small,new) local track operator after only 3 Novice wins and of course right before my birthday(ABA) so consequently got my [please review the site FAQs] kicked. My riding buddy's Dad say's in effect "are you sure you don't want to reclassify back to Novice". I was bummed since his kid was one of the guys smokin' me, well it was Nor Cal & I'm the same age as Richie Anderson, Mike Salido, Van Argiros, Charles Townsend, Vern Latham, Shannon Kahane & Rogelio Serafin and all the fast dudes.
My first thought when he said that was I'd rather lose & learn in expert than win in novice.

Finishing nat. #4 overall in the NBA (1980)

Winning the state title in my class (1981)

Winning the World Cup and finishing Nat. # 2 in my class (1984)

Turning pro (1985)

1) Winning New Zealand No.5 Pro Cruiser Plate for 1985

2) Riding around, warming up for a indoor final around 1984, listening to New Order's Blue Monday on my walkman, then blasting out of the gate to win the 16 and over main

3) Around 1982, at my first indoor race (on concrete). A rider from another city turns up to race. I remember seeing him, thinking "man, he is tough to beat. There is no way I will be able to beat him"
But, living across the road from a shopping mall has its benefits. I practiced a lot on concrete. So I end up beating the guy in every moto, semi, and then the main. I still remember that main, powering away down the first straight.

Mine's a bit different than most. In 1982 my parents got tired of hearing the word "Redline" come out of my mouth, so they bought me a (obviously) used 1977 MX-II. It was decked. Nickel f/f, red Maxy-Cross, Skyway pedals, 7Bs with high flange Suntours, red brute stem, Nickel V-bars, white vinyl Redline pads, Grab-On's, Elina seat, red Comp 2s, red 890s and a Haro lever. I was sooooooo stoked. They let me go with a friend of the family to Barnett Park (which was still open to the public, it WAS 1982...) to practice. After about a half hour of watching all the better riders, I thought I had a pretty good idea what I was doing, so I rode up to the top of the starting hill and turned around...

Now at this point I should remind everyone that this WAS 1982, and I was dressed as such. I was wearing a brand new Team Redline T-shirt, a pair of really short shorts, tube socks and if I recall correctly, a new pair of KangaROOS.

So I take off down the starting hill, gaining speed for the first jump, which was a peaked roller about 3ft high, steeper on the face than the back. I pulled up to speed jump just like I had seen all the other guys do, and as the front wheel cleared the lip of the roller, I began to shift my weight back over the back wheel, which resulted in me slipping both my pedals simultaneously. I landed on the back tire, still holding those Grab-Ons with every fiber of my being, and that too cool for school Elina lightning bolt hit me square in the jaw.

This is where the fun begins. So I'm still doing probably 10 mph, hanging on to the grips, chin on the seat, and [please review the site FAQs] grinding on that Comp II, when said tire grabbed ahold of my tighty whiteys (which had convieniently produced themselves out the leg of my 70s shorts, and PULLED BOTH MY BALLS OUT AND SHOVED THEM BETWEEN THE TIRE AND THE BRAKE CALIPER!

So I laid there, bleeding and crying, for about 10 minutes for one of the older guys (thanks, whoever you are) to go to his car and get a 15mm and a chain breaker to remove the back wheel and extricate my beloved sack.

Oh, and in 1996 at the Florida State Championships in Tampa, I got 5th in my 25-29 ex main after tearing the MCL in my right knee in my 3rd cruiser moto.

Man, that must have hurt. I can feel the pain. Those damn BMX bikes I am sure, were designed by a feminist. They seem to have been designed to inflict maximum injury to the male.

I'm sorry, so sorry. I shouldn't say this, but I have just stopped laughing. You wrote the above description so well, I pictured every step of that injury, all the way to the chainbreaker.

Man, that post in itself deserves a t-shirt!

I agree!!!

That makes my unmentionables hurt !!!!!!!!! LMAO

I dont even wanna talk about all the broken bones from the past, racing again at 43 - I try not to think about the "deceleration trauma".

Great story's guys!

Just reading some of these early story's brings ya right back dont it! I miss so much of the early days, I cannot think of a instance that I would ever a regret from Racing/riding back then.

1st in 13 Expert and 1st 11-13 Open. 81' NBMXA Diamond Back Summer Nationals at Rancho.

I started BMX racing 30 years ago last March. Yes March 1978 I started racing.

Getting over my shyness and insecurities as a child through BMX.

You weren't alone brother.

I started in 75 and raced until 83. Its a long time when your in something that was pioneered in your era and when it was time to let go it was hard. Not sure that I ever let go of it. I've been racing a tad bit as of recent, and its cool, but its not the same...Not for me anyway

When I won the NBL #1 plate in VA back in 82

Multiple Florida State #1's 87-90 (NBL)
National #3 15 Cruiser 1990 (NBL)

And of course racing for Coastal Bike Supply and winning National Bike Shop Team Champions 88, 89 and 90 and beating Dan's Competition!!

Getting natl #1 in 1989 and winning the grands the same year.
Beating darin waterbury on his home track[year he was natl#1 superclass] /winning first superclass-single a race i entered.

August 4 to August 13, 1978. I flew one my first plane to So Cal to stay with Scot B adn the SE Team. PK and JU picked me up at the airport in the white whale and every day of that week was outstandiing for a kid just 16 (by 5 days). BMXA came alive that week. Everyday was a new track, a new adventure or meeting a new guy from the magazine.

It was my pleasure to sit at the Sheraton in Carlsbad with PK last week some 30 years later enjoying a cool drink and looking backwards.

Ben

1. Winning 87 Regionals by 8 bikes at Johnstown,Pa to win 16x Main.

2. Winning PA No.1 15x. "86"

3. Making my first National Main at Springfield,Oh in 13 under Cruiser "84"

Back in the 70s we had trophy dashes to crown the overall winner of that particular race. They would put the winners of 12, 13, 14, 15, 16+ experts and open classes all on the same gate.

These pictures are from the 1977 'Big Mama' mothers day race at Corona. It was the first time I qualified for a trophy dash.
The 1st picture is the 1st turn; left to right, Jeff Ruminer, Dennis Dain (me), Stu Thomsen, Lee Medlin, right behind us is Anthony Sewell and Greg Hill.




Now this is the money shot!!! Stu and I were best friends at this time. We rode together all the time. He was already a great racer at this time, I just happened to have a great day.

I know this isn't a competition, but if it was, Dennis, you win. Very, very cool.

This thread has been certified an official VintageBMX "Topic On Fire," earning number4 a limited edition T-Shirt for starting the thread.


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Congrats!

Best,

M

"Red"

As always - FANTASTIC post! your story's and pics are the absolute best!! Make one wonder though, exactly how big is this box with all these pictures?? LOL

And thanks to Vintage for the shirt!!

Mike

Dude, his collection of pictures, magazines, plates, papers, etc. is so big it takes MANY boxes! I've seen just a bit of the collection of memories.....if I'd of had the time (and Dennis & Sauni could stand me that long! LOL!) to go over everything, I'd probably still be there! And that was in February when I first saw any of it!

Dennis is a great guy, proud to call him a friend...Thanks for sharing Dennis, great stuff as always!

I wonder what will show up in the Stu movie.....hmmmmmm.....something about a pinto?

I have 2, but one of them is a whole year...

In 1980 I raced the War of the Stars National at Coral Springs, Florida. It was my first national ever, and I was nervous. It also happened to be my home track, and ALL of my friends were there, and my girlfriend had convinced her parents to drive her there, and she brought a bunch of her friends. Not too much pressure.
I ended up winning all the motos, the semi, and the main. I was stoked

In 1991 I was in my first year in 28-33 cruiser class in the NBL, and it was full of really fast dudes. I had a perfect season in state, winning the Florida #1, I did the best I've ever done nationally, winning #3 behind Dugan Neil and Mike Long, I won 5 or 6 nationals, which was a record for me, and I got 2nd in the President's Cup race after leading the whole thing- I slid in the last turn and Mike Long got by me.
Oh, and I got married and bought my first house and my first new car. So all in all 1991 kicked butt.

NBL #1 Quite a few times over. I think it was 6 times.
NAG #1 ABA in 2006..... A few got away from me as a kid
IBMXF Champion 2 times
World Champion 2 times.

BMX has been good to me. I just love the sport!

Ermmmm I tried to edit but the site didn't let me.

Dennis you win the thread that picture of you and Stuart is priceless.

Thanks Deanna. Your accomplishments speak volumes. You paid the price and got some great results.

I believe that picture of Stu and I shaking hands is one of my favorites. If you like that one, I will add this one just for the fun of it.

This one was taken right after the race. You can see Stu in the background leaning against Ernies van. (In my mind he is scratching his head wondering what happened, how did I loose?) In reality he is contemplating the meaning of life and wondering how to break it to me that he let me win.

MAN that's an ugly chick.

Sorry, DD. I had to...

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Good evening everyone. I guess I am a day late for the Tiffany /Galan conservation. Oh well I am sure that was great fun for everyone

Ok I have to add to mine. now that Deanna's raised the bar

3 top 3's in ABA Mass-1 80-83
4 USBA # 1 state plates MA 85-86
16 # 1 NBL state plates in MA,RI,CT,NH and FL 84-87 (including 10 in one year in both classes in 5 states in 86)
6 top 3 NBL National #'s 85-87 (including # 1 in 15 cruiser in 86)
2 time NBL Grand National Champion 85-86 (20" and 24")
Member of 5 Factory Teams (Crit Plate, WP Racing, Titan, MCS, World Class Racing)

Coming under Richie Anderson in the first turn at south park grands in my moto . Pulled up along side of him looked over and watched him smile as he hit another gear and walked away down the second straight . Just to go that fast down the first straight was a thrill in its self . Hopefully soon I'll be able to add another post to this thread .

Bump!!

Is Stu wearing a red/yellow SE jersey... I love those SE colors. The bike looks like and FMF

What an awesome picture!!

Hello everyone. First time for me to post here. My most memorable achievement in BMX?

Well, I never won any titles, never advanced in any class, and may have never done anything anyone would remember, except provide entertainment with quite a few spectacular wipeouts! In fact I completely sucked when I first started...

My first bmx bike was a raliegh rampar. I didn't know anything about bmx bikes or parts at the time. But this bike was really sharp looking: chrome and yellow/gold.

A friend introduced me to racing. He told me about the meets and I convinced my dad to take me and my brothers.

I was 15 at the time. My first race I was up against twins, both apparently were sponsored by the shop where I bought my bike, seasoned bmx brats and I was honestly feeling a bit intimidated, especially when I was placed in the middle of them at the starting gate.

First race, first heat, didn't go well at all. At the start, the twins began to close in on me tighter and tighter. I guess I kinda freaked cause I endoed over the front bars over the first jump... But I got up and finished the race dragging my butt over the finish line. Thankfully, they didn't place me in the middle anymore, the last two heats I placed last, but at least I didn't wipeout anymore ...

My friend who came with, told me "man you are pedaling like hell, but you aren't getting anywhere". He told me I needed a bigger sprocket. So I had dad haul me and my bike to the bike shop for a bigger one. I had a 40 on the front and an 18 in the back. The bike shop didn't ask any questions just said ok come back in a week.

A week later I went to pick it up. He said "well it's a bit harder to get going but once you do it really picks up". He put a 50T on the front! Holy heck! A bit hard to get started was a bit understated! When I got home my friend was like WTH? Luckily he had a spare 44T laying around and let me have it. Much better to say the least.

Most of what I learned about bmx parts came in this manner, that or taking my bike apart piece by piece and putting it back together. Now this bike was really sharp looking, but I soon realized it was heavy as hell. So I began shopping around for a different bike shop. Eventually found one and went to look at bmx frames.

This bike shop, run out of a metal storage shed out of town off the interstate, happened to have an MCS spider, that I absolutely had to have. I don't remember the cost, but I knew I had to have it. Spent the whole next week doing odd jobs to raise the cash, which I did.

As the race season went on, I still crashed at least once a meet But I always got up and finished. But with the new much lighter frame and a better gearing ratio and determination I wasn't always finishing last, at least not every time!

Next I decided those steel rims had to be replaced, and were with an alloy set, araya I believe with a 16T freewheel hub. And the 4 pound seat and post gave way to a uni seat I won by drawing after a race (my favorite part of the race since I wasn't getting any first place trophies! ) By now I was noticing a huge difference in the way the bike handled and felt.

As luck would have it I ran into a kid who wanted to sell his old race bike. I forget exactly what the frame was but I remember some of the parts: skyway mags, tuf neck stem, viscount racing seat, diacomp brakes, some one piece cranks, shimano pedals, oakley grips. Anyway, I didn't have the money he was asking so I devised a plan to get it. I began selling the parts to other kids with the understanding that once I had enough to get the bike I would get them the parts, and that's what I did. I sold parts I didn't have yet, raised the cash, paid for the bike, distributed and even installed the parts and I got to keep what was left: The tuf neck stem and the tange 500b forks (man I thought and still do those were the coolest forks ever!).

Anyway long stories about wipeouts and my learning curve aside Eventually, I did get a little better and towards the end of the season I actually won a heat or two (yea me, lol). I'm not sure what it was exactly, but I loved bmx racing! I loved loading up on race day and getting to the track, the competition, giving it my all, dusting myself off and getting back on my bike, or not having to dust myself of and finishing . I loved making my bike the best I could make it, and I loved the fact that I did it mainly on my own. It probably wasn't the best bike on the track, but you'd never have convinced me of that and I'd have never given it up for any other bike on the track.

At the end of the year I had learned alot, alot about bmx bikes and alot about racing, but I learned alot about myself to and the type of person I wanted to be. At the end of the year they had an awards ceremony and banquet. The awards were listed on the program and the results would be based on the seasons total points, divided by category as usual. Obviously, I knew I was no where near the top of my class, but hey it was free food, door prizes and a good time with many many people who had become good friends that I wanted to recognize for a job well done.

One by one the winners in each category were announced, applauded and awarded their trophies. Then after all the categories they said they had one more award that was not on the program. This last award was not planned, but the organizers felt it appropriate to recognize this person who in the season had shown the most improvement. There was some small presentation speech, but I forget the exact words as I was totally shocked when they called my name to step foward and accept the trophy labeled special achievement, and also an offer to be sponsored by the bike shop where I had bought my MCS spider frame.

That is my most memorable bmx accomplishment. We moved at the end of the year and there was no local bmx track where we ended up, so my bmx racing ended almost as soon as it was getting started, much to my disappointment. But I'll never forget the lessons I learned, the good times and the trophy that I still have. Saddly my bike was stolen while I was away at college, or I'd still have it too.

ps. if anyone has an mcs spider frame and tange 500b forks and is looking to trade, I just picked up a hutch windstyler frame fork w/ ogk mags I'd be willing to talk. I got it thinking I'd like to restore it but I'm just not a freestyler type.