This picture was taken by my dad. I am at Maplehurst Motocross Park in Spring Grove, Il. This Roger D. was my first BMX bike. I traded an old go-cart for it-- 1978:


Same bike, about a year later. The gold alloy bars in the first pic broke in two; The blue ones shown here eventually did the same thing. I tried to find this bike not too long ago but it is long gone:


Same bike; me and my friend gettin' rad:


Cranking a wheelie. I miss this bike. Someday I would like to build a replica of it:


This is an old stingray that I cut the bars down and made into a cafe racer downhill bike (????)'80-'81 or so:


Winthrop Harbor, Il, 1982. Don't you love the manual gate? "Ridersreadypedalsset!"


My first 1st place trophy, same day:


Nashville, '85, doubles @ the end of the first straight. I am on my DY in this picture. I still have about 90% of this bike:


More pictures to come!!

Some of the raddest pics I've seen posted here!

JP

cool pics!

That Rocks!

awsome pictues. thats some anouncers tower in you 85 dy picture.
Mx Mug

Not bmx, but still cool I guess...The mini jr class, waiting to pull a clothes pin out of a coffee can with a gate number on it. 1980:


Detweiller, Il. State qualifier, 1984. I think this is also my DY. I believe I just got it right before this race. I might be on a JMC long:


L to R: Eric Jensen; Me; Stacy Scott; Aaron Ochner; Kenny Klehr. '85 Detweiller National. I took second to Darwin Griffin:


Way, way more to come when I get them scanned...

Those are great! I love the "getting rad" one and the starting gate line-up.

cool pics!
thats got to be a walkman your friend's using

Hahahaha, no that's just his hair blending in w/ a line in his hat. Funny though...

Thanks guys...I've got a lot more to scan...

Big style points for the LOP shirt in the first photo.

Great pics, thanks! Are they Torker Forks on your buddy's Scrambler?

Nothing like covering several years with a few pictures. Those are great!

The "foot brake / handshake" was one of my favorites. That picture is an instant classic!

I don't think I ever had a cameraman while "getting rad" like that!

Yeah!! I am glad someone noticed that. LOP (laurens Offner Products, or something similar) was HQ'ed near where we lived. They had a '78 RM80 on their catalog cover that was SO trick and loaded w/ everything LOP made: red chromo frame, aluminum swingarm, white plastic, aftermarket forks, fox shocks, massive engine mods--it was even water-cooled which was crazy sick for a mini in '78. They had that bike on their showroom floor and I used to DROOL over it. I believe the father of the owner of LOP invented the pacemaker, something like that. Cool Co. and I bet the vintage MX collectors love their parts.

They are indeed. They were a trans candy red over nickel and they peeled in huge peices like mongoose parts. They started peeling pretty much the day he bought them. I remember he was mad about it.

My Roger D had a redline double clamp; he had a tuff-neck. My bars slipped, his did not. At the time, I hated that double clamp so bad, but jeez do I wish I had it now, hahaha.

Here's a few more. I think I am going to post some in other relevant threads:

Head down and crankin':


One of my best friends as a kid is #32:


10/83: the last day I ever raced my Race Inc. That's a JMC Long in that box. Not a very interesting picture, but I noticed the arse is worn out in my jeans and had an instant flashback. Did any of you have that problem? My jeans were always fine except the arse from those plastic seats, haha:


Do you guys recognize any of these riders? I believe this is Waterford Oaks, '84:

So Cornfed, it appears you have been on this for a long time. Did you just find a long lost box of old photos? If that is the case, you must be excited to see these again.

Any pictures of our days on the track are special. Thanks for sharing.

Fantastic pics cornfed just fantastic. I do recognize one of two of those guys in the last pic.

lets see..stu, eddy king? matt harris in the funway kit, Tommy brackens, dont know the CW guy or the other dude...

RB,

Ha, yeah, I guess I have. The problem is, I can't stop. Honest, I have tried and I really can't stop. Now I've gotten one of my kids infected. He's been hanging around with us @ the trails and racing every now and then. It's funny, too...I was just thinking about how he is about the age I was in the Roger D pics:


Actually, I have had these pictures for quite a while, but my scanner was broken. I just purchased some new equipment so I can share now. Old pictures are indeed special. I'm glad y'all like them.

A lot more to come!!

i love those pics. bitchen bikes too.

Yup loving them, just gives me flash backs of my own...isn't it great to have your old bike from BITD...just like a having a time machine...okay that might be overstating it...rad photo's keep em coming....

That might be John Piant in the Waterford Oaks pic. I know he still rode for Huffy for a short while when they switched to the Gear uniforms. i'm also seeing Greg Hill, Eddie King anf Tommy Brackens. Looks like Robby Rupe and Mike Poulson mixed in with the guys on the gate as well.

great photos John, waiting for more...

Here's some more Waterford Oaks pictures:






St Louis, '85, I think that is Ron Walker behind me? I remember he was giving me fits in my moto's all day. I never raced him before or after this day. I ended up crashing in my third moto and taking last. there was really weird points and I didn't make it out of my moto's:

I've got to get some sleep. More to come!!!

Cornfed
Just today I saw a complete Roger Decoster bike for sale here on Craigslist (LA).

Was that track a BMX track or Motocross only track back in 1978? If BMX was it sanctioned?

Thx mayn! I'll keep a look-out for it!

It was moto only. In the 80's sometime, there was a little kid on a mini unknowingly riding backward on the track and a local pro hit him and, tragically, killed the kid. The track pretty much shut down from it. It is a huge gravel pit now with no obvious signs that it was ever there.

It is great that I kept it through the years. It's pretty neat how my perception changed from state-of the-art racing bike, to outdated technology, to cherished collectable the entire time I have owned it. I do not ride it like I used to, but I do still ride it. I had it out last summer and cruised it around the neighborhood. It's going on ten years now since I restored it.

I think it is bad for all the bearings to just let them sit. Bikes need exercise too.

Thanks for sharing the awesome pics. I like all the bikes, especially the Stingray witht the cutdown bars!

Great photos and thanks for taking the time to scan and post.

The start gate photo with your mate (#32) is one of the scrappiest starts I've seen. How high is 32' front wheel?

And big sweeping flat first corners like the Waterford Oaks one make the best photos. Something that can't really be replicated with today's tracks.

Hahaha, yeah he is WAY out of shape. He did it on purpose. I think this was the first and last time he ever raced.

I agree, and as much as I love big jumps and berms, the flat turns are much more photogenic. I really believe some newschool tracks should have a flat last turn and mellow or even flat last straight (ONLY!) for a sprint, road race-type finish. I think it would be cool and different.

cool pics...
i only raced there once in the late 80s, but i loved the waterford track!

Here's another of Waterford '84. I see Stacy in this photo too:



Detweiller:



Waterford Starting hill. This is one of the best tracks in the US:


Somehow I escaped this crash. Funway's first turn:


Funway's starting hill/gate. Remember this is 1985! This gate was state of the art...and SLOW man did it fall slow. I think #3 is Brian Rutherford. His sister was factory Kuwahara Wendy Rutherford. I believe #6 in the Sundance jersey is Felicia Stancil's dad, Jamie. I know my dad didn't take this one because that is him running the gate:

Awesome pics. thanks for sharing!
Any more pics of the cafe racer??

I remember watching waterford oaks on the espn race series. I wanted to race there so bad.

Mx Mug

I can't get enough of these pics on this forum! Rad! I'll post a few of my own very soon.

very cool pics,thank you for sharing them...i miss how it "used to be"..not a big fan of the modern bmx of today.

hey corn............

any pixs of funway when it had the concrete berms and the bridge?

or lombard or itasca?

How'd I miss this one? Threads like this are why vintage is so cool! Love those pics, great tracks, bikes, play riding and serious racing action, totally diggin it!!

I haven't found any yet. I have all of these pictures in a big box mixed in w/ non- bike pictures, so as I find them, I scan. This will be a work-in-progress.

I do not remember Funway w/ concrete berms. That happened after my time. Here's the confounded bridge:



Lombard:



More Lombard:



This has to be the first time I raced @ Winthrop Harbor. I have my Race Inc. W/ a schwinn chainring and crank. I did that when I first put it together because I wanted to ride it and I didn't have any other cranks. My bike wasn't like that very long. I believe this is early summer '82:


I think this is the first year of dirt jumps @ Elkhorn. Look how flat it is! I am wearing a Pony Express jersey; that was the pre-curser to Funway Express. That is Russ Rustkowski behind me and I think (I think!) Curt Zizzo? I am not sure. If someone knows how to confirm it please do:



More to come!

Villa Park, IL, '82:



Elkhorn, '83. Those of you that go there now, look how people are pitting INSIDE the fence, haha. Me Matt Dutz, and Mik Howard are all I recognize:


Me, Mike Howard, Matt Dutz. Early Elkhorn:


Winthrop Harbor, last turn, '82:

these pixs are awesome.

after seeing the photos of funway and there bridge maybe im wrong about the concrete berms.

for some reason i thought they had them.'

maybe im thinking somewhere else.

was it itasca or lombard that had a real short first straight, then a 90 degree first turn leading into a nice huge step up.

i loved that step up.

any pixs of that^^ or how about joliet, tinley park?

Cornfed , cool pics I wish I knew were all mine are. I still have my Torker , most of my gear, and trophies. Thanks

Itasca had the short straight to the 90* to the step-up.

I have some of Joliet somewhere: I do not remember Tinley Park. I am looking for South Shore IN and Kalamazoo indoors. I love the old indoor cement races. those were my favorite. I have some of Ft.Wayne indoor too somewhere. Springfield indoor cement too. I loved that place.

More to come!

Elkhorn:


Ken Klehr Sr and Jr. This man was the backbone behind the Funway team. Good peeps for sure:



Carl Swanson:

My JMC Long right after I put it together in '83. Race Inc. Fork, Proclass rims, Takagi 1 piece cranks, ABA #. I didn't race ABA as all that much back then. I didn't like this bike and didn't ride it that long. I'm not sure why; it might have been the Race Inc. fork that made it weird. I wanted a Shadow, but they were too short. Then the DY came out, which was actually just a longer Shadow...


Did I post this one? Elkhorn:

Elkhorn, first straight. This is within a week or so of my 15th birthday. There was a short amount of time when I would race Jason White:

This is probably the same day, or same weekend as the pic above. I changed teams @ Elkhorn @ this time period. '83, 15X. Jason White, Ed Semo...anyone recognize any others?:

Detweiller 16X main: Darwin holeshotted, Frank Nuccio is crossing his rear wheel in second, I am in third, Todd Corbitt is on the outside, Doni Heir is in there too. I do not know who else is in there. Nuccio will swing wide right after this from buzzing Darwin's tire and I will cruise home in second:


My ol' '85 Robinson w/ a Browning two-speed. I HATED this frameset and rode it about two races. I could not get it to pass the "no-hander" test. When I rode it down the street no-handed, it leaned and pulled to one side so bad I couldn't ride it. C.R.O.O.K.E.D. bike. Back to the DY right after this:


Onother shot of the Robinson. My dad made a cable stop for the shifter out of an old Harley push-rod and we fastened it to the down tube w/ a hose clamp. The original tended to slip on the DT and it wouldn't stay in adjustment. Here you can see it. Almost all the parts on this bike are on my DY that I still have:


Anyone remember this guy? I know it's not BMX, but maybe you might find it interesting. I found this in my photo's and I think I got it in '75 or '76. It is an early autograph. I think he was on That's Incredible or something and I remember he tried to re-do EK's Ceaser's Palace jump. The wind blew him sideways and he missed the lander and jacked himself up bad. I figure most vintage BMXer's like Evel Kneivel, so this photo might apply:



If y'all are getting tired of me posting this stuff, let me know. I have a bunch more if you want...

Post for another ten years please!

JP