Who races BMX?

graveyardman67

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Former BMXer.

Started in 1978. First track was Craigmeur - scared the crap out of me. Then I did indoor dirt in Wayne Rt 23 behind BK @ the tennis center. Hmm let's see locally we had:
Pequannock, Oakland, North Bergen, Jersey City (indoor wood track), West Milford (Lake Melody), Howell, Waretown, Middletown (NY), Easton (PA).

I did the Woodward camp the first year, 84 then went back as an instructor in 85 (only there for four weeks - I was there with Mike Miranda) when I raced 17x and pro for a few months. Then I had to choose between pro contract and college. I chose beer (I mean college).

I raced every where from California to Mass to Florida and all places in between. Best place was Las Vegas 82 NBL (or was it ABA) nationals, it was in the Tropicana Convention Center. More fun than 15 year olds should have.

My last bike is loan... I think it's time to collect.
 
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don

Well-Known Member
Former BMXer.

Started in 1978. First track was Craigmeur - scared the crap out of me. Then I did indoor dirt in Wayne Rt 23 behind BK @ the tennis center. Hmm let's see locally we had:
Pequannock, Oakland, North Bergen, Jersey City (indoor wood track), West Milford (Lake Melody), Howell, Waretown, Middletown (NY), Easton (PA).

I did the Woodward camp the first year, 84 then went back as an instructor in 85 (only there for four weeks - I was there with Mike Miranda) when I raced 17x and pro for a few months. Then I had to choose between pro contract and college. I chose beer (I mean college).

I raced every where from California to Mass to Florida and all places in between. Best place was Las Vegas 82 NBL (or was it ABA) nationals, it was in the Tropicana Convention Center. More fun than 15 year olds should have.

My last bike is loan... I think it's time to collect.

Damn! That's an impressive background. The race in Vegas was that the Jox-Jag one? I remember reading about it in BMXA and saw some cool vid of it a few years ago.

Miranda was a cool cat. I remember jumping with him at a NBL National at my home track in MA. All the other pros were resting - Miranda was out with the kids doing kickouts off a crappy jump.
 

don

Well-Known Member
i love bmx, and always will. but with a growimg family, no "local" tracks for training, and a recent string of injuries, i will most likelly be moving over to mtb. more places to ride/train, a little less time in the air, not the same kind of speeds and impact(i hope)

sorry for the long rant, i like bikes

I can totally see where you are coming from. I grew up living BMX especially racing but can't see myself bringing my own kids to go racing even tho they are old enough. Racing just seems different now. Maybe the clips, the paved tracks, something. I'd rather go to the trails and dig and ride - no worries about a kook taking you out at the trails unless you are in a train. I can ride for 2 hours straight and not wait for my moto to get a 40 second lap in. Or driving around the state on a Sat or Sunday.

I would love to see a race series with BMX and MTB elements mixed - not slalom but maybe a tech short MTB/long BMX track. Bring some dirt and knobbies and flats back to the sport and if you get a bad start you can still have a chance to win the race.
 

Ian F

Well-Known Member
i still race bmx-- i'll touch on a couple of points in this thread

1-- bensalem closed because the town took the land back, nowhere for them to relocate to either. that was a bummer, as i really like the track and the people who ran it

Bummer indeed. A shame the town couldn't dig up a vacant lot for a new one... Or they couldn't carve a track out of the youth-rec area on the corner of Galloway and Richlieu Roads. Of course, loooking at the Google satellite map, every square foot of land appears to be covered by sports fields, basketball courts, a street hockey rink and a small skate park.
 

Ian F

Well-Known Member
I would love to see a race series with BMX and MTB elements mixed - not slalom but maybe a tech short MTB/long BMX track. Bring some dirt and knobbies and flats back to the sport and if you get a bad start you can still have a chance to win the race.

I'm assuming you have heard of mountain-cross? The mtn bike-worlds lame attempt at bringing BMX elements to slalom racing... hoping to bring some ex-BMX'ers into the fold... failed miserably, for the most part. Entires amoung the amatures dropped like a rock. Same problem as BMX: win the gate, win the race.

Then again, even with XC racing, a good start was critical. My only half-decent races were when I managed to stage near the front and get a good start. Clean passes on single track were a bitch if the guy didn't want to let you by.
 

s4lnj

New Member
I can totally see where you are coming from. I grew up living BMX especially racing but can't see myself bringing my own kids to go racing even tho they are old enough. Racing just seems different now. Maybe the clips, the paved tracks, something. I'd rather go to the trails and dig and ride - no worries about a kook taking you out at the trails unless you are in a train. I can ride for 2 hours straight and not wait for my moto to get a 40 second lap in. Or driving around the state on a Sat or Sunday.

I would love to see a race series with BMX and MTB elements mixed - not slalom but maybe a tech short MTB/long BMX track. Bring some dirt and knobbies and flats back to the sport and if you get a bad start you can still have a chance to win the race.

ha ha-- yeah i still run flats and i'm able to pull people the full track!! you are right about the 40 second moto thing-- nationals are $50, for 3-4 laps over a span of 6 hours. not my thing latelly. too much time away from the family with too little in return. sounds selfish, i know.

i could go on and on about the problems w/ current bmx racing.
 

s4lnj

New Member
Bummer indeed. A shame the town couldn't dig up a vacant lot for a new one... Or they couldn't carve a track out of the youth-rec area on the corner of Galloway and Richlieu Roads. Of course, loooking at the Google satellite map, every square foot of land appears to be covered by sports fields, basketball courts, a street hockey rink and a small skate park.


they were trying hard-- it just never panned out-- bmx doesn't have the popularity that it used to and it's hard to get towns on board, bensalems moto count was down a bit over tha last few years which didn't help either
 
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