The writing on the wall

Here’s a story for all you BMX racer peoples.
As some of ya know I used to ride for General Bikes BITD. The freestyle guy there was none other than Harry Myers, original seed of Craigmeur BMX, which some of you may remember as the first NJ track in the Mighty BMXA.
Anyway, the year was 1989 and freestyle was dying. The local NY afa affiliates, I believe their name were the Lynches, had decided that the next year they would run their own contest series. Cool, they were gonna keep freestyle alive for us riders in the area…
We also saw a need for more new pros (the riders saw the need that is). One of the guys on my team by the name of Jay Jones wanted to turn pro. Trust me, he was badazz and more than good enough to turn AND he was already the top am guy from the previous years afa comps.
So we approach the Lynches with this and they were, nope, he can’t run pro at their contests. (I guess here I should add that these people were not riders but just promoters riding the freestyle band wagon).
So me and Harry are on a 3 way call with these people and we are like..
well, what’s the reason?
Their answer.
He never got paid to ride.
Harry called their bluff.
Well, Harry said, Brett here got paid to work for us last year and he rides for General so therefore… he can go pro at your contests, right?
A moment of silence and the answer..um sure as long as he shows us w-2 forms of payment from your company.
Total stonewall, because they had their people who they wanted as pro and Jay was not one of them.
So what’s the point.
Here it comes.
Harry, knew what was up, but he saw the writing on the wall like I did, freestyle was declining and people were grasping at whatever they could to keep their part of the pie.
In effect,
non-riders were trying to impose their rules on people who rode and knew what the rules SHOULD be.
Needless to say they are not in freestyle anymore but names like Hoffman and McCoy are.
What’s this got to do with anything?
The Hyper Pro-Am series, it’s different, it’s new, it’s gonna be 100% rider controlled. Don’t let anyone tell ya different, the future of BMX racing lies with those who race.
Get ready, like Scott C said,
2007 is gonna be a good year.
😈