[ErickWeinstetter]

Thanks for all the feedback, please help get the new BMXL forums going, by posting inthere also 🙂

Tidey, thansk for the offer and you never know. For those never been to AZ they have one of the nicest tracks in the world at Black Mountain north of Phoenix. But in my opinion its just gettting insanely hard. The first straight jumps are huge like maybe 15 foot tall if you nose clip one of them your falling from what 20 feet up at the shoulders- at full speed.

Two Sanctions Yes and no. Obviously BMXL wont have issues with it though we wont sanction tracks I feel are dangerous and discourage beginners from sticking with the sport. I think both the NBL and ABA now have policies in place to not allow it but not certain on that.

Promoting Very very cool Craig. I have some ideas on how to make BMX racing more TV freindly and offer BMXL a very unique spectator aspect. But the Alligator in the water pit i’m not so sure about. I also know a former racer that worked for GT many years after finishing college. He was one of the guys behind the scenes getting GT all those corporate sponsors. If I can find him I know he’d help us. I met him when he was 14x, been to his house back then, his parents to me to a race or two. Kapigian and me talked about it after Flemington back in May regarding BMX exposure.

Clips I hate clips myself and dont use them. But Im afraid banning them would discourage a ton of racers who would race both sanctions as this would make them have to take their pedals off and maybe buy a new set even.
I could see maybe for TV races or even all Nationals, require all the Pros to be on flats.
We could also try weening peeps off of them, say we keep track cards and if you race 10 races without clips your 11th race is free or something.
Then as we grew and had enough stability ban clips for everyone.

Pro Payback If you read my site carefully you will see that BMXL will make every track offer a Pro Purse of 150% payback for locals and 200% for doubles.
What I didnt write but you pointed out is added money from 50/50s. Each track can do as many 50/50s as they like but must do at least two, one for the Pros after they do one for the track. So that could easily bump the Pro Payout nicely.
I have more ideas on state Pro scenes, but cant share them all at this time 🙂
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[ErickWeinstetter]

I dont remember that trophy but to be honest I didnt ever pick up my trophies except at nationals.
I dont think I lost a single race in 89/90 except Nationals.
Cause all the fast older riders like Caveman didnt race Cruiser.
I raced only Cruiser and almost always raced guys out of my class.
Lucky for me Greg Garrity never raced me Im not sure I could beat him.
The Allen brother I probably couldnt beat either, was out of Maryland but he also never raced me.

Poor Rick Smith. I raced him the most and he was so close to beating me always. He was a good freind though, his parents were super cool, even been to their house.
I remember this one guy (cant remember his name), he was cool, got so frustrated trying to beat me at Deptford he tried to take me out and crashed himself lol. No respect for us old men (I was like 27 then).

In 89 I think I raced in a Shimano Jersey and Blue Jeans with huge white blotches from bleach (done on purpose) , then switched to Action Wheels when the new jersey was released.

Whats everyones real name and what classes you guys race back then?

[ErickWeinstetter]

Ouch is right. I used to be to get bummed easy then someone once told me. If thats the worst thing that happend to you all day, it wasnt that bad of a day. Stop and think about it and its true.

Just last night my landlord/roomate told me one of his tennants at one of his other properties just died. He was just 48, weird how life goes by so quickly.

Now see had you been on you r BMX bike you coulda bunnyhopped over it did a footplant on his hood, stopped as you rode away and looked back. Everyone would have thought you were Cru Jones.

[ErickWeinstetter]

Man your memory is better than mine. Mike Gul was with me in Ohio. Back in the day I used race Cedar alot. Sometimes I would go with with Caveman and the kid whos mom helped run Deptford, what was his name Dave? He was like 12 or 14 blonde. He didnt ride for Action Wheels I dont think.

If this sanction is to get off the ground it will only be if guys like Hayden and Middaugh and Kapigian or others step up. you hear how fondly peeps talk about UBR or NPSA. Even if we dont become bigger than ABA and NBL (my goal) that isnt the only sign of success.

[ErickWeinstetter]

Yeah the two and 4 man gates are not intended to replace traditional tracks.
Just open more rural areas to more tracks. Ive built countless practice tracks and trails and they can be as fun as any real track. Just add some white chalk lines and go have fun!

Like a national or Multi Point race would never be at a 2 man gate track. Just a way to get more tracks up and running in more areas.
4 man gate tracks in rural areas could get a double pointer and still not draw 20 motos so that wouldnt be a problem. if things are going so well they can pull 20 plus motos we can get the track rebuilt to make it a full 8 man gate.

Hayden your insight would be incredibly valuable. Youve all seen Bretts Zine, first rate and could easily be our newsletter if printed out. The sanction doesnt have to be flashy at first, remember how this all got started with Scot handing out trophies from Motocross races and Ernie Alexander sitting in his apartment running the NBA.

Im sure a few volunteers wil put up some cash or sweat equity in return for part ownership. I can get banners and stickers made easy, I have a nice SUV and can buy a small double axel trailer (my SUV has a towing capacity of 5,000 lbs.) to pull stuff to races. My freind who does banners can do the graphics on the trailer. Maybe others also have a bigger truck or etc.

This can all come together.

[ErickWeinstetter]

Yep that was Ron. Thanks.
Bill then you may have met me as I went on tour in 97. We hit a ton of Nationals and Clayton would always hook me up with ABA stuff to give away at our clinics. The tour was listed in both the ABA and NBL papers that year.
I spent some time that year at races hanging out with Billy Davis.

Everywhere we went Adam would look for a gym and tuna. He was a good guy though. He screwed me over a bit taking my helmet I let him borrow (It was custom painted with the American logo on it). He also knew the guy that got Pro Concept going before it started and told him alot of my ideas and connections. I asked him to get him to invest in American Biycles or introduce me to the guy. But Adam thought he’d be better of if he just worked with that guy.
But greed always backfires as he got no owenership or stake in Pro Concepts.
Still I would be glad to see Adam again.

[ErickWeinstetter]

I tried to google it and there are 3 Petersburgs in New Jersey lol.
since its a 609 area code im guessing its the one near Cape May?

3 Results for Petersburg, NJ, US

1. Petersburg, NJ, US
* Cape May County
* Map
* Directions To
* Directions From
* Places Nearby
* Send to Cell
2. Petersburg, NJ, US
* Morris County
* Map
* Directions To
* Directions From
* Places Nearby
* Send to Cell
3. Petersburg, NJ, US
* Warren County
* Map
* Directions To
* Directions From
* Places Nearby
* Send to Cell

[ErickWeinstetter]

when you race the dustbowl? I rarely missed a race there in 89.

[ErickWeinstetter]

Yeah Craig thats aweesome. Who knew BMX would be about the memories as well as the good times or we all woulda made sure to save all that stuff.
Ive seen BMX countless times on shows like that or Americas Funniest Videos showing crashes or stunts gone wild.
Once the vid was of the gate not going down and all the riders flipping.

Funny I guess but I see that and just go ouch. Ive only been called once for jumping the gate. It was at Cedar BMX and my tire actually touched the ground on the other side of the gate before it dropped and I still didnt crash. But I got DQd.

I actually got started in BMX by watching a TV commercial in 1978 for the NBA Schwinn tour. I was sitting in my Basement watching cartoons and go Mom OMG mom you gotta take me. They are having a BMX Race in Vineland. Had no Idea what real racing was but me and my freinds rode trails and had built a drop off in the woods and a berm in the cornfield that was like 1 foot tall and more of a rut that tracked your tire but my freind who had a Mincycle magazine that had a CYC Stormer advertisement (circa 1976) told me that was called a berm. This was probably in 76 or 77.

It was that freinds bike I bought late in 77 or early 78, from Paul “dont call me Skippy” Varadi that I raced. I had just gotten one issue of “Bicycle Motocross Action” and had already bought from that issue a BMX Products Gold Stem and Blue alloy bars trying to build a Team Mongoose piece by pice lol. I put that on the Schwinn Stingray Paul had fixed up with paint and carlise knobbys and ten speed pedals and seat. Cranks- what were they 160 1 pc cranks lol? Gearing- lol what ever came on the stingray including the coaster brakes. I had the best BMX bike I had ever seen till I got to that race.

The funny thing is in 1979 in the very spot (an abandonded Cornfield) my freind showed me how to make a berm (LOL he was so far off). I ended up building a 1,000 foot practice track complete with a 2 man gate.

I have pictures of me riding it in 1980 on my Torker in my Langley’s (Vineland, NJ) Bike shop team jersey. Need to get a scanner. I also have a pic at Lawville of two freinds from Martys Bike shop team, 1 had on the Torker jersey I had given him when I got picked up by Langleys.

[ErickWeinstetter]

On my site Catalog of BMX im have a movie section, I think Ive seen every movie or TV show with BMX racing. Let me know if Im missing any.
Brett that movie you are talking about is “Loser takes All”

http://www.catalogofbmx.com/movies.html

[ErickWeinstetter]

I started racing in 1978 and havent went more than a few years with out hitting up a track and at least doing gates.
I remember think those pros looked old and like men when they showed up to race. LOL now Im really older alot older, than those guys were? Say it aint so…
At least in these forums I dont feel alone.

[ErickWeinstetter]

I can tell you those are good trips.
I made the 80 Jag World Championships on a bus trip the Zeuners put together to Indy. That bus was packed and NJ represented.

in fact the next year I moved to Cal and was shocked they didnt do that stuff out here, so I started BMX Travel Services with the purpose of holding those, but then found out you need something this 18 year old didnt have or know about credit and liscences etc lol.

Still think it would work in large metro areas like TX,CA,NY.

So dont hesitate if you want to make the US’s biggest race, sign up.
Otherwise 20 years from now youll be in the forums saying, ‘I almost went to the ABA Grands one year’.

[ErickWeinstetter]

Saw this video of the NBL Grands. Heard the name Craig Wilson and saw him in third. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fawk9E9CZAQ

For those that dont remember Kent Gordy he is one of the fastest racers ever out of SE PA.

[ErickWeinstetter]

Congrats.

[ErickWeinstetter]

I toured with Rob when I owned Hyper. He was hella fast and could bump jump a set of doubles 6 feet tall! He did so once in a clinic in Janesville, CA
I didnt know how to bump jump and he taught me in Eugene Oregon. I thought I had it down over this 2 foot double so I tried it over a 4 foot tall set.

I made it but clipped the landing. So next time I went faster to clear it smooth and Rob watched me explode, spent 2 nights in the hospital with all sorts of carnage.
And Rob had bump jumped a 6 foot tall set!!! He was amazing.

He doesnt know it, but he had constantly tried to get me to ride with my hands in. I never could do it comfortably.
I eventuually got that down long after the tour and now ride with my bars cut so I can keep them in close.

Me and Rob went from Colorado to Pittsburgh to Canada to California that summer and I couldnt have did it with a better partner.

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