Tell us about racing

I started racing BMX in the late 70's. My first race was a UBR National. Then, I raced local UBR track in Reno at the YMCA. Every time I go to reno and get off on the Plumb exit there is a vacant lot were the track once was.

After that, I raced Prison Hill in Carson City. It was a down hill track. I was matched up with an older racer from the early 70's, Bobby Encines. It was some kinda tour with his face on these big posters at our school. At those races, i began racing 3 classes — 20inch, cruiser, and sidehacks.

Is that the side hack in your shop now?

Yeah, that's the one. Had it all these years.

What other tracks did you race in Carson and Reno?

The next track was T-Car Speedway in Carson. The track was run by the Brewer family. Dad Brewer was a plumber and reminded me of Bob Ozborn of BMX Action Magazine fame. They also sold parts at the track. His kids, Dave, Kyle, and Sheila, raced.

After the t-car years, the next track was the track we race on now.

What about Reno?

They had a strange track. For only a couple of races, it was at this strange construction site. it might have had some kind of local youth center on the same lot. I think they put on the races. I remember the starting hill was really tall, 2-story building tall, and the track was sandy. Then the track went to hidden valley on the west side of Reno. This was a nice track in a good part of town. This time, the tracks were NBL Reno and Carson.

Did the Reno and Carson tracks work together?

They did do races together. This was about the mid 80's. In the winter once they used Lawler Events Center, which had coke syrup in the corners for traction and bad wooden jumps. It was fun. Then one winter, they used the live stock center at the fairgrounds. This is the small building that is now used for staging at the ABA Nats in Reno. At least we got to race on dirt the start was on a concrete slab then you dropped of the slab into dirt.that winter even some fast guys from Nor Cal area showed up.

So what was the local national scene like?

The first national i went to was at the Reno Convention Center and then it moved to the Reno Fairgrounds in the outdoor arena. That was the UBR years. Then i think when they went NBL, they had nationals at the local Carson track. Then the hidden valley track and they might have had one NBL national at the Reno Fairgrounds.

So today you don't go to Nationals. What changed? How have the races changed?

When I was a kid, my mom took me and my friends to the races and when we went to nats the fun just got bigger. I have always been a "bike guy." I like bikes, so the nats was heaven, looking at other guys bikes, vendors showing off the trick new stuff it was bike overload. Plus, racing was better. You could race your class, Open, Cruiser, 16" pit bikes and sidehacks. Now that was racing. Today, the ABA has taken a lot of the fun out of racing for me. I understand the ABA has to run a lot of motos in one day. I just miss the sidehacks, 16" pit bikes and the trophy dash.

What was a trophy dash?

This was a race that had all the winners of that day in a couple of different age groups. It was, I guess you could say, an open class of winners. For example, you would have a 16 and over trophy dash and in that class you would have the winners of 16x,17x,18x, and any opens of the same age range. Put these guys on the gate and you have a trophy dash.

One time at a national in Reno, the trophy dash had Richie Anderson, who at the time must have been about 14 or 15 at the time and in the trophy dash the guy that on the pro open i think it was Dennis O'Brian (maybe). I do remember that the pro was sponsored by Robinson. So the gate drops and in the lead is Anderson he leads half the race and his crank arm broke. Seeing an AM almost beat a Pro was cool.

Any other strange things happen at the nats?

Once R.L. Osborn was racing and at this time he was more a freestyle guy than a race guy. But he had awesome bike skills. He is in a moto and in the lead gets pushed off the berm stays upright keeps pedaling in the soft dirt bunny hops over a 3 or 4 ft track banner and ends up in second place right behind the guy that pushed him off the track and did end up passing the guy and won. I saw Ryan Nyquest race an intermediate class and he did 360's over the jumps. I think he crashed in the main and lost.

Did you always help out at the Carson track?

I think everyone helped out. I can remember announcing at the T-car track. You would race, catch your breath, and then announce. When you had to race, someone else would grab the mike and announce until they had to race. At the track in Carson now, everyone helped out. The early BMX tracks were rough but it was so grass roots people just rolled up their sleeves and jumped right in. I think i used up some gas packing the track with my truck. I think I burned up a clutch to. But today, tracks are a lot harder to build. It's not like you need 20 people, a couple of trucks, shovels, and 2 wheel barrows. Now you have to be a dirt moving expert with tractors, rollers, and loaders. You need to know how much dirt it takes to build a jump or berm and how the jumps have to be shaped. Tracks today are way more tech than tracks of the 80's. Look at the tires we ran then and the slicks people run today.

Wasn't there a couple of years that the Carson track was closed?

yea, I don't know what happened but I think the track might have been closed for 3 years maybe 2. It just closed up. There was no one to run it. I can remember going out with the Carson rec department and a couple of other groups but no one had the guts to run it.

Is it true you raced the same day you graduated high school?

Yes, in 1984 I graduated from Carson high school and raced that same day.

Being a bike nut, what other types of bikes have you raced?

I have raced downhill mountain bikes. In the late 80's racing downhill, you just raced your cross country bike, so no chain guides and no suspension. i raced the Mammoth mountain kamikaze a couple of times and once won my class. It was cool, got a nice world champ medal. Then I started racing again in the 90's and raced at Donner ski ranch. Donner was the first place to put bikes on ski lifts. Donner had to be one of the most ghetto places i ever raced. They used their own downhill format, which was combining two runs. Downhill is one run, fastest time wins. Two runs was the death of Donner. I did like it, but around 2000 Donner had so many people at one race and they always had timing problems. There was no way they could have two runs. We would be riding in the dark. After that, attendance went way down.

I also raced downhill in Reno at Peavine, Skytavern and Squaw Valley. Had a great world cup event. One year they had the California State Championships at Bear Valley. That was the longest course I've ridden. Donner was the only place I got to race dual slalom. At Donner, you could take the ski lift up to the top of the slalom course. I raced the great flume race. This was a 25 mile XC race, road bikes with a club called the Carson City Cycle People(CCCP). They did crits and roller races and the last couple of years I raced cycle cross.

what about some of the bikes you've been riding.

For BMX bikes its been standard made by Waterford.my race cruiser is a standard 125r. My park bike is a standard bullit and i just switched my 20" race bike, also a standard, to a team pk ripper. I also have an FBM flatland bike. Recently, I have an addiction with road bikes. It started with my Surly Cross Check. I built it so I could race cyclocross and then it turned into a road bike in between ccyclocross. Then I put together a surly karate monkey and I've been using it with 700x35 road tires and Jones h-bars.

The current road bike I use the most now is a Salsa La Raza. I also ride a Surly Pugsley mainly in the winter. I got a KHS track bike and it slowly morphed into a Surly Steam Roller.