Source supplied: Scanned article titled “THE EARLY DAYS:”
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THE YEARS OF SIDEHACKS, MONO-SHOCKS, DAVE CLINTON, JOHN GEORGE, SCOT BREITHAUPT AND THE YAMAHA GOLD CUPS.
Can you guess who this is? Hint: He is argued to have started the first BMX track. He’s massively promoted BMX to this day. He’s ridden for Dan Gurney, Webco, FMF, and some other company that would totally give away the question at hand. He’s also best buddies with Charlie Narly and has led many a Tours de Terrible. Give up? Scot Breithaupt, 1974.
With most guys riding Schwinn Stingrays at first, frame breakage was abundant. In 1973, the first of the BMX frames started popping up—most of them being mono-shocks. The manufacturers figured that the kids wanted to be like motorcycles, so . . . “Hey! Let’s make gas tanks, fenders, and put shocks on the bikes!” Neat idea, huh?
It went that way for a while. Everyone dumped their Stingrays for the mono-shocks. But the new shocker generation didn’t last but a couple of years at the most. Marvin Church, a local So. Cal. hotshoe, appeared at the tracks on a custom used-to-be Stingray frame that his dad made. It sported a higher bottom bracket and straight tubes for the front triangle. Towards the end of ’74, mono-shocks died and rigid frames were born.
“I’m riding a Rick’s Custom Special with Moto-Mags. I dig the mags—they’re light, roll easy, and are super strong. I prefer 6 1/2 inch cranks and a 39-15 gearing.”
Thom Lund
Bicycle Motocross News, October 1974.
BMX Products came out with the Moto-Mag in September of ’74. It had a major effect on the BMX world. Today it seems normal to see a mag wheel, but anyone who was around BMX in the mid ’70’s can describe in great detail the very first time they saw a Moto-Mag. You HAD to have one.
Fork wise, Red Line was it. Nothing else would do. The buyer even had the option to buy the chrome-moly nickel plated fork or the cheaper priced mild-steel painted one. Either one would do—as long as it said Red Line up the sides.
I found out through my investigative phone calls that in 1971 and ’72, a dude by the name of Ron Haase (pronounced haze), totally jammed. The real BMX historians from way back seconded the motion and would always bring up an incident that happened at Palms Park sometime around 1972.
They say that Haase was a wildman, and in this one race, somebody was in front of him coming down the hill towards the bonzai drop-off. That’s when they say that Ron Haase JUMPED the guy. Not passing to the right. Not to the left. PASSING OVER the guy, landing in front of him! Wish we could see stuff like that nowadays!
From the dark ages of BMX (’74 to ’76) the top-ten racers would have to have been Dave Clinton, John George, John Palfreyman, Brian Ramocinski, Thom Lund, Marvin Church, Bobby Encinas, Perry Kramer, Scot Breithaupt, and Stu Thomsen.
Most of those names are well-known or semi-well known, except for Ramocinski. He was an Orange County resident who was pictured in a lot of the old BMX newspapers out in front of guys like Stu and Bottema. Brenda Lee was the top powder puffer back then, too. She later went on to marry John George, remember?
Clinton, who was the very first rider to get the official title of NBA No. 1, was also the first full-blown hero of BMX. He had style and grace on a bike that would probably blow minds now-a-days. He could cross-it-up like no other and would always come across the finish line wheelieing to the crowd. Clinton was everyone’s favorite!
“No. I don’t think a BMX pro class would work. Most 18-year-olds are too embarrassed or afraid to race.”
Scot Breithaupt
Bicycle Motocross News, June 1974.
Scot Breithaupt was the first to do it. Others followed. Scot was the first “kid” to put on races all by himself. It was like the parents weren’t too sure at first about the sport ever being a sport, but the kids who raced had the faith. So if adults wouldn’t put on races, it was the kids’ job to prove that BMX is worthy of time and effort.
I remember going to the Parks and Recreation Dept. myself at age 13, trying to start a BMX track. I didn’t succeed, but lots of kids in the U.S.A. did—Matt Raymer and Cash Mathews did it in Oklahoma and Charlie Litsky is responsible for BMX in Chicago.
Could today’s tracks have mel-
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