Billy Griggs

Last updated
Billy Griggs
Personal information
Full nameWilliam Luther Griggs
Nickname"Mr. Bill"
Born (1968-09-16) September 16, 1968 (age 53)
Anaheim, California, United States of America
Height1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight79.4 kg (175 lb)
Team information
Current teamRetired
DisciplineBicycle Motocross (BMX)
RoleRacer
Rider typeOff Road
Amateur teams
1981-1982BS Bikes
1983CW Racing
1984Schwinn Bicycle Company
1984-1985Mongoose
1985-1987Redline Engineering
Professional teams
1987-1990Redline Engineering
1990-1992Haro Designs/Cycles
1992-1993Iron Horse
1994Haro Bicycles
1997-1998Shimano
1998-2001GT Bicycles

Luther William Grigs (b. September 16, 1968 from Anaheim, California U.S.) is an American "Old School/Mid School" former professional Bicycle Motocross (BMX) racer whose prime competitive years were from 1985 to 1996.

Contents

His nickname was "Mr. Bill" which was a play on his name and an allusion to a late 1970s Saturday Night Live skit called "The Mr. Bill Show." Billy Griggs had a more successful career than most, winning two World Championships during his amateur days, but did not quite make it to the top in pro although he would consistently make the mains.

Racing career milestones

Note: Professional first are at the national level unless otherwise indicated.

MilestoneEvent Details
Started racing:January 21, 1981 [1] at 12 years old.
Sanctioning body: American Bicycle Association (ABA)
Home sanctioning body districts):ABA California 14 (CA-14) 1982-1985
First race bike:
First race result:Third in 12 Beginner class.
First win (local):
First sponsor:BS Bikes in Santa Ana, California.
First national win:
Turned Professional:February 1987 at 18 years old.
First Professional race result:Fourth place in "A" pro on Saturday, February 14 at the 1987 American Bicycle Association (ABA) Winter Nationals in Scottsdale, Arizona. He won USD$135. [2]
First Professional win:At the 1987 ABA Winter Nationals in "A" pro on Sunday, February 15. He won US$640. [2]
First Junior Men/Pro* race result:See "First professional race result".
First Junior Men/Pro win:See "First Professional win".
First Senior Pro** race result:Third Place in "AA" pro at the ABA Silver Dollar Nationals in Reno, Nevada on May 24, 1987. [3] He won US$140. [4]
First Senior Pro win:In "AA" pro at the ABA Lumberjack Nationals in Eugene, Oregon On July 25, 1987. He also won Pro Open, doubling and he doubled again the next day. No purse break down given. [5]
Height and weight at height of his career: (1991)Ht:5'10" Wt:175 lbs.
Retired:Griggs retired from full-time AA pro racing in July 1995 after he took a Research and Development position at GT Bicycles. He would race occasionally in "AA" pro until his last "AA" equivalent pro race at the UCI World Championships in Cordoba, Argentina on the weekend of July 29, 2000. [6]

*In the NBL it is "B" Pro/Superclass/"AA" pro depending on the era; In the ABA it is "AA" pro.
**In the NBL "A" Pro/Elite Men; in the ABA it is "AA" pro.

Career factory and major bicycle shop sponsors

Note: This listing only denotes the racer's primary sponsors. At any given time a racer could have numerous ever-changing co-sponsors. Primary sponsorships can be verified by BMX press coverage and sponsor's advertisements at the time in question.

Amateur

  • BS (Brian Scura) Bikes: 1981-1982.
  • Basset Racing 1982.
  • CW (Custom Works) Racing: May 1982-December 1983. "CW", regarding the bicycle manufacturing firm, never stood for "Coast Wheels" as it is widely thought. Coast Wheels was a bike shop that Roger Worsham owned. Custom Works was a completely different and independent company. [7] This is in contrast with JMC (Jim Melton Cyclery) which did start out as a bicycle shop and then began manufacturing its own BMX components including entire bicycles.
  • Schwinn Bicycle Company: January 1984-Mid June 1984. Schwinn dropped Billy Griggs because Griggs was not using Schwinn equipment. [8] As Griggs explained in an interview in the February 1985 issue of Super BMX & Freestyle:

    SBMX:So you're saying you had no bicycle to race?
    Billy Griggs:"I had a bike to race but it wasn't what I would consider a race bike. It would be fine for a novice or a beginner. I was riding a fully short stock frame. I tried to ride a Sting for a while but I just didn't like it. They understood that and they let me try a different frame they made. But you know I prefer Flight cranks any day over one-piece cranks, and the other frame they made was too wide in the rear section for Flights, they just hit the frame, and so I didn't want to ride that bike. It was also too short in the front end by three inches easy, it was really a small bike."
    SBMX:Yet you won quite a few races on Schwinn bicycles.
    B.G.:No I didn't, the bike I had was made by Voris Dixon.
    SBMX:It said Schwinn.
    B.G.:That's just it, it said Schwinn, but that's as far as it went. I had to put Schwinn stickers on it because I had to fool everyone with it.
    SBMX:Were you fooling the people at Schwinn?
    B.G.:For a while. At first they didn't mind it but then when the Schwinn dealers started asking for that bike and they couldn't supply it, then the problem started."
    SBMX:So did Schwinn leave you or did you leave Schwinn?
    B.G.:They called me up and gave me a choice: Either put a Sting together or a bike we make and stay on the team, or don't do it and I wouldn't be on the team anymore. [9]

    He opted to leave the team in part because it would have taken too long to adjust to a bike with a Schwinn manufactured frame. [9]
  • Mongoose (BMX Products): June 24, 1984 – September 1, 1985
  • Redline Engineering: September 2, 1985 – December 31, 1990 Billy would turn pro with this sponsor.
  • Billy Griggs was also employed as a BMX Plus! test rider from July 1984-June 1992.

Professional

  • Redline Engineering: September 2, 1985 – December 20, 1990. Left under very good circumstances, even praise by Billy Griggs. [10]
  • Haro Designs/Cycles: December 21, 1990. [10] -December 1992.
  • Iron Horse: December 1992 – 1993
  • Haro Bicycles: 1994-December 1995
  • Shimano: November 1997-September 1998
  • GT (Gary Turner) Bicycles: January 1999 – September 2001 Billy Griggs was employed by GT Bicycles in Product development and race tested in AA pro many prototype frames and components on a part-time basis . [11]

Career bicycle motocross titles

Note: Listed are District, State/Provincial/Department, Regional, National, and International titles in italics. "Defunct" refers to the fact of that sanctioning body in question no longer existing at the start of the racer's career or at that stage of his/her career. Depending on point totals of individual racers, winners of Grand Nationals do not necessarily win National titles. Series and one off Championships are also listed in block.

Amateur

National Bicycle Association (NBA)

  • None

National Bicycle League (NBL)

  • 1984 15 Cruiser National No.1

American Bicycle Association (ABA)

  • 1982 California District No.14 Cruiser No.1
  • 1982 California District 14 No.1
  • 1983 15 Expert National No.1 Amateur (National No.2 Amateur Overall)*
  • 1983 Cruiser National No.3
  • 1985 16 Expert Winter Season California District 14 (CA-14) District Age Group (DAG) No.1

*Beginning with the 1983 season the ABA instituted age class rankings, much like NBL practice. However, the overall National No.1 Amateur title was retained. Doug Davis was overall National No. 1 Amateur for 1983.

United States Bicycle Motocross Association (USBA)

  • 1984 15-16 Cruiser 7-UP World Champion** (USBA promoted & sanctioned)

**The 7-UP World Championship race was the direct descendant of the Jag BMX World Championship races held from 1978-1983. Renny Roker, the promoter of the JAG BMX World Championship gave the rights to the WC to the USBA in 1984 in return for the cable television rights.

International Bicycle Motocross Federation (IBMXF)

  • 1984 15 Cruiser Murray World Cup III Champion

Other titles

  • 1983 14-15 Cruiser Champion Jag BMX World Super Bowl Champion (Non-Sanctioned).

Professional

National Bicycle Association (NBA)

  • None

National Bicycle League (NBL)

  • 1989 National No.3 Pro

American Bicycle Association (ABA)

  • 1988 Yamaha Supercup Pro Champion. As a prize he won a Yamaha 350 "Big Wheel" off-road motorcycle. [12]
  • 1990 "Pros in Paradise" series winner (third series)
  • 1990 National No.2 Pro

United States Bicycle Motocross Association (USBA)

  • None

International Bicycle Motocross Federation (IBMXF)

  • None

Pro Series Championships

Notable accolades

Significant injuries

"My ticker is awesome,thanks for asking....I wish the valve repair I had was available 20 years ago....who knows what a difference it could havemade in my career having my heart actually pump the full amount of blood with every beat!" [19]

Racing traits and habits

Miscellaneous

Post BMX career

In 2013 Griggs was inducted into the prestigious National BMX Hall of Fame. [21]

Griggs was responsible for developing the Ultra Box Series frame design, alongside Gary Turner, and has welded up plenty of custom frames for top Pros - including the GT frames ridden by Mike Day and Jill Kintner in the 2008 Olympics. [22]

BMX and magazine covers

Bicycle Motocross News:

Minicycle/BMX Action & Super BMX:

Bicycle Motocross Action & Go:

BMX Plus!:

*Due to a change in ownership BMX Plus! did not publish a May issue in 1983.

Total BMX:

Bicycles and Dirt:

BMX World (1990 Version)

Snap BMX Magazine & Transworld BMX:

Moto Mag

BMX World (2005 version):

NBA World & NBmxA World (The official NBA/NBmxA membership publication):

Bicycles Today & BMX Today (The official NBL membership publication under two names):

ABA Action, American BMXer, BMXer (The official ABA membership publication under three names):

USBA Racer (The official USBA membership publication):

*After the ABA acquired the USBA the ABA printed the USBA paper within American BMXer beginning with the May 1986 issue.

BMX press magazine interviews and articles

Notes

  1. ↑ BMX Action December 1983 Vol.8 No.12 pg.68
  2. 1 2 BMX Plus! June 1987 Vol.10 No.6 pg.38 (race results)
  3. ↑ Super BMX & Freestyle September 1987 Vol.14 No.9 pg.55
  4. ↑ BMX Plus! October 1987 Vol.10 No.10 pg.76
  5. ↑ BMX Plus! December 1987 Vol.10 No.12 pg.96
  6. ↑ May 6, 2008 Billy Griggs BMXActiononline.com interview Archived August 10, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  7. ↑ History of CW page Archived May 22, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  8. ↑ Bicycles and Dirt September 1984 Vol.2 No.10 pg.8
  9. 1 2 Super BMX & Freestyle February 1985 Vol.12 No.2 pg.16
  10. 1 2 BMX Plus! June 1991 Vol.14 No.6 pg.62
  11. ↑ Snap BMX Magazine September 1998 Vol.5 Iss.7 No.26 pg.
  12. ↑ American BMXer January/February 1989 Vol.11 No.1 pg.18
  13. ↑ BMX Plus! November 1984 Vol.7 No.11 pg.48
  14. ↑ Super BMX Magazine April 1986 Vol.13 No.4 pg.43
  15. ↑ BMX Action May 1986 Vol.11 No.5 pg.72
  16. ↑ BMX Plus! August 1985 Vol.8 No.8 pg.12
  17. ↑ BMX Action August 1985 Vol.10 No.8 pg.44
  18. ↑ BMX Action October 1985 Vol.10 No.8 pg.10 "Out of Commission" sidebar
  19. ↑ bmxactiononline.com September 19, 2008 [ permanent dead link ]
  20. ↑ BMX Plus! June 1992 Vol.15 No.6 pg.64
  21. ↑ "BMX Hall of Fame's Class of 2013 Announced".
  22. ↑ "Billy Griggs".
  23. ↑ American BMXer January/February 1987 Vol.9 No.1 pg.50 ("Correction Times Two")

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