David Clinton (born January 2, 1960, in Sun Valley, California[1]) is an "Old School" former professional Bicycle Motocross (BMX) racer whose prime competitive years were from 1973 to 1979. Nicknamed "Dynamite" early in his career[2] David Clinton could be truthfully said to be the sport's first true superstar. He was the first racer to win an official National No.1 plate of any kind when the first BMX sanctioning body, the National Bicycle Association (NBA), introduced the title in 1975. During the previous year he won the junior class division of a series of what could be called proto Nationals, a part of the first major BMX series, when he took first place in the Junior class at the Yamaha Bicycle Gold Cup which decided the California State Champion. Clinton along with Scot Breithaupt and John "Snaggletooth" Palfryman participated in the first true National sanctioned by the NBA in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1975[3] and became the first official pro in BMX in 1977 (although Thom Lund could be considered the first BMXer to race for money. He raced for a share of the US$200 purse and won the Scot Breithaupt sponsored Saddleback Park race in Irvine, California, in 1975).
Note: In the early days of professional racing, 1977 and prior, many tracks offered small purse prize money to the older racers of an event, even before the official sanctioning bodies offered prize money in formal divisions themselves. Hence some early "professionals" like Stu Thomsen turning "pro" in 1975 at 16 years old where racing for small amounts of money at track events[4] when offered even before the NBA, regarded as the first true national BMX sanctioning body, had a professional division. For the sake of consistency and standardization noted professional first are for the first pro races for prize money offered by official BMX sanctioning bodies and not independent track events. Professional first are also on the national level unless otherwise indicated.
Started Racing: 1971 at age 11.[5] He was doing halftime show BMX races between the minicycle races at the Indian Dunes track in Valencia, California.[6]
Sanctioning Body: None.
First race result: Unknown.
First win (local): Some time in 1971 at the Indian Dunes Motorcycle Motocross track in Valencia, California[7] At the time some BMX tracks were made out of active MX tracks.
First sponsor: Pedalers West 1972.
First national win: Yamaha Bicycle Gold Cup Final on September 14, 1974, in Junior class* age 14. While the Yamaha Bicycle Gold Cup was not a true national-no national points were awarded to any participant who resided outside of the state-it was the very first large, heavily promoted race series up to that time in BMX. Clinton's first true national win was in 14 & Over Expert at the National Bicycle Association (NBA) Tri-State National in Tucson, Arizona, on March 30, 1975. It was the second true national in BMX history. The first one was the previous day's NBA Winternationals held in Phoenix, Arizona. John George won the 14 & Over Expert class.[8] Because records only published the first four placers it is not known through available public records what position Clinton came in that day, or even if he made the main.
Turned professional: 1977 at 17 years of age with the NBA. He was the very first official pro.
First Professional race result**: First place at NBA National in Chandler, Arizona, on April 30, 1978.[9]
First Professional win: See above.
Retired: Late 1980 at age 20. He made a brief comeback in 1982 at the ABA Fall Nationals in Lancaster, California, on October 16 and 17 but a preexisting knee injury forced him to retire from BMX permanently. He also was still doing obsolete one pedal starts when most other pros (Andy Patterson being one notable exception) had adapted the quicker reaction two pedal balance starts. His failure to adapt also contributed to his truncated comeback.
Height & weight at height of his career (1975–1978): Ht:5'3" Wt:135-~230lbs.[10][11] Note: the 230 pounds figure is for roughly at the end of the peak in his career.
*Classifications at the time were determined by size and weight and not age and proficiency, so his age in this case is irrelevant. The Yamaha Bicycle Gold Cup was the first event that could be referred to as a "National" to be held in BMX. **At the time there was no separate pro class for pros due to the relatively small number of pros. They raced with the 16 Experts, making it a Pro/Am class essentially. This is why during the early years of the pro division the national number one racer of a sanctioning body could be either an amateur or professional. This practice continued until the NBA's 1979 season in which the pros earned separate pro points and a separate pro plate from the amateurs.
Career factory and major bike shop sponsors
Note: This listing only denotes the racer's primary sponsors. At any given time a racer could have numerous co-sponsors. Primary sponsorships can be verified by BMX press coverage and sponsor's advertisements at the time in question. When possible exact dates are given.
Amateur
Pedalers West: 1972–1973
Rick's Bike Shop: 1973-August 1, 1974
Kawasaki Motors: August 1, 1974[12]-Late August 1974
Dirtmaster Racing Products: Late August 1974-September 1974
Kawasaki Motors: September 1974-July 1976. Clinton briefly "retired" from BMX to race MX in early 1976 for his then sponsor Kawasaki Motors.[13][14]
Jimmy Weinart (Laguna Distributing): Late September 1976-April 1977. David Clinton would turn pro with this sponsor.
Professional
Jimmy Weinart: Late September 1976-April 1977.
D.G. Performance Specialist (The initials stood for Dan Hangsleben, Gary Harlow):[15] April 1977-December 31, 1977
Shimano Sales Corporation/Diamondback: January 1, 1978 – December 31, 1978. Diamondback was Clinton's second Primary sponsor, providing the racing frame.
Redline Engineering: January 1, 1979-August 1979.
D.G. Performance Specialist: August 1979-September 1979. Brief one-month stay. This was Clinton's second stint with DG.
Shimano Sales Corporation: September 1979-December 1979.
Diamondback (Centurion): January 1980-December 1982. In the last months of his career (after a very brief racing comeback) and after his retirement he was the supervisor of the sales department at Western States Imports, the parent company of Centurion Bicycle Company.[16]
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. Only sanctioning bodies that were active during the racer's career are listed.
Amateur
Independent race events
1974 Junior class California State Champion at the Yamaha Bicycle Gold Cup (a.k.a. the Bicycle Motocross Championship of California State).
1975 15 & Up Yamaha Bicycle Gold Cup Champion.
National Bicycle Association (NBA)
1973 12 Western States Champion.
1973 California Champion.*
1974 13 Western States Champion.
1975 14 & Over Expert Western States Champion
1975 National No.1.
*Since at this time the only BMX races held in the nation were all in California, this was tantamount to a national championship.
American Bicycle Association (ABA Founded January 1975, defunct December 1975)*
1975 National No.1
*This ABA should not be confused with the organization founded by Merle Menennga in Chandler, Arizona, in 1977. This organization is the American Bicycle Association that was formed in January 1975 by Bob Bailey in Torrance, California[17] but ended operations in December 1975 after going bankrupt.[18] David Clinton was its one and only No.1 racer.
David Clinton has numerous first attributed to him:
He became one of the first officially recognized title holders in what was the first BMX championship series when he became the Junior Class California State Champion of the Yamaha Bicycle Gold Cup series along with Stu Thomsen (Expert Champion) and Mark Whitehead (Novice Champion). He also set the fastest elapse time for a single lap on the quarter mile course at 69.9 seconds.[20]
He is considered to be the sport's first Superstar.
He was the first factory sponsored rider in the sport of BMX.[21]
He has been credited with performing the first "Table Top", a BMX stunt maneuver. He was photographed performing in July 1975 at Saddleback track.[22]
He earned very first National No.1 plate of any kind. It was with the NBA in 1975.
He became the very first licensed professional of a sanctioning body in 1977, the NBA.
He became the very first ABA BMX Hall of Fame Inductee in 1985.
He was one of the founding members of the Professional Racing Organization (PRO) racers guild in 1977.[23]
Had several knee injuries late in the 1977 season,[24] including one during a practice session that laid him up for six months,[25] putting him out of contention for the NBA national number one plate. These knee problems would eventually force him into retirement some three years later and keep him there after a brief comeback attempt in 1982.
Racing habits and traits
Miscellaneous
Clinton shares his birthdate of January 2 with another BMX icon: Doug Davis, who was born on January 2, 1969.[26] Clinton was born in 1960
Post BMX career
He raced Mountain bikes for a time during the 1980s as would a lot of former and present BMX racers would and have gone on to do; some simultaneously.
As of 2005 he is the inside sales manager and in charge of answers bmx co-factory program.[21]
BMX press magazine interviews and articles
"What Makes David Run" Bicyicle Motocross News September 1974 Vol.1 No.4 pg.19
Stuart L. Thomsen is an American former bicycle motocross (BMX) racer.
The National Bicycle Association (NBA), later known as the National Bicycle Motocross Association (NbmxA), was a United States–based Bicycle Motocross (BMX) sports sanctioning body originally based in Soledad, California, that was created by Ernie Alexander in 1973 and ceased operations as an independent body in 1981. It was the first and for its first few years until 1980 the largest sanctioning body in the United States concerning BMX. It was known for its pioneering works in founding the organized sport of BMX. It was both the first true sanctioning body and the first nation-spanning one (as opposed to the regional ones that emerged), although at first it was concentrated in the west coast of the United States, where it was founded. It was the first body to hold true nationals in which racers coming from all over the country competed for points and in the case of professionals, money, to determine who would earn the right to run a National no. "1" plate in the several divisions and age classes the following year. It was the first sanctioning body to have a professional division, which was created as far back as late September 1974.
Scott Clark is an American "Old School" former professional Bicycle Motocross (BMX) racer whose prime competitive years were from 1978 to 1985.
Brian Patterson is a former American "Old School" bicycle motocross (BMX) racer.
Brent Hathaway Patterson is a former American "Old School" bicycle motocross (BMX) racer.
Anthony Sewell was a professional "Old School" Bicycle Motocross (BMX) racer whose prime competitive years were from 1978 to 1984. He was nicknamed "The Panther". He got the moniker jumping curbs in his neighborhood and neighborhood kids likened his jumping to that of a cat. This was soon converted to Panther. He was also known as "The Professor" due to his glasses with their thick lenses.
Scot Alexander Breithaupt was an entrepreneur, "Old School" professional motorcycle MX and bicycle motocross (BMX) racer and a founding father of BMX in 1970 whose prime competitive years were from 1970 to 1984. Many consider him, in some ways, a founder of "Old School BMX"—an era from roughly 1969 to 1987 or 1988, from its very beginnings to just after its first major slump in popularity from 1985 to 1988. Racing started to rise in participation again around 1988–89 and is considered the start of Mid School BMX, roughly 1988–2000. He was born in Long Beach, California.
David "Tinker" Juarez is an American former professional BMX and cross-country mountain bike racer. His prime competitive years in BMX were from 1978 to 1984 and in mountain bike racing 1986 to 2005. Since late 2005, he has competed as a Marathon mountain bike racer. In all three disciplines, he has won numerous national and international competitions. Most recently, Juarez finished third in the 2006 Race Across America Endurance bicycle race.
Bobby Encinas is a former professional "Old School" Bicycle Motocross (BMX) racer whose prime competitive years were from 1973 to 1980. He was one of the first superstars in BMX and one of its most savvy promoters. Raised in the barrio of Canoga Park, he had a juvenile criminal record for theft and was on probation for consuming alcohol and drugs before he was 12 years old. He credits BMX for saving him from a life of crime. As a result he devoted much of his BMX career and after to promoting the sport at the grass-roots level, training kids in his BMX clinics, of which he was a pioneer, and launching future BMX careers and winning the respect and love of the BMX world.
Edward King is an "Old School" former professional Bicycle Motocross (BMX) racer whose prime competitive years were from 1977 to 1985.
Michael Poulson is an American "Old School" former professional Bicycle Motocross (BMX) racer whose prime competitive years were from 1981 to 1987.
Perry Kramer is a former American "Old School" professional Bicycle Motocross (BMX) racer whose prime competitive years were from 1974-1981.
Clint Miller 1 is a former American "Old School" professional Bicycle Motocross (BMX) racer whose prime competitive years were from 1976 to 1984. A popular nickname given to him was "Miller Time", particular after a win. "Miller Time" was a play on his name that happened to invoke a popular 1970's advertising campaign slogan by the makers of Miller Beer, the Miller Brewing Company to indicate to the consumer that after a hard task at work or play that it was "Miller Time", a "..time to relax.."
Donald Atherton is a former American "Old School" professional Bicycle Motocross (BMX) racer whose prime competitive years were from 1978–1982.
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Timothy Judge is a former American "Old School" professional Bicycle Motocross (BMX) racer whose prime competitive years were from 1979-1985. When he was a young racer his given name was used in the diminutive "Timmy". His nickname was "Da Judge" a play on an on the 1970s catch phrase "Here come da judge" first popularized on the 1968-1973 comedy Variety show Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In. The show was off the air for about six years when Tim Judge first came to national BMX attention, but due to the show's popularity and his name lending itself to be associated the phrase "Here comes Da Judge" was quickly associated with him. The fact was that Judge was fully rad in an era when not that many pros were.
Frankie Lee Medlin was a professional American "Old School" Bicycle Motocross (BMX) racer whose prime competitive years were from (1977–1982) His nickname was "Peddlin'", an obvious play on his surname and the motive power of a bicycle.
John George was a professional American "Old School" Bicycle Motocross (BMX) racer whose prime competitive years were from (1972–1978).
Jeffrey Kosmala is a retired professional American "Old School" Bicycle Motocross (BMX) racer whose prime competitive years were (1978–1981).
Jeffrey Ruminer was a professional American "Old School" Bicycle Motocross (BMX) racer whose prime competitive years were from (1977–1985). He had the nickname "The Flyin' Okie" because he was from the state of Oklahoma and that "crazy guy who would jump anything."
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