Eric Carter (BMX rider)

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Eric Carter
Eric Carter Fontana 2009 Badge Size.png
Personal information
Full nameEric Robert Carter
Nickname"The Golden Child," "Earthquake"
Born (1970-03-06) March 6, 1970 (age 53)
Long Beach, California, United States
Height5 ft 10 in (178 cm)
Weight175 lb (79 kg)
Team information
Current teamGT
DisciplineBicycle motocross (BMX)
Mountain bike racing (MTB)
RoleBiker
Rider typeMTB: Dual slalom, Four-cross, Downhill
Amateur teams
1982JMC Racing
1983–1984VDC
1985Free Agent
1985–1987Hutch
1987Bicycle Center
1987CW Racing
1988Revcore
1988–1989Schwinn
Professional teams
1989Schwinn
1990MRC
1990Titan Inc.
1990–1992Brackens Racing
1992–1995Hyper Designs (BMX)
1994-1995Barracuda (MTB)
1996Troy Lee Designs
1997Rotec/White Bros
1997-2000GT Bicycles
2001-PresentMongoose/Hyundai
Medal record
Representing Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States
Men's mountain bike racing
World Championships
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2004 Les Gets Four-cross
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2003 Lugano Four-cross
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 1999 Åre Downhill
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2002 Kaprun Four-cross

Eric Robert Carter (born March 6, 1970), is a former American professional "Old/Mid School" Bicycle Motocross (BMX) racer whose prime competitive years were from 1983 to 1998. He had the nickname "The Golden Child," [1] [2] and later in his BMX career, acquired the moniker "The Earthquake." [3] More recently, he has been known simply as "EC." Beginning in 1996, he converted fully to mountain bike racing (MTB) and has become one of the most respected racers in that discipline of bicycle racing.

Contents

BMX racing career milestones

Note: Professional firsts are on the national level unless otherwise indicated.

MilestoneEvent Details
Started racing:1978 at age 8. He went out to see his friend Brent Fay (who was also on his soccer team) to race. Fay's father was the track operator and set Eric up to race. [4]
Sanctioning body:Bicycle Motocross League (BMXL). [4]
Home sanctioning body districts: American Bicycle Association (ABA) California 22 (CA-22) (1985);
United States Bicycle Motocross Association (USBA) California 3 (CA-3) (1986)
First race bike:
First race result:
First win (local):
First sponsor:
First national win:At the 1985 ABA Silver Dollar Nationals in Reno, Nevada on January 6, 1985, as a 15 expert (he may have won nationals as a novice or intermediate). This was a decisive race, for Carter promised himself if he didn't do well here, he would quit BMX racing. He ended up "tripling". [4] Note: By either typographical error on American BMXer's part or Eric's misrecollection, he says he first won in the 1984 Silver Dollar Nationals. There were no Silver Dollar nationals in 1984.
Turned Professional:September 2, 1989 at the National Bicycle League (NBL) Grand National in Louisville, Kentucky at 19 years of age. [5]
First Professional race result:First place in "B" pro at the 1989 NBL Grand Nationals on September 2. He won US$1,260, the equivalent of US$2,090.18 in 2007 (Cost of Living Calculator). He also gained a second in pro cruiser, winning US$250 (US$414.72 in 2007). [6]
First Professional win:See above.
First Junior Men/Pro* race result:See above.
First Junior Men/Pro win:See above.
First Senior Pro** race result:Third place at the NBL Christmas Classic on December 27, 1989 in Columbus, Ohio. He won US$280 (US$464.48 in 2007). He had previously won every NBL "B" pro event he entered. [7]
First Senior Pro win:In "A" pro at the National Bicycle League (NBL) "Round 5: Clash in the Sun" national in Orlando, Florida on February 17, 1990. [8]
Body size at peak of his career (1990):Height: 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) Weight: 175–180 pounds (79–82 kg)
Retired:Largely by late 1995, to concentrate on mountain bike (MTB) racing.

*In the NBL, "B"/Superclass/"A" pro, depending on the era; in the ABA, "A" pro.
**In the NBL, "A"/"Elite" pro; in the ABA, "AA" pro.

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 ever-changing cosponsors. Primary sponsorships can be verified by BMX press coverage and the sponsor's advertisements at the time in question. When possible, exact dates are given.

Amateur

  • JMC (James Melton Cyclery) Racing Equipment: 1982
  • VDC (Voris Dixon Company): 1983-Late 1984
  • Free Agent (support and factory): Late 1984–November 29, 1985
  • Hutch Hi-Performance BMX/Products: November 29, 1985–January 11, 1987. Carter left Hutch after the ABA Cajun Nationals and would be picked up by CW Racing just after the ABA Supernationals [9] after a brief "sponsorship" on Bicycle Center.
  • Bicycle Center (bike shop): January 16, 1987–January 23, 1987. Not really a sponsorship; he merely wore the jersey of his local bike shop during the ABA's San Bernardino, California race on January 17–18, 1987. [10]
  • CW (Custom Works) Cycles: January 23, 1987–December 31, 1987. "CW" never stood for "Coast Wheels," as is widely thought; Coast Wheels was a bike shop that Roger Worsham owned. Custom Works was a completely different and independent company. [11] 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.
  • Revcore: January 1, 1988–April 1988. Revcore was owned by Roger Worsham, the same person who owned CW Racing. Revcore was a different product line, much like the aborted Shadow Racing (also owned by Roger Worsham) was in 1985. He moved the entire national CW Racing team to Revcore at the beginning of the 1988 racing season as a promotional move to publicize the Revcore product line. [12] [13]
  • Schwinn Bicycle Company: Early April 1988–December 1989. His first race for Schwinn was the NBL Peachtree National in Peachtree, Georgia on April 10, 1988. [14] Eric would turn pro with this sponsor.

Professional

  • Schwinn Bicycle Company: Early April 1988–December 1989. Schwinn would drop its BMX racing effort after the 1989 season. [15]
  • MRC (Mike Redmen Concepts): January 1, 1990–June 1990
  • Titan Inc.: June 1990–Late July 1990
  • Brackens Racing: Late July 1990–Late 1992. Eric would take almost a yearlong hiatus from BMX after the 1990 ABA Grand National and raced only infrequently to forestall burnout during the 1991 season. His first returning race was the 1991 ABA Fall Nationals in Yorba Linda, California on October 26 and 27. He got a first place in "A" pro on Saturday, and second place in "A" pro on Sunday. However, shortly afterward, he took another yearlong (approximately) break to race motorcycles and do other things outside of BMX racing, again racing BMX infrequently. It was an almost unbroken absence from BMX racing for more than two years. [16]
  • Hyper Designs: September 1992–1995

Career bicycle motocross titles

Note: Listed are District, State/Provincial/Department, Regional, National, and International titles in italics. "Defunct" refers to the fact that the sanctioning body in question no longer existed 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)

  • 1986 16 Expert and 16 Cruiser Grandnational Champion
  • 1986 16 Expert and 16 Cruiser National No.1
  • 1987 17 Expert and 17 Cruiser Grandnational Champion
  • 1987 17 Expert and 17 Cruiser National No.1
  • 1988 18-20 Grandnational Champion
  • 1988 18 & Over Expert and 18-20 Cruiser National No.1

American Bicycle Association (ABA)

  • 1985 15 Expert Winter Season California District 22 (CA-22) District Age Group (DAG) No.1
  • 1985 15 Expert Race of Champions Champion
  • 1985 15 Cruiser Grandnational Champion
  • 1986 16 Expert and 16 Open Grandnational Champion.
  • 1986 National No.1 Amateur
  • 1986 16 Expert Gold Cup Champion.

United States Bicycle Motocross Association (USBA)

  • 1986 16 Expert Race of Champions (ROC) Champion.
  • 1986 16 Expert Grandnational Champion
  • 1986 National No.1 Amateur

International Bicycle Motocross Federation (IBMXF)

  • 1985 15 boys (Expert) Canada Cup winner
  • 1985 15 boys (Expert) Gold Medal World Champion
  • 1986 16 Expert and 16-17 Cruiser Gold Medal World Champion
  • 1987 17 Expert Gold Medal World Champion
  • 1988 18 & Over Expert Silver Medal World Champion

Professional

National Bicycle Association (NBA)

  • None

National Bicycle League (NBL)

  • 1989 "B" Pro Grandnational Champion
  • 1993 National No.1 Pro

American Bicycle Association (ABA)

  • 1989 "A" (Junior) Pro Grandnational Champion
  • 1989 "A" (Junior) Pro National No.1. [17] Starting in the 1989 season the ABA started recognizing the highest ranking of its Junior pros. However, the ABA did not award its Junior pros with No.1 plate.

United States Bicycle Motocross Association (USBA)

  • None

International Bicycle Motocross Federation (IBMXF)

  • None

Pro Series Championships

Notable BMX accolades

Racing traits and habits

Significant BMX injuries

BMX press magazine interviews and articles

BMX magazine covers

Bicycle Motocross News:

Minicycle/BMX Action & Super BMX:

Bicycle Motocross Action & Go:

BMX Plus!:

Bicycles and Dirt (ABA publication):

BMX World: (1991-1992 version):

Snap BMX Magazine & Transworld BMX:

BMX World: (2005–Present version):

Mountain Bike Action:

Moto Mag:

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):

Post BMX career

Following in the footsteps of other legendary pros Eric Carter became a pro mountain-biker in 1993 (while still racing BMX heavily). He currently races MTB for Mongoose Bicycles in the mountain-cross and downhill divisions. However, he does race BMX during the winter to cross train and enhance his MTB racing skills.

Mountain Bike Racing Career

Started Racing: 1993 at age 23.

Sub Discipline:

First Race Result:

Sanctioning Body:

Career MTB factory and major Non-factory sponsors

Amateur

No amateur status.

Professional

  • Barracuda: 1994-1995
  • Troy Lee Designs: 1996
  • Rotec/White Bros: 1997
  • GT (Gary Turner) Bicycles: December 1997-December 2000
  • Mongoose Bicycles (Formerly BMX Products)/Hyundai: January 2001–Present
  • GT Bicycles : January 2009–Present

Career Mountain Bike Racing (MTB) titles

Amateur

No amateur status.

Professional

Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI)

  • 1998 Dual Slalom World Cup Bronze Medalist
  • 1999 Dual Slalom World Cup Champion Gold Medalist
  • 1999 Downhill World Champion Bronze Medalist
  • 1999 World Cup Downhill Bronze Medalist
  • 2001 World Cup Dual Slalom World Cup Silver Medalist
  • 2002 World Cup 4-cross Bronze Medalist
  • 2003 World Cup 4-cross Silver Medalist
  • 2003 4-Cross World Champion Silver Medalist
  • 2003 World Cup 4-cross Champion Gold Medalist
  • 2004 4-cross World Champion Gold Medalist

National Off Road Bicycle Association (NORBA)

  • 1999 National Downhill Champion Gold Medalist
  • 1999 National Championship Series Dual Slalom Silver Medalist
  • 2003 National Mountain-cross Series Champion Gold Medalist
  • 2004 National Mountain-cross Series Champion
  • 2003, 2005, 2006 United States National Mountain-cross Champion
  • 2003 United States National Downhill Champion

USA Cycling

  • 2005 & 2006 Mountain-cross National Champion

Notable MTB accolades

MTB Product Lines

Significant MTB injuries

Miscellaneous

Eric Carter had substantial input on the design of the Hyper Metro pro sized frame of the early 1990, which he raced when sponsored by Hyper Designs.

He was featured as a playable character in the racing video game Downhill Domination

Related Research Articles

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References

  1. 1 2 BMX Action October 1988 Vol.13 No.10 pg.22
  2. ↑ Go December 1989 Vol.1 No.2 pg.17
  3. ↑ BMX Plus! July 1995 Vol.18 No.7 pg.64
  4. 1 2 3 American BMXer June 1987 Vol.9 No.5 pg.18
  5. ↑ BMX Plus! January 1990 Vol.13 No.1 pg.68 (photo caption)
  6. ↑ BMX Plus! January 1990 Vol.13 No.1 pg.74 race results
  7. ↑ BMX Plus! April 1990 Vol.13 No.4 pg.28
  8. ↑ BMX Plus! June 1990 Vol.13 No.6 pg.69
  9. ↑ American BMXer March 1987 Vol.9 No.2 pg.14 (photo caption)
  10. ↑ Super BMX/Freestyle Vol.14 No.5 pg.5
  11. ↑ History of CW page Archived May 22, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  12. ↑ BMX Plus! May 1988 Vol.11 No.5 pg.58
  13. ↑ BMX Plus! July 1988 Vol.11 No.7 pg.32
  14. ↑ BMX Action August 1988 Vol.13 No.8 pg.88
  15. ↑ BMX Plus! October 1990 Vol.13 No.10 pg.64
  16. ↑ BMX Plus! August 1993 Vol.16 No.8 pg.31
  17. ↑ BMX Plus! April 1990 Vol.13 No.4 pg.6
  18. ↑ Super BMX Magazine April 1986 Vol.13 No.4 pg.43
  19. ↑ BMX Action May 1986 Vol.11 No.5 pg.72
  20. ↑ BMX Action August 1987 Vol.12 No.8 pg.38
  21. ↑ BMX Plus! November 1988 Vol.11 No.11 pg.78
  22. ↑ BMX Action July 1988 Vol.13 No.7 pg.68
  23. ↑ American BMXer December 1989 Vol.11 No.11 pg.28
  24. ↑ Cycling News September 2005.
  25. ↑ Cycling News July 2006.
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