Mike Poulson

Last updated

Mike Poulson
Personal information
Full nameMichael Poulson
Born (1965-01-04) January 4, 1965 (age 59)
Ogden, Utah, United States
Height1.8 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight79.4 kg (175 lb)
Team information
Current teamRetired
DisciplineBicycle Motocross (BMX)
RoleRacer
Rider typeOff Road
Amateur teams
1979-1980Bingham Schwinn Cyclery
1980Pro Neck
1980-1983Schwinn Bicycle Company
Professional teams
1983-1986Schwinn Bicycle Company
1987Binghams Schwinn Cyclery

Michael Poulson (born January 4, 1965, in Ogden, Utah U.S., later raised in Layton, Utah) is an American "Old School" former professional Bicycle Motocross (BMX) racer whose prime competitive years were from 1981 to 1987.

Contents

Racing career milestones

Note: Professional first are for the national level of competition unless otherwise indicated. Started racing: Early 1978. As it often happens, a friend got him interested in racing. [1]

Sanctioning body:

First race result: First place at a Layton, Utah, track in 12-year-old class. He was actually 13 years old but according to the rules of that track you raced the age class of the age you where on October 1 during the season, therefore he was 12 on October 1, 1977 and raced in the 12-year-old class accordingly even after turning thirteen on January 4, 1978 [2] [3]

First win (local): See above.

Home sanctioning body district(s): National Bicycle Association (NBA) District "P" (Colorado, Wyoming and Utah);

First sponsor: Bingham Schwinn Cyclery

First national race result: The 1979 Corona Mini-National. Finished near the bottom of the 14 Open main with a sixth place. Signed up for Expert event though he was a novice. Did not make Expert main. [1] [3]

First national win: The February 10, 1980 American Bicycle Association (ABA) Winter Nationals at Chandler, Arizona, in 15 Expert. [4] [5]

Turned professional: September 1983 Age 17.

First Professional race result: First in "B" Pro at the National Bicycle League (NBL) Celebrity Race For Childhelp USA/International in Azusa, California, on January 22, 1984. He also got a second place in Pro Open. This was a charity event. The purse was only US$40 (US$79.19 in 2007 Cost of Living Calculator) and 100% payback for the top pro finishers. [6]

Note: This race is not to be confused with the NBL Azuza National held on March 3, 1984 at the same facility which counted in the pros standings toward the National No.1 Plate.

First Professional win: See above

First Senior Pro* race result: Fourth in "AA" pro at the ABA Spring National in San Francisco, California, on March 11, 1984. He won US$160 [7] the equivalent to US$316.77 in 2007.

First Senior Pro win: In "A" pro at the NBL National in Brookville, Ohio, on May 26, 1984 [8] He won US$800, [9] or US$1,583.83 in 2007.

Retired: 1988. After many injuries and the grind of racing on every weekend for over a decade and just not having a winning attitude he quietly quit [3] after a stint as a teaching pro at the Woodward BMX camp in Woodward, Pennsylvania.

Height & weight at height of career (1985): Ht:5'11" Wt:~175 lbs.

*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 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

  • Bingham Schwinn Cyclery: 1979-Early February 1980 (as primary sponsor).
  • Pro Neck: February 11, 1980 – February 17, 1980. He raced one weekend for them as promised at the NBA Winternationals in Las Vegas, Nevada, on February 17 then accepted Schwinn's offer of sponsorship. [1]
  • Schwinn Bicycle Company: February 18, 1980-November 1986. Mike would turn Pro with this sponsor.

Professional

  • Schwinn Bicycle Company: February 18, 1980-December 1986. Schwinn drops its racing team due to 80% of their 20" bicycle sales were freestyle bicycles and not racing machines After Schwinn dropped its racing team after the 1986 season he accepted a sales position at Schwinn Sales West in Southern California. [10] As for racing, he was essentially in semi retirement, racing mostly on the east coast near Woodward BMX Racing and Freestyle Center in Woodward, Pennsylvania, where he was a teaching professional teaching young aspiring BMX racers at the camp.
  • Bingham's Schwinn Cyclery: January 1987-December 1987. His primary sponsor while he was a teaching pro after the Schwinn factory racing team was dropped. Bingham's was the same sponsor he started his career with.

Career bicycle motocross titles

Note: Listed are District, State/Provincial, 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.

Amateur

National Bicycle Association (NBA)

  • None

National Bicycle League (NBL)

  • 1980 Jag 15 Expert World Champion (NBL sanctioned)

American Bicycle Association (ABA)

  • 1979, 1980 Utah District No.1
  • 1980 15 Expert Grandnational Champion

United States Bicycle Motocross Association (USBA)

  • None

International Bicycle Motocross Federation (IBMXF)

  • None

Professional

National Bicycle Association (NBA)

  • None

National Bicycle League (NBL)

  • None

American Bicycle Association (ABA)

  • None

United States Bicycle Motocross Association (USBA)

  • None

International Bicycle Motocross Federation (IBMXF)

  • 1984 Celebrity race winner.

Due to the dearth of professional participation in general and American involvement in the competition in particular there was no Professional class in the IBMXF World Championships held in Suzuka, Japan. Indeed, Mike Poulson was the only pro of any nation to participate. Instead a select number of older amateur experts from numerous nations were slated to race him. He won. [11]

Pro Series Championships

Notable accolades

Significant injuries

Peccadilloes

Miscellaneous and Trivia

Post BMX career

He was offered a sales job by the Schwinn Bicycle Co. with a position in California but he did not take it. He did not want to move from his home state. He had potions with Bingham's Cyclery a local department store and eventually went into his father's lawn sprinkler business. [3]

BMX magazine covers

Bicycle Motocross News:

Minicycle/BMX Action & Super BMX:

Bicycle Motocross Action & Go:

BMX Plus!:

Bicycles and Dirt:

Total BMX:

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):

BMX and general press magazine interviews and articles

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 BMX Action June 1982 Vol.7 No.6 pg.36
  2. 1 2 BMX Plus! August 1981 Vol.4 No.8 pg.18
  3. 1 2 3 4 Originally from the August 14, 2006 Ogden Standard-Examiner.
  4. Super BMX October 1981 Vol.8 No.10 pg.64
  5. 1 2 3 Bicycle and Dirt February 1983 Vol.1 No.6 pg.33
  6. Super BMX May 1984 Vol.11 No.5 pg.54
  7. BMX Plus! July 1984 Vol.7 No.7 pg.40
  8. Super BMX September 1984 Vol.11 No.9 pg.63
  9. BMX Plus! October 1984 Vol.7 No.10 pg.8
  10. Super BMX & Freestyle February 1987 Vol.14 No.2 pg.5
  11. BMX Plus! December 1984 Vol.7 No.12 pg.14
  12. BMX Action May 1983 Vol.8 No.5 pg.86
  13. BMX Action October 1984 Vol.9 No.10 pg.72
  14. Super BMX October 1981 Vol.8 No.10 pg.61
  15. BMX Plus! August 1982 Vol.5 No.8 pg.11
  16. 1 2 BMX Action March 1984 Vol.9 No.3 pg.52
  17. BMX Plus! December 1982 Vol.5 No.12 pg.19
  18. BMX Action May 1984 Vol.9 No.5 pg.29 photo caption.
  19. BMX Action March 1985 Vol.10 No.3 pg.15
  20. BMX Plus! May 1985 Vol.8 No.5 pg.68
  21. BMX Plus! April 1986 Vol.9 No.4 pg.7
  22. BMX Plus! August 1981 Vol.4 No.8 pg.21
  23. Big Blue Marble episode guide. Word search "Poulson".

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