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1980 ABA BMX Racing Midwest Nationals Pro Money Main
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- Опубліковано 24 бер 2020
- My friend Scott Towne reached out to let me know John Kiernan had passed away. John was the voice of Bud’s BMX Track in Elkhart, Indiana and a longtime friend of many Midwestern BMX racers, most notably Scott who stayed in contact with him. Bud’s BMX was one of the premiere BMX racetracks in the USA and the weekend home to hundreds of kids and teenagers like me who lived and breathed BMX racing. It was also known to riders who hit the national race circuit every summer, especially those who set their sights on winning a big trophy in the amateur races or big money in the Professional division. And John Kiernan was at the heart of Bud’s BMX. John also dabbled in video production and it was his 1980’s era video camera combined with the 1980 ABA Midwest Nationals at Bud’s BMX that formed the perfect storm. The legendary story was born. John videotaped most of the race including all the main events. He was featured in BMX Action magazine by editor publisher Bob Osborn. If you were in BMX Action magazine in the 1980’s it was instant credibility. Everyone in worldwide BMX circles would know your story! The mere fact that John videotaped the race was remarkable, but it was his recording of the Pro main event that went down as one of the most talked about stories in BMX. Setting the stage for the Pro main event. After the qualifying rounds, seven riders made their way to the gate. Brent Patterson, Jeff Ruminer, Leo Green, Stu Thomsen, Tim Lillethorup, Kevin McNeal and Greg Hill. The race for National number one Pro was heating up and these were the top contenders (except me, more on that in a bit). Kevin McNeal had been earning a bit of a bad reputation that season for taking out riders, diving low in turns and blasting his way past riders with a good, strong elbow bump. Many of the BMX folks thought it was just the way you raced. It was a bit of a contact sport at the time and if you didn’t deliberately T-Bone someone in a turn, it was all part of racing. ABA owner and announcer Merle Mennega saw it differently. He was fed up with Kevin racing this way. It had happened several times at earlier events. Watch the race. Pay close attention to what happens between Kevin and Brent in turn #2. What do you think? Clean move? Just racing? Or, was Merle correct in disqualifying Kevin and issuing a several race suspension? This video means even more to me on a personal level. I had classified as a Pro BMX racer at age 16 in 1978 and had won many local and regional races. This race was one of my first shots to perform on a bigger stage. I can remember making this main event by one or two points and beating some top named, factory sponsored riders. Once I lined up in the gate the nerves really kicked in. I kept thinking it was taking too long to drop the gate. I was ready long before the cool, calm, collected factory riders. When the gate dropped, I left a split second too late. I was in the back of the back fighting my way to turn #2. When Kevin bumped Brent, I dove on the inside to follow Greg Hill who found a perfect hole and for a moment, I was near the front, then slipped a pedal! In 2005 I was put it touch with John to make DVD copies of his old tape. I really don’t remember how we connected. Perhaps it was through Scott? I do remember talking with John on the telephone several times and sharing some good old school BMX stories. We really had some good talks and I could tell BMX was a major part of his life and was still in his soul. I thought of John as a friend, more so from our phone conversations 15 years ago than from our brief encounter 40 years ago this summer. But it was the experience 40 years ago that formed the bond and created one of the most incredible BMX stories. God bless you John Kiernan. Thank you for touching so many young lives.
Here is the Pro Money Main Event:
That was a great era to have been in.
Used to race here all the time in the 80s. Michigan City had both indoor and outdoor tracks, South Bend, Waterford Oaks, Kalamazoo, and all the tracks around Chicago, Itasca, Naperville, Elk Grove, Manteno, Tinley Park, Bourbanais, Kankakee,Lombard, Springfirld,Rockford,Elkhorn,Wi. Great memories!
FRIENDS PLEASE!!!! Brent was one of the fastest drivers on the circuit between 1979 and 1982 with great rivals Like Stu, like Turnel Henry, like Scott Clark, Mike Miranda, Greg Hill, Anthony Siwilthon, Pet Loncarevich, Andy Patersson, Greg Grub, Tommy Brakens, BiG Dady, Harry Leary, to mention some of the tremendous but tremendous professionals ahh, Piant, Brian Patterson, the Demas who tried to run with professionals like Mc neal were second-stringers who tried to get to the blow from behind to take down the faster ones. that era was one of the most glorious I have seen in BMX RACE 80
Awesome video guys ! !
Awesome! I remember those early bmx days. Thanks for posting. Who recorded this?
Wow, this was really early!! .. No disqualifications back then... Love the big wide track and I sure miss flat turns... Takes real skill to race on flat turns...
Thx for posting..
I was there .. Cool stuff
Mr Hill. Numero Uno
Thxs for the video guys! Some rad shit! Hilarious buy tshirts so I can pay these guys..hahaaha
How did Brent Patterson ride that bike? He must be 6ft 2" on an 18" top tube!!! Knees must've been hitting the bars all the time
Thats my problem.. but i hate large tire bikes... I think the largest frame offered when i was a kid in the 80s was the gt performer
The Patterson Frame was pretty long, it had lots of leg room….
@@gstevens6948 my Patterson "Long" has an 18.5" top tube. That's a mini sized bike today. The later PR200 was longer but still tiny for a 6ft+ rider
They ran their seats high back in the day
Flat corners..
It has changed hehe
BMX racing was a big deal back then.
Is that Mean Gene Roden in the cowboy at the finish line?
Hey, would it be possible to license any of this footage for a mtb documentary?
Man, Brent got slammed in the corner!
This was 1980's racing. No such thing as 'stay in your lane' Big Kevin McNeal almost caused a pile up in the corner. He had the kamikaze mentality. Super aggro rider. Great stuff.
HAHA Yea he did! I thought for sure Patterson had it! All those guys were badasses! Speaking of Patterson bmx, just recently seen a beautiful piece going for 4k on ebay..Awesome bike bro!
The Corona kid strikes again
Holy crap, are some of these pros racing in blue jeans? Greg Hill?
That’s what you would race in if you didn’t have the special racing pants called “leathers “ that were made of nylon with leather accents and letters sewn on - the NBL rule book actually specified jeans and long sleeve shirt but some of the real tuff guys would flaunt the rules and race in sweat pants ?!?!?!?!?!?