income he generated. Now if you don't know what his site is about, I've just copied one post for you so you can get into it. After that, go to Freestyle BMX Tales for loads more. Make sure you've got some time on your hands...
Can you spare some change? By The White Bear
The first King of Dirt wasn't an actual contest, it was a big dirt jam. The idea was spawned by pro racer/jumper/body builder Rich Bartlett and then BMX Action editor/racer Gork. The jam was held in Palmdale, California, at Rich's dad's house. There was a little set of trails behind the house and and some longer trails back in the field. I'll go into more details on this event in a future post.
It was 1987 I think, and I was working for $5 an hour for the AFA, and didn't have a car. So I caught a ride with Unreel Productions/Vison Street Wear cameraman Dave Alvarez. I knew Rich, and he said we could come up the night before and crash on the floor with a few other riders. So I got a free ride up to the high desert, and a place to crash for free, thanks to Dave and Rich. We got up the morning of the contest, and headed to the local McDonald's for breakfast, along with about fifty other BMX racers and freestylers. As we pulled up, we saw a kid standing outside the entrance to McD's, apparently panhandling for money. Rich looked closer, then laughed, "Is that Moeller?"
Sure enough, the Mad Dog* of BMX himself, the "M" in S&M Bicycles, couldn't afford breakfast. He was panhandling, asking all the other riders for change so he could eat breakfast. A few of them just shook their heads, but most of us handed him a quarter or more. A few minutes later we saw Chris, who was about 17 then, creep in and get some food.
The crazy thing was, most of the best jumpers were on S&M then, and as a team, they made the best showing at the jam. Hey, starting a company is crazy, and Chris was living low for several more years before he really made a decent living from S&M. Now he's a millionaire and I just spent a year panhandling to survive, so he got the last laugh.
Whitebear
* Although Chris called the first S&M frame, the Mad Dog, his knickname from high school wrestling, he's moved on and hates that knickname. So don't call Chris Moeller "Mad Dog" anymore. Whatever you do, DO NOT call S&M Bikes at (714) 835-3400 and ask for the Mad Dog, he hates that. And don't refer to Chris Moeller as the "Mad Dog" in your blog, zine, magazine or on your website, because he doesn't respond to that name anymore.
URL: Freestyle BMX Tales