We've asked Mel Stoutsenberger to pick his favourite photos from back in the day and give us the Who, Where, When, What, and Why. Mel documented BMX first hand. Here's photo number Five.
IMAGE FIVE:
Who: Bruce Bufkin from Canoga Park, California. Bruce and I became friends in 1968 because of our shared interest in motocross. We didn't have motorcycles yet but we had our Schwinn Stingrays which we rode as much as we could in the empty fields and trails around our neighborhood. His older Brother used to help us work on our bikes, gave us tips, customizing and making them better suited for riding in the dirt.
Where: Indian Dunes Motorcycle Park, mini-bike track, Valencia, California.
When: August 1972.
We found it! This is the official video for 'BMX Boys' by Danny Owen & The Mongoose team! Released in 1983, this track was everywhere in the early '80s including The Kelloggs BMX Racing series.
Name: Dom Phipps
Occupation: Owner On Record - A Brand history marketing agency.
BMX History Projects done: Haro Bikes - 30 Years of Freestyle. Haro First Generation Innovation.
Books - The Rise of BMX Freestyle Volume 1 & 2. The Birth of the BMX Freestyle Movement - 1st and 2nd Edition.
Current BMX history project: Redline BMX Foundations.
First of all, how can you explain your interest in the early days of BMX?
Dom Phipps: I was just a neighborhood rider growing up in the south of England. BMX came along in a period of my childhood, where I think many of us needed to set off in a direction. BMX became the catalyst for a lot of young people to become free-thinking, creative, and independent. I loved everything about it, including the social aspect and friendships with other like-minded kids. It was a magical time to be young.
In the early '80-s everyone in The Netherlands rode a BMX bike. People in their 40-s-50-s remember that time well as everyone has stories of bombing frontyards, breaking bike parts or winning their first trophy. The magazines were the bible, it was all you had and they were read over and over again. It was how we learnt English in fact with every word that we did not understand looked up in the dictionary. New products were drooled over but impossible to get our hands on for multiple reasons.
Oldschool BMX Parts opened up shop in Heesch for a day to bring the BMX pioneers and oldschool fans together. Collectors displayed their bikes, brought products they wanted to sell and the Oldschool BMX Parts man-cave sold plenty of old parts. It was just cool to go back in memory lane because some of the
Classic clip of Neil Ruffell in the early days of his riding career!
BMX Contest im Tropica Hemsbach 09.12.1990 - Oldschool BMX by BobbyCarClub Ostwestfalen
Oldschool BMX Video vom BMX Contest im Tropica in Hemsbach am 09.12.1990.
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.