Charles Townsend (BMX racer)

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Charles Heath Townsend (b. January 25, 1967 in Kansas City, Kansas USA) is an "Old School/Mid School" former professional Bicycle Motocross (BMX) racer whose prime competitive years were from 1985 to 1996.

Nicknames: Various and many dating back to his days as a young amateur. Many railroad related: "Steam Engine Charlie", "Speeding Locomotive Charlie", "Choo-Choo Charlie", "Amtrak"^[1]. Also "Black Magic" (which he had stenciled on the back of his racing pants in 1985^[2]), "Big Chuck", "The Fleein' Korean", ^[3] "Chasemainian Devil".^[4]

Contents 1 Racing career 1.1 Career factory and major bicycle shop sponsors 1.1.1 Amateur 1.1.2 Professional 1.2 Career bicycle motocross titles 1.2.1 Amateur 1.2.2 Professional 2 Notable accolades 3 Significant injuries 4 Peccadilloes 5 Post BMX career 6 BMX magazine covers 7 BMX and general press magazine interviews and articles 8 Miscellaneous 9 End Notes 10 External links

[edit] Racing career

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

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Started Racing: 1979/80 age 12 or 13*

*Charles himself is rather vague on this point^[5]

Sanctioning Body:

First race result: Third place in Beginner class in Helliger Park in San Jose, California.

First win (local):

First sponsor: Woodside Bicycle Shop.

First national win: In 17 & Over Open at the 1985 American Bicycle Association (ABA) Supernational in Pico Rivera, California on January 27, 1985.^[6]

Turned professional: December 28, 1986 at the National Bicycle League (NBL) Christmas National at age 19.

First Professional race result: First in "B" Pro on December 28, 1986 in Columbus, Ohio at the National Bicycle League (NBL)'s Christmas National. He won US$600. He also took a sixth in Pro Award but he finished out of the money.^[7]

First Professional win: See above.

First Junior Pro* win: See above.

First Senior Pro** race result: First in "AA" Pro at the American Bicycle Association (ABA) Gilley's Nationals in Pasadena, Texas on March 7, 1987. He won US$535.^[8] After the ABA Scottsdale National, Charles Townsend called the ABA and moved himself up to "AA" pro.^[9] This was reminiscent of Brian Patterson asking permission from then ABA Vice President Gene Roden to move up to "AA" after one race in "A" pro in early 1982.^[10]

First Senior Pro win: See above.

Retired from top senior pro (AA/Elite): 2002. He raced in the Veteran Pro class of the ABA and the NBL's Master class until 2004.

Height & Weight at height of his career (1987): Ht:6'2" Wt:~195lbs.

*In the NBL it is B" Pro/Superclass/"A" Pro depending on the era; in the ABA it is "A" Pro.

**In the NBL it is "A" Pro (Elite Men); in the ABA it is "AA" Pro.

[edit] Career factory and major bicycle shop sponsors

Note: This listing only denotes the racer's primary sponsor. At any given time a racer could have numerous co-sponsors.

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[edit] Amateur

• U.S. Boss Racing Products: 1984-May 1985

• Free Agent: May 1985-December 27, 1985

• Hutch Hi-Performance: December 28, 1985-December 31, 1986. He would turn pro with this sponsor.

[edit] Professional

• Hutch Hi-Performance: December 28, 1985-December 31, 1986.

• Cyclecraft: January 1, 1987-March 21, 1987.

• CW (Custom Works) Racing: March 21, 1987-November 27, 1987. "CW" never stood for "Coast Wheels" as it 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: November 28, 1987-November 26, 1988. Revcore was owned and operated by Roger Worsham who also owned CW Racing, It was a separate product line much like Shadow Racing was in 1983. Townsend's last race for them was the Friday night November 27 Honda Super Cup, one day prior to the start of the 1987 ABA Grand National, where Townsend switch over to Revcore and captured ABA No.1 pro for that year. By 1989 Roger Worsham would divest himself of both Custom Works and Revcore.

• Diamond Back (Centurion Bicycle Company): November 27, 1988-December 31, 1989. At the end of the 1989 season Diamond Back decided to let the entire team go except for Matt Hadan, a pro. Harry Leary decided to retire. Charles Townsend was sponsorless for three months until April of 1990.

• Powerlite*: April 1990-November 1991.

• Robinson Racing Products: November 1991-December 1998

• Troy Lee Designs: April 1999-December 2000. Charles was sponsorless for approximately five months between Robinson and Troy Lee.

• Kona/Rocket Cash.Com: January 2001-

• Advent:

*By this time Gary Turner (GT) Racing had brought Powerlite.

[edit] Career bicycle motocross titles

[edit] Amateur

National Bicycle Association (NBA)

National Bicycle League (NBL)

• 1986 18 & Over Expert National No.1 Amateur

American Bicycle Association (ABA)

• None

International Bicycle Motocross Federation (IBMXF)

• 1986 17 & Over Expert World Champion

• 1986 18-24 Cruiser World Champion

[edit] Professional

National Bicycle Association (NBA)

• None

National Bicycle League (NBL)

American Bicycle Association (ABA)

• 1987 National No.1 Pro.

United States Bicycle Motocross Association (USBA)

• None

International Bicycle Motocross Federation (IBMXF)

• 1989 Pro World Champion

Pro Series Championships

[edit] Notable accolades

• Named one of the new BMX Action's "Terrible Ten" top amateurs and future professionals for 1986.^[12]

• Named BMX Action's Pro Rookie of the Year for 1987.

• Named BMX Plus! 1988 "Racer of the Year" with 20.74% (1,930) of the vote out of 9,305 cast. He won a Suzuki RM125 motocross motorcycle.

[edit] Significant injuries

• Cracked Tibia and dislocated knee at ABA Lone Star National in Fort Worth, Texas on July 2,1988. Laid up for about five weeks^[13][14] until the International Bicycle Motocross Federation (IBMXF) World Championships in Santiago, Chile in mid August. What precipitated the accident was his front wheel coming off in mid race at a jump.^[15] He did along with Pete Loncarevich who was nursing broken ribs, roll off the gate at the NBL Waterford Oaks, Michigan race in a pro forma act to achieve the prerequisite number of NBL races participated in in a season to be eligible to race in the NBL Grand Nationals and become national number one pro pending the results of the Grand Nationals.^[16]

• Broke ankle at NBL Grand National in September of 1988.^[17]

• Separated shoulder at the 1992 ABA National in Topeka, Kansas on May 10. The rumored prognosis was an eight to ten week lay off but he was racing two weeks later at the ABA Summer Nationals in Sunol, California on May 23. Racing in pain, he did not make the mains on Saturday but did get a third on Sunday in "AA" pro.^[18]

[edit] Peccadilloes

[edit] Post BMX career

[edit] BMX magazine covers

Bicycle Motocross News:

• None

Minicycle/BMX Action & Super BMX:

Bicycle Motocross Action & Go:

• October 1991 Vol.2 Iss.12 (Go)

BMX Plus!:

Bicycles and Dirt:

Snap:

[edit] BMX and general press magazine interviews and articles

[edit] Miscellaneous

[edit] End Notes

[edit] External links

• December 31, 1999 BMXUltra.com interview
• The American Bicycle Association (ABA) Website.
• The National Bicycle League (NBL) Website.