Perry Kramer

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Perry Kramer (b. October 6, 1959 in Santa Monica, California USA) is a former American "Old School" professional Bicycle Motocross (BMX) racer whose prime competitive years were from 1974-1981.

Among his accomplishments is his co-founding with Scot Breithaupt of Scot Enterprise Racing (SE Racing). His nickname "PK" is a simple derivation from his first and last initials of his name and the inspiration of one of the most popular model of BMX bicycle called the "PK Ripper" that is still in production.

Contents

[edit] Racing career

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

Started Racing: 1973 or 1974. Perry Kramer himself is vague on this point. His first race was at what was the very first BMX track, Palms Park in Los Angeles, California which was started by Ron Mackler in 1969.[1]

Sanctioning Body: Unsanctioned.

First race result:

First win (local):

First sponsor:

First national win: 1976 National Bicycle Association (NBA) Winter Nationals.

Turned Professional: 1977 age 18.

First Professional race result:

First Professional* win:

Retired: 1985

Height & weight at height of his career ():

*At the start of his pro career, there wasn't a two tier system of Junior and Senior Pros, therefore his first pro race and/or win was his first in Senior pro.

[edit] 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 co-sponsors.

[edit] Amateur

  • Dan Gurney:
  • Dirtmaster:
  • National Bicycle Association: He was directly sponsored by the sanctioning body.
  • Mongoose (BMX Products): 1976-Early 1978 Kramer would turn pro with this sponsor

[edit] Professional

  • Mongoose (BMX Products): 1976-Early 1978
  • SE (Scot Enterprises now Sports Engineering) Racing: March 1978-March 1983
  • Race Inc: March 1983-

[edit] Career bicycle motocross titles

[edit] Amateur

National Bicycle Association (NBA)

  • 1976 Overall Western States Champion

National Bicycle League (NBL)

  • None

American Bicycle Association (ABA)

  • None

International Bicycle Motocross Federation (IBMXF)

  • None

[edit] Professional

National Bicycle Association (NBA)

  • 1979 Jag Pro World Champion. (NBA/NBL sanctioned)

National Bicycle League (NBL)

  • None

American Bicycle Association (ABA)

  • None

United States Bicycle Motocross Association (USBA)

  • None

International Bicycle Motocross Federation (IBMXF)

  • None

Special races, Invitationals and Pro Series Championships

  • 1980 Tokyo Grand Prix Champion.
  • 1980 Avro Invitational Fietscross Champion held in Eidnhoven, Netherlands.

[edit] Notable accolades

  • He and friends of his when they were children were responsible for getting Ernie Alexander, a Motorcycle Motocross track operater to hold Bicycle Motocross races. This led Ernie Alexander to eventually create the National Bicycle Association.[2]
  • He helped Scot Breithaupt in the establishment of SE Racing in 1978.
  • One of the most respected and pioneering BMX bicycle models is named after him: The P.K. Ripper manufactured by Scot Enterprises (SE) Racing. It was one of the first production BMX bicycles to be made from aluminum. It is a metal that was difficult to work with vis-à-vis bicycle frame construction and if not manufactured correctly, fragile. As a result it was also more expensive than typical steel bicycles. The P.K. Ripper was one of the first aluminum framed BMX bicycles that was reliable and durable for racing and competitively priced. It was in many ways ahead of its time. That it resembles a modern BMX bicycle is no accident. Most modern BMX race bicycles are usually made from aluminum. Like the P.K. modern aluminum bicycle frames have oversized flattened downtubes and toptubes which was called on the Ripper (and a pioneering S.E. Racing BMX Cruiser) "Floval" by the founder of S.E. Racing Scot Breithaupt. A very unusual looking bicycle at the time as well as the "exotic" material it was fabricated from. When introduced most BMX bicycles were made from either hi-tensile steel or more expensive but stronger chromium-molybdenum steel. Chromium-molybdenum steel, commonly known as "Chromoly", while more expensive than high-tensile steel, it was cheaper than aluminum, in part it was much easier to fabricate and more reliable in terms of durability than most other aluminum framed race bicycles on the market at the time. Aluminum, while significantly lighter and much less subject to corrosion than chromoly steel, is more brittle and less resilient than chromoly. The frame must be absolutely stiff or it is subject to failing abruptly, i.e. snapping in two suddenly. It will succumb from metal fatigue at a much faster rate, especially if it is subjected to flexing. This is why the tubes of an aluminum frame are both of a larger diameter and are thicker walled than chromoly tubes, to maintain stiffness. Further, aluminum is harder to weld. The welds have to be extra strong and "double butted" and thorough which gives the aluminum frame with its very obvious beaded weldeds an "unfinished" look, as if someone forgot to sand them down at the factory to give it the clean almost one piece look of a chromoly frame. As a result the weight advantage of aluminum is reduced significantly, in addition to it higher fabrication cost.[3] For these reasons the Chromoly steel frame and fork was the standard of BMX racing and freestyle for twenty years. Only in the mid 1990's as manufacturing advances-many pioneered in the construction of mountain bike frames-made aluminum cheaper and easier to work with did aluminum framed race and freestyle bicycles begin to supplant chromoly. Today the aluminum BMX bicycle frame is the standard. The modern iteration of the P. K. Ripper is still manufactured by SE (now called Sports Engineering) Racing.
  • He was one of the founding members of the Professional Racing Organization (PRO) racers guild in 1977.
  • Following in the footsteps of Bobby Encinas he established Perry Kramer's Pro School of BMX traveling BMX clinic in 1978 teaching hundreds of kids what BMX had to offer.
  • He is a 1991 Inductee into the ABA BMX Hall of Fame[4]
  • He is a 2004 Inductee into the U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame.[5]

[edit] Significant injuries

[edit] Peccadilloes

[edit] Post BMX career

  • He stayed within the industry and worked for various bicycle companies including Giant.[6]

[edit] BMX magazine covers

Bicycle Motocross News:

  • May 1976 Vol.3 No.5 with Tinker Juarez and an unidentified racer.

Minicycle/BMX Action & Super BMX:

Bicycle Motocross Action:

BMX Plus!:

  • October 1979 Issue No.8

Bicycles and Dirt:

[edit] BMX press magazine interviews and articles

  • "Perry Kramer's Pro BMX Winners Seminar!"BMX Plus! May 1982 Vol. No.5 pg.10

[edit] End Notes

  1. ^ BMX Plus! May 1982 Vol. No.5 pg.4 (the cover counts as pages 1 and 2)
  2. ^ BMX Plus! May 1982 Vol. No.5 pg.11
  3. ^ BMX Plus! July 1994 Vol.17 No.7 pg.48
  4. ^ Perry Kramer's blrub in the ABA BMX Hall of Fame.
  5. ^ Perry Kramer Inducted into the U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame.
  6. ^ BMX Action July 1989 Vol.14 No.7 pg.10

[edit] External links

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