Scot Breithaupt
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Scot Breithaupt (b. July 14,[1] 1956 in Long Beach, California) is an "Old School" former professional Bicycle Motocross (BMX) racer and a founding father of BMX in the early 1970's whose prime competitive years were from 1970 to 1977. Indeed, in some ways, he is the founder of "Old School BMX" the era roughly regarded to be from 1969 to 1987 or 1988; from its very beginnings to just after its first major slump in popularity of BMX racing from 1985-1988. Racing started to rise in participation again around 1988-89 and is regarded as the start of "Mid School BMX", roughly 1988-2000.
Contents |
[edit] The Pioneer
Scot Breithaupt was one of the pioneers of BMX; perhaps its inventor in terms of giving it its modern infrastructure, after he first organized what was called pedi-cross at the time on November 14, 1970. However, the first BMX race was recorded and could be credited back to July 10, 1969 in Santa Monica, California to a motorcycle motocross (MX) racer Ronald Mackler, a teen-aged park attendant who was asked to help organize a race by local kids. Scot Breithaupt, who was also a teenage MX racer, did set up an organizational features around his races very much like how the following sanctioning bodies would base theirs including rulebooks, a point system, a skill level structure, a racing season, trophies and promotions of special races that were the prototype for nationals. Scot did not actually invent these structures but adapted them from motorcycle motocross as would other pioneers like Ernie Alexander, the founder of the National Bicycle Association (NBA) and George Esser the founder of the National Bicycle League (NBL) both of whom like Breithaupt had roots in motorcycle motocross as racers or promoters. Scot was only the first to do it in BMX and at the ripe old age of 14 at that.
His nickname was and is "OM" for "Old Man" which was in part derived from him being older than most of the kids at a time when BMX was seen as a pre-teen and early teen activity by the late 1970's; he was doing things usually beyond his young age, like promoting races and starting and consulting with companies while he was still a teenager. Later, it became a running gag as to just how old he was. In the January 1975 issue of Cycle Illustrated in its report on the Yamaha Bicycle Gold Cup Finals (a.k.a the Bicycle Motocross Championship of California State) has him listed as 17 years old.[2] At 17, his age hadn't become a running gag yet, although he could not participate in the Yamaha Bicycle Gold Cup series finals because he was disqualified after a win in one of the three proceding qualifying races due to the fact that only those 16 years and younger could participate. This would give him a birth year of 1957. However, it is a virtual certainty he was born in 1956, since the October 1976 issue of Minicycle/BMX Action (which would later become Super BMX magazine) which has him being 20 years old.[3] Since he was staff it is more likely that Minicycle/BMX Action would have it right than Cycling Illustrated would since it was only reporting the age of a person they probably didn't know previously. Unless he was hedging his age at Minicycle/BMX Action or the magazine got it wrong (unlikely since he was a contributor and officially billed as their "BMX Tech Wizard" on their table of contents page) he was 14 years old at the time he helped found BMX. This running joke is done with his complicity. He used to put a "?" mark in the space reserved for the rider's age on the ABA sign up form for when he raced Cruiser class.[4] Also, in part two of a four part series of interviews done by BMXUltra.com profiling Mr. Breithaupt and SE Racing in response to a question "When did you start SE?" he quips "I started SE Racing in Mid 1977 when I was 14."[5] Of course, if true he helped invent BMX in 1970 when he was seven years old.
*He was shown competing in a type of bicycle racing that would be later called Formula One (F-1), which used modified BMX bicycles for racing on a concreate obstacleless race course. Exactly 10 years later a short lived BMX derived fad that was very similar to what Breithaupt was doing using similarly configured bicycles would explode and then fade out as quick as it came.
[edit] Racing career
Started Racing: November 14, 1970 when he was 14 years old at an old field that would become his first track called BUMS which would retroactively be called Bicycle United Motocross Society (B.U.M.S) in Long Beach, California on the corner of 7th and Bellflower strees.[6]
Sanctioning Body: None. Started the B.U.M.S proto sanctioning body.
First race result:
First win (local):
First sponsor: Matthews Motocross
First national win: Yamaha Bicycle Gold Cup series proto national on September 14, 1974, but was disqualified for being over aged at 18 years old. This helped established the "Old Man" moniker.
Turned professional: 1977
First Professional win:
Retired: From 20" racing in May of 1977. He then started racing a 26" Beach Cruiser. He retired altogether from pro racing in 1983 and had himself reclassified an amateur. He raced intermittedly in the older amateur cruiser classes in between commitments with his business which cut down on his training time. He raced in Vet and Hall of Fame races in his spare time. In May of 2005 it was annonced that Mr. Briepthaupt at then 49 years of age (approximately) would race for SE Bikes (see below in "Factory sponsors, professional, SE Bikes).
[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
- Matthews Motocross:* 1973
- Yamaha International:* 1974 He consulted with Yamaha to create and refine their famous Moto-bike, a BMX bicycle that was designed to mimic the look and feel of a motocross motorcycle, including having shock absorbers built into its frame and fork. It is a famous milestone in BMX with early BMX stars like David Clinton winning the first BMX titles on it but it with its energy robbing shock absorbers was not the future that the BMX bicycle would take.
- Dan Gurney All American BMX Bicycles:* 1975
- FMF (Flying Machine Factory):* Early 1976-December 1976
*He was employed with these companies as consultant, team manager official tester as well as a racer.
- SE (formerly Scot Enterprises, now called Sports Engineering, Inc.) Racing: January 1977-198-. Scot would turn professional with this company he founded. More below.
[edit] Professional
- SE (formerly Scot Enterprises, now called Sports Engineering, Inc.) Racing: January 1977-198-. Scot Enterprises, Originally founded and owned by Scot Breithaupt, started as an advertising and promotional company that expanded into Scot Enterprises Racing Division, which made and sold stickers, T-shirts and hats. In 1978 it produced its first BMX component the JU-6 frame (JU stood for Jeff Utterback, a top racer at the time, the six referred to his status as the number six rider in the country in the National Bicycle Association (NBA) after the 1977 season. Scot's friend Mike Devit, took over SE Racing in the late 1980's. In the late 1990's a Tiwaneesse company acquired the company, but it lay dormant for several years with no bikes sold or manufactured. Sports Engineering is now owned by Advanced Sports Inc. through Fuji Bicycles, which bought SE in August 2002.
- SE Bikes (Sports Engineering Bikes, formerly Scot Enterprises Racing Division): 2005- Showing that BMXers never really retire, on May 15, 2005 Scot announced he had signed a contract to race for SE racing in the BMX cruiser class.[7] At an approximate age of 50 in 2006 this would mean he would race in the 46-51 Cruiser class in the American Bicycle Association (ABA) and 50-54 Cruiser class in the National Bicycle League (NBL).
[edit] Career bicycle motocross titles
[edit] Amateur
Bicycle United Motocross Society (B.U.M.S)
- 1972 California State Championship.
National Bicycle Association (NBA)
- 1976 National No.1
National Bicycle League (NBL)
- None
American Bicycle Association (ABA)
- None
United States Bicycle Motocross Association (USBA)
- None
International Bicycle Motocross Federation (IBMXF)
- None
Pro Series Championships
[edit] Professional
National Bicycle Association (NBA)
- None (Came in National No.3 in Pro Cruiser in 1980. Jeff Kosmala was Pro Criuser No.1 in 1980.)
National Bicycle League (NBL)
- None
American Bicycle Association (ABA)
- None (Came in National No.3 in Cruiser class in 1980. The ABA did not have a pro cruiser class during the 1980 season. Jeff Kosmala was Criuser Class No.1 in 1980.)
United States Bicycle Motocross Association (USBA)
- None
International Bicycle Motocross Federation (IBMXF)
- None
Pro Series Championships
[edit] Notable accolades
- Co-founded BMX Plus! magazine and was contributing editor to both Bicycle Motocross Action and Minicycle/BMX Action (not to be confused with Bicycle Motocross Action which would later condense its name to BMX Action) which would subsequently become Super BMX. He therefore had a large hand in all three of the major founding BMX magazine periodicals.
- The first to put on what could be called a pro class race anywhere in 1975 at Saddleback Park, California (US$200 purse).
- He was a founding member and President of the Professional Racing Organization (PRO) the first attempt to form a BMX professional racers guild.[8][9]
- He both invented the modern BMX racing Cruiser and the Cruiser class to race them with. In September of 1978 Scot showed up at the famous Corona Raceway on a converted Emory beach cruiser. It had 26 inch diameter wheels and low rise handlebars from a motorcycle. That same year he convinced the National Bicycle Association (NBA) to start the Cruiser class.[10]
- Held the long distance jump record for bicycles in 1979 at an average 76 feet.* He accomplished it on a SE OM Flyer 26" Cruiser. The record held for 10 years.[11]
- Scot is a 1990 Inductee of the ABA BMX Hall of Fame.
*The third and last jump for the average was only 58 feet, so the average was brought down and therefore the previous two jumps were significantly longer than 76 feet.
[edit] Significant injuries
- Broke ankle in November 1974 during photograph session for a book. Was thought never to be able to race again.[12] He was laid up until March of 1975.[13]
[edit] Peccadilloes
- A huge mark is that he seems to have had a drug problem going back some 20 years, before he sold SE Racing in the late 1980's according to his girlfriend Jamie:
[edit] Post BMX career
- Scot was in the Promotional and Real Estate business, but he still was involved with the sport he helped create on a casual basis including racing. As of 2005 Scot is once again racing for SE Racing, now called SE Bikes, in the amateur cruiser classes, showing that for most BMXer's there is no real "post BMX career".
- Unfortunately BMX is not a barrier to some of the uglier things in life. In November of 2004 Scot was arrested on drug related charges and for leading the police on a chase. Stu Thomsen, who is a California [Sheriff]]'s deputy provided a police report on the incident. As reported on the Fat BMX website:
"The Old Man in jail. Yes Scott Breithaupt (sic) is in jail for drug related and evading arrest. Stu Thompsen (sic) provided a Sheriff's report on the incident. Scott lead the authorities/police on a two hour low speed pursuit I.E. he ran form the police for two hours in his vehicle. He is scheduled for release at the end of 2004. FREE SCOTT BREITHAUPT!" (sic)[14]
Unfortunately it did not break the trend. On April 22, 2006 he was again arrested for drug possession in Long Beach, California.
This is not the first time he has been in trouble with the law. He most recently did time in Folsom State Prison on a drug conviction. He has a prior conviction to that. If he is convicted on this latest charge he could be subjected to California's three strikes law in regard to thrice convicted drug felons. However, being given madatory drug treatment by a judge is still an option.
Scot used to promote special anti-drug BMX races like the Palm Springs Race Against Drugs event in early 1988. The BMX press, sanctioning bodies and sponsors took an active anti-drug stance in light of Ronnie Anderson's admission of drug use in the December 8, 1986 issue of Sports Illustrated and Pete Loncarevich's alleged anabolic steroid use (never substantiated).[15] Other racers where caught using illicit drugs or in possession of drug paraphernalia. For instance Terry Tennette caught in possession of marijuana which resulted in his dismissal as a factory racer with GT Racing.[16] This was perhaps the time when Scot was into drug use himself.
After spending several weeks in jail Scot was able to reply to his many friends and well wishers with a June 14, 2006 post to VintageBMX.com under is own account:
[edit] BMX magazine covers
Bicycle Motocross News:
- July 1974 Vol.1 No.2 with Brian Ramocinski
Minicycle/BMX Action & Super BMX:
Bicycle Motocross Action:
- June 1981 Vol.6 No.6 with Perry Kramer and Mike Buff.
BMX Plus!:
Bicycles and Dirt:
[edit] BMX press magazine interviews and articles
- "Talkin' Twenty-Fours" BMX Action May 1982 Vol.7 No.5 pg.53 side bar
- "The Origins of BMX" Super BMX March 1984 Vol.11 No.3 pg.60
- "The Origins of BMX" (part II) Super BMX April 1984 Vol.11 No.4 pg.27
[edit] End Notes
- ^ From an old Roostbmx.com post by Scot. Word search for "7/14/???" The post author is under "Scot "The Old Man" Breithaupt".
- ^ Cycle Illustrated January 1975 Vol.8 No.4 pg.53
- ^ Minicyle/BMX Action October 1976 Vol.3 No.10 pg.47
- ^ Bicycles and Dirt December 1982 Vol.1 No.4 pg.55
- ^ History of SE Racing section of BMXUltra.com interview with Mr. Breithaupt.
- ^ Super BMX November 1981 Vol.8 No.11 pg.13
- ^ Press release announcing that Scot will race for SE Bikes.
- ^ Bicycle Motocross Action August 1977 Vol.2 No.3 pg.22
- ^ BMX Action December 1986 Vol.11 No.12 pg.30
- ^ BMX Plus! August 1993 Vol.16 No.8 pg.63
- ^ BMX Ultra Interview. Word search for "Distance jumping record"
- ^ Multipart interview by BMXUtra.com.
- ^ Super BMX April 1984 Vol.11 No.4 pg.27
- ^ FatBMX.com article Word search for "Breithaupt"
- ^ BMX Action December 1987 Vol.12 No.12 pg.18 "The Steroid Controversy"
- ^ Super BMX & Freestyle November 1987 Vol.14 No.11 pg.8
