Tinker Juarez

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David Juarez (born March 4, 1961 in Downey, California USA) is a former professional "Old School" Bicycle Motocross (BMX) racer and current top mountain bike racer whose prime competitive years in BMX were from 1978 to 1984 and in mountain bike racing 1986 to the present. Since 1986, he has been a mountain bike racer and since late 2005, competing as a ultra-distance road bike racer. In all three disciplines, he has won numerous national and international competitions. Most recently, "Tinker" finished third in the 2006 Race Across America Enduro bicycle road race.

"Tinker" Juarez is a highly talented cyclist who has made significant impacts in the cycling disciplines of BMX Racing, Freestyle BMX, and Mountain Biking and now long distance road racing for over thirty years. While he was also known as the "Hollified Flash" after one of his home BMX tracks he used to race at and dominate in the early 1970's,[1] the moniker "Tinker" is a nickname that was coined by his family. According to his Mother Rose: "We used to say 'Stinker' when he was a baby, everybody thought we were saying 'Tinker"[2] David Juarez is so well known by his nickname "Tinker" many people probably think that is his real first name.

Contents

[edit] Bicycle Motocross (BMX) racing career

Note: The Professional first listed only pertain to the national level only unless otherwise noted.

Started Racing: 1974

Sanctioning Body:

First race result:

First win (local):

First sponsor:

First national win:

Turned professional: 1977 Age 16.

First Professional race result:

First Professional win:

Retired from Senior A/AA pro competition: 1986 at age 25. Unlike most BMXers he never looked back and dedicated the rest of his cycling career to Mountain Biking.

Height and Weight at the height of his career (1979-85): Ht:5'8" Wt:~140lbs.

[edit] Career factory and major bicycle 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

  • Mongoose (BMX Products): 1976-February 14, 1982. Tinker would turn professional with this sponsor.

[edit] Professional

  • Mongoose (BMX Products): 1976-February 14, 1982.
  • JMC (Jim Melton Cyclery) Racing: Mid May 1982-May 1983.
  • Bandito: May 1983-Early 1985
  • ODI (Ornate Design, Inc.)*: Mid 1985-


*This company first started out making Christmas ornaments but switched to making bicycle grips and later grips for power tools as well as BMX and skateboarding accessories.[3]

[edit] Career bicycle motocross titles

[edit] Amateur

National Bicycle Association (NBA)

  • 1976 14-15 Expert Western States Champion
  • 1976 15 Expert California State Champion.

National Bicycle League (NBL)

0

American Bicycle Association (ABA)

0

[edit] Professional

National Bicycle Association (NBA)

0

National Bicycle League (NBL)

0

American Bicycle Association (ABA)

0

United States Bicycle Motocross Association (USBA)

0

International Bicycle Motocross Federation (IBMXF)

0

[edit] Freestyle BMX

In April 1980, Tinker was named the first King of the Skatepark by Bicycle Motocross Action magazine.[4]

Although no contest was ever held, it was a general declaration for his highly advanced maneuvers that no one were matching at the time.

[edit] Significant BMX related injuries

Tinker, despite eventually becoming a top pro BMXer in racing and gaining "high airs" in both dirt jumping and vertical freestyle, went ten years without breaking a bone. It is very common for BMXers, especially in the pro ranks to become occasionally seriously injured because they are pushing themselves to as far as their talents can take them and beyond at high speeds, or in the case of vertical freestyle and dirt jumping to high altitudes and distances.

[edit] Mountain Bike (MTB) racing career

In 1986, Tinker made the switch from BMX to mountain biking. Since that time, Tinker has become a 3-time National Off-Road Bicycle Association (NORBA) cross-country (XC) champion and 4-time national champion in the 24-hour solo category. In 1996, he became one of the first to see the introduction of mountain biking as an Olympic sport and represent the United States. Tinker again represented the United States at the 2000 Summer Olympics.

[edit] Factory sponsors

Professional teams
  • General (General Bicycle & Moped Company): March 1988-
  • Volvo/Cannondale: 1993-
  • Siemens/Cannondale:
  • Team Zeal: September 26, 2005-Present

[edit] MTB major career achievements

Mountain biking career
  • NORBA National Champion (2001)
  • Flag of United States United States NORBA Cross-Country Champion (1994, 1995, 1998)
  • Flag of United States United States National Champion, 24-Hour Solo Category (2001, 2002, 2003, 2004)
  • 1st (Gold Medal) – Pan American Games (1995)
  • 1st – National Cycling Association Cross-Country Finals (1998)

[edit] Ultra-Endurance racing career

In 2005, Tinker began training for long-distance road racing events. He won the Heart of the South, which is a 500-miler race, and finished second place finish at the 2005 edition of the Furnace Creek 508, a grueling 508-mile course that covers 35,000 feet of cumulative elevation gain and passes through Death Valley. His podium finishes qualified Tinker for the 2006 Race Across America (RAAM), the annual transcontinential bicycle race from the west coast to the east cost of the United States. He came in third in the the Men's Solo Enduro division of the RAAM endurance road race on June 22, 2006, completing the three thousand mile race which started in 2006 from Oceanside, California and finishing in Atlantic City, New Jersey. His finishing time was 10 days, 22 hours and 21 minutes.[5]

[edit] Ultra-Endurance road biking career achievements

[edit] Career cycling achievements by year

2006
  • 3rd – Race Across America, Men's Solo - Enduro Category
  • 1st – Solo 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo
2005
  • NORBA National Champion, 24-Hour Solo Category
  • 1st – Heart of the South (500 mile road race)
  • 2nd – Furnace Creak 508 (508 mile road race)
  • 1st – Solo 24 Hours of Mountain Mayhem (Bristol, England)
  • 1st – Solo 24 hours of Temecula (Temecula, California)
  • 1st – Solo 24 Hours of Mohican Wilderness (Glenmont, Ohio)
  • 1st – Solo 12 hours of Razorback (Reddick, Florida)
  • 3rd – Solo 12 hours of Humbolt
  • 1st – Solo 12 Horas MTB Sampa Bikers (Itupeva, São Paulo, Brazil)
2004
  • NORBA National Champion, 24-Hour Solo Category
  • 2nd – Solo 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo
  • 3rd overall (1st, masters) – La Ruta de los Conquistadores (Costa Rica)
2003
  • NORBA National Champion, 24-Hour Solo Category
  • 1st – Solo 24 hours of Laguna Seca (National Championship)
  • 1st – Solo 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo
  • 1st – Solo 24 hours of Temecula
  • 1st – Solo 24 hours of Moab, Utah
  • 1st – Epic 75 at Big Bear
  • 1st – Solo 12 hours of Humbolt
  • 1st – Solo 12 hours of Razorback
  • 1st – Solo 12 horas MTB Sampa Bikers (Itupeva, São Paulo, Brazil)
  • 2nd – Solo 24 hours of Mtn Whistle (World Championships)
2002
  • NORBA National Champion, 24-Hour Solo Category
  • 24 Hour National Champion
  • 1st – Gorge Games - 24 Hour Solo Race
  • 1st – 24 Hours of Adrenaline - Winter Park
  • 1st – 24 Hours of Adrenaline - Laguna Seca
  • 1st – 24 Hours of 9 Mile
  • 1st – 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo
2001
  • NORBA National Champion, 24-Hour Solo Category
  • Inductee – Mountain Bike Hall of Fame
  • 1st – Gorge Games - 24 Hour Solo Race
  • 1st – 24 Hours of Adrenaline - Laguna Seca
  • 1st – 24 Hour US National Championships
  • 5th – Mount Snow NORBA Cross Country Finals
  • 6th – Deer Valley NORBA Cross Country Finals
2000
  • Flag of United States United States Olympic Team Member
  • 5th – NORBA Cross-Country, Mt. Snow
  • 7th – NORBA Cross-Country, Mammoth and Crystal Mountain
  • 10th – World Cup XC, Mazatlan
1999
  • 5th overall – NORBA Short Track
  • 9th overall – NORBA Cross-Country
1998
  • NCS National Cross-Country Champion
  • 1st – NCA Cross-Country Finals
  • 2nd – NCS Cross-Country; Red Wing
  • 3rd overall – Tour of the Rockies
1996
1995
1994
1993
  • Inductee – BMX Hall of Fame
1989
  • 1st – NORBA Iron Horse Classic

[edit] Career accolades

BMX
  • He was Bicycle Motocross Action's very first star interview in their first issue (December 1976/January 1977).[6]
  • He was one of the founding members of the Professional Racing Organization (PRO), the first attempt at a BMX racer's guild in 1977.[7]
  • He is a 1993 inductee into the ABA BMX Hall of Fame.
MTB
  • Juarez was selected as a member of the 1996 and 2000 Summer Olympics.
  • He was inducted into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame in 2001.
  • Cannondale awarded Tinker its 'Icon Award' in 2005 for his contribution to the sport.

[edit] BMX and MTB magazine covers

Bicycle Motocross News:

  • May 1976 Vol.3 No.5 with Perry Kramer and an unidentified racer.

Minicycle/BMX Action & Super BMX:

Bicycle Motocross Action:

  • April 1980 Vol.5 No.4

BMX Plus!:

Bicycles and Dirt:

  • October 1983 Vol.2 No.1 ahead of Ronnie Anderson and Rob Medrano.

Mountain Bike Action:

[edit] BMX, MTB and general press magazine interviews and articles

  • "Almost a Legend in his own Time. Tinker Juarez: The Hollified Flash" Bicycle Motocross Action December 1976/January 1977 Vol.1 No.1 pg.27
  • "The King of the Skateparks Tinker Juarez" Bicycle Motocross Action April 1980 Vol.5 No.4 pg.25. Pictoral of Tinker performing Vertical Freestyle at Lakewood Skatepark in Lakewood, California.
  • "Interview: Tinker Juarez" BMX Action January 1983 Vol.8 No.1 pg.26

[edit] Miscellaneous

Tinker also participated in what was call Formula One (F-1) bicycle racing. F-1 racing was a short lived fad from 1987-1989 that involved bicycles with 20" wheels that looked like a cross between BMX, Road Race Touring and Mountain bicycles. Other famous BMX stars both retired and active at the time participated, including Harry Leary, Pete Loncarevich, David Clinton, Stu Thomsen, Eddy and Mike King. The two major BMX sanctioning bodies ABA and NBL, sanctioned the events. Tinker won the first ABA sponsored F-1 series race in Phoenix, Arizona in early 1988. In the following NBL sanctioned Grand Prix series he got a sixth in Memphis, Tennessee (the very first NBL F-1 race) and a second in Orlando, Florida.

[edit] End Notes

  1. ^ Bicycle Motocross Action December 1976/January 1977 Vol.1 No.1 pg.26
  2. ^ [1] Team Zeal website.
  3. ^ BMX Plus! November 1986 Vol.9 No.11 pg.15
  4. ^ Fat BMX Magazine: Profiler : July 2005: Tinker Juarez Interview by Matt Skinner
  5. ^ "Juarez Completes Toughest Race" Tinker gives his account of the 2006 Race Across America.
  6. ^ Bicycle Motocross Action December 1976/January 1977 Vol.1 No.1 pg.26
  7. ^ BMX Action December 1986 Vol.11 No.12 pg.30

[edit] External links

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