Tommy Brackens
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Tommy Lee Brackens (b. November 20, 1960 in Los Angeles, California) was an American professional "Old School" Bicycle Motocross (BMX) racer. His prime competitive years were from 1980-1988.
His nickname was "The Human Dragster", so named for his adeptness at getting the "Holeshot", or getting out in front literally at the drop of the starting gate and leading the other competitors down the first straight and into the first turn. The moniker was coined by Bob Hunt, an NBL announcer at the 1982 NBL Grand Nationals that Tommy raced in.[1] Many racers received their monikers from the pithy play by play race announcers.
Tommy Brackens was a former motorcycle motocross (MX) racer that made the switch to BMX in 1977 (he would return to MX after his BMX career). Quiet, shy and highly likable he was believe to have all the talents to be truly a top level racer, but lacked the "killer instinct" to fulfill that potential. He very often had streaks when he was impossible to beat but lacked consistence. Conditions like the state of the track, when they were sub par could lessen his enthusiasm and spoil the positive mental attitude that is needed to be a top Pro racer. He also had some technical difficulties with jumps which would partly negate his strong starts and speed down the first straight. If Mr. Brackens was likable he had a strong desire to be liked. One of his goals was to be voted as the fan favorite among kids as their favorite racer. That goal was fulfilled in 1987 When he won BMX Action's Number One Racer Award (NORA) Cup for that year.
Unfortunately his inconsistency prevented him from winning a national number one plate for any association amateur or professional. The closest was a National No. 2 with the NBL in 1986. He failed to transfer out of his semi (crashed) while only a few points behind the eventual No.1 for that year, Pete Loncarevich (who was not doing well himself at the time and barely qualified for the main). However, he did win the 1986 IBMXF World Championship. 1986 was a good year by any measure.
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[edit] Racing career
Note: Professional first are on the national level unless otherwise indicated.
Started Racing: August 11, 1978. Anthony Sewell, who would later become pro BMXer himself (approximately a year or so before Tommy) introduced him to the sport.[2][3]
First race: At the Valley Youth Center in Van Nuys, California on August 11, 1978.[4]
First race result: Second in 16 novice (local).
Sanctioning Body: National Bicycle Association (NBA)
First local win:
First Sponsor: The Pedal Shop of North Hollywood, California.
Other non-factory sponsors: City of Bicycles.
First national win:
Turned Pro: December 1980 age 19.
First pro race result: Second in "A" pro at the January 1981 American Bicycle Association (ABA) Northwest National in Seattle, Washington.[5] Tommy Brackens would be one of the first later to be well known pros to graduate from the new junior pro "A" class which was instituted by the ABA beginning with the 1981 season.[6]
First Junior Pro race result: See above.
First Junior Pro race win:
First Senior Pro** race result: First Place in Pro Class at the National Bicycle Association (NBA) Winternationals in Las Vegas, Nevada in February 1981.
First Senior Pro win: See above.
Height & Weight at the height of his career (1983-1987): Ht: 5'10" Wt:~174-180lbs.
Retired: 1990; in part to devote more time to his bicycle frame and fork company Brackens Racing Products.
*In the ABA "A" Pro; in the NBL "B" Pro/Superclass/"A" Pro depending on the era. **In the ABA it was "AA" Pro, in the NBL "A" Pro (Elite Men). However, the NBA did not have a Junior Pro division. The NBA would merge with the NBL after the 1981 season before it had a chance to create a junior pro class. Therefore any win in the Pro class of the NBA counts as his first Senior pro win.
[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
- Jag BMX: 1980-February 1981. Would turn pro and be briefly with this sponsor as a pro. Left under bad circumstances. Jag wanted Tommy to stay an amateur for one more year, but Tommy wanted to be a pro immediately.[7]
[edit] Professional
- Jag BMX: 1980-Februrary 1981.
- Powerlite Racing: March 1981-September 1983. Left because by September 1983 he was the only member of the Powerlite team and he needed the secureness of being on a true team. Otherwise he left Powerlite on good terms.[8]
- Torker BMX Products: October 1, 1983-November 1984 Torker literally went out of business while the racing team was racing on the East Coast. He didn't have a clue until people came up to him with the news.[9]
- GT (Gary Turner) Racing: November 1984-December 31, 1986 On the return flight west after Torker folded Richard Long, the owner of GT, offered Mr. Brackens a spot on his team, which he accepted. [10] At the end of his contract he turned down offer from GT to stay on a paired down team because his salary would had been reduced. GT offered to compensate by increasing contingency awards (a contingency is a monetary award for coming in first place at any given race as an incentive). Tommy did not accept. Teammate Gary Ellis remained under those terms.[11]
- KHS: May 1987-August 1987. KHS was still a co-sponsor when World Class Products was Tommy's main sponsor
- World Class Racing: August 1987-July 1988. World Class Products, Inc. is the product of the merger between Jag BMX and DG Performance Bicycles in the spring of 1982.[12]
- Brackens Racing: July 1988- This was a Tommy Brackens owned BMX company that made frames and forks. It was prosperous enough to factory sponsor Eric Carter at the beginning of his pro career.
[edit] Career bicycle motocross titles
[edit] Amateur
National Bicycle Association (NBA)
- 1980 winner of the armature Race of Champions (ROC) at the 1980 Grand Nationals winning a $3,000 Fisher stereo system[13] Amateurs can win expensive prizes without jeopardizing their amateur status as they would be if they won the cash equivalent.
National Bicycle League (NBL)
0
American Bicycle Association (ABA)
0
[edit] Professional
National Bicycle Association (NBA)
0
National Bicycle League (NBL)
0 (Best finish National No. 2 in 1986)
American Bicycle Association (ABA)
0
United States Bicycle Motocross Association (USBA)
0
International Bicycle Motocross Federation (IBMXF)
- 1986 World Champion, European Champion
Pro Series Championships and Invitationals
- 1984 European Challenge Cup Champion
The 1984 European Challenge Cup was a comparatively small race (130 motos) that drew a slect portion of racers, professionals and amateurs, Europeans and Americans held on June 10, 1984 in Slagharen, Holland. Though small, it was well received.[14]
- 1985 Kellog's Frosties BMX Champion.
The Kellogg's Frosties BMX Championship held in Birmingham, England was a series of six races held on three days total (but stretched out over a week including off days) that was centered around the invited 12 top pros of the United States and 12 British pros and tailored for British television broadcast. There were also eight amateurs class races held but the race focus was meant for the pros.
- Bicross de Paris 1985 Challenge Yoplait Champion
The 1985 Paris Yoplait BMX Challenge was an invitational race sponsored and promoted by the Yoplait Yogurt company in which American and English pros as well as French pros were brought together to compete in a single race. As is typical in Europe, the public had greater enthusiasm for BMX than the American public, in part because bicycle racing of any type was and is much more popular in Europe (and in Asia and South America as well) than in the United States. A staggering (by American standards) 18,000 spectators attended the sell out event and it was covered live on French television.[15]
[edit] Notable accolades
- Winner of the National Bicyle Association's "Most Improved Rider" Award in 1981.[16]
- Winner of BMX Action's 1987 Number One Racer Award (NORA) Cup with 17.91% of the vote (totall cast unknown)[17]
- He is a 1991 ABA BMX Hall of Fame Inductee.
[edit] Miscellaneous
1986 winner of the "King of the Mountain" outlaw Gravity Powered Vehicle (GPV) Championship.[18]*
GPV racing had been around since the late 1970s but achieved wide notoriety among BMXers beginning in early 1985. Many BMXers both retired and active, participated like Jeff Bottema, and Scot Breithaupt among the retirees and Eddy King, Harry Leary, Kevin Hull the active racers. Freestylist as well participated in the discipline like Dave Vanderspek, Eddie Fiola, Ceppie Maes and Rich Sigur. There were racers who participated which their specialty was downhill road racing like Dan Hanabrink as well. Most racers used converted pedalless BMX or Freestyle bicycles, often with the handlebars turned almost completely down. Often so was the bicycle frame with the bottom bracket pointing toward the racer's chest to lower the profile of the bike for greater stability. In later, fairings were added and also bicycles built specifically for downhill runs. They raced down courses (which were public roads) that were from 1.3 to seven miles long, hitting speeds of 50 to 90mph. The outlaw aspect was that during the early days they would race down open to traffic roads which, while not illegal, was not sanctioned either. At the beginning of the 1988 GPV season they started getting highway department permission to block off roads, therefore removing the outlaw characteristic of the activity. The sport is still around but the initial faddish aspect of it lasted from mid 1985 to approximately late 1989.
In mid 2000 he qualified for a ESPN X Games GPV race in Saint George, Utah event on a bike he purchased from a Target discount store, beating custom bikes costing US$2,000 to $3,000. It was his very first GPV race since a 1990 race in Palm Springs, California were he set the course record of 90mph.[19]
*The table of contents page has it mislabled No.1
[edit] Significant injuries
- Sprained wrist in Pompano Beach national in May of 1983. Laid up for approximately one month.[20]
[edit] Peccadilloes
- Variables like track condition or delays could do psychological havoc to him at a race. Was said to lack the "killer instinct" that was necessary to truly dominate the top pro BMX class due to his easy going good natured personality.
- Like his friend and fellow racer Anthony Sewell, he was a power racer who lagged in the technical aspects of racing with his difficulties in negotiating turns (which made him relatively easy to pass if he wasn't too far ahead of the competition) and conversely lacking the skill to set someone up for a pass in those turns if he was behind; and speed jumping multiple moguls called whoop-de-doos inefficiently which made him easier to pass (again if the competition wasn't to far behind to pass). In contrast racers like Richie Anderson, Mike King, Steve Veltman and even Stu Thomsen were known for their smooth speed jumping abilities. One of Richie Anderson's nicknames was "Mr. Smooth" due to this. The otherwise nicknameless Mike King was also occasionally referred to as "Mr. Smooth". This weakness in technique very likely hindered Brackens's ability to win a national title.
[edit] Post BMX career
Started his own BMX bicycle company Brackens Racing Products. This is ironic given the answer to a question in a BMX Plus! interview about owning his own company one day:
BMXP!: What are your ambitions after racing? Have your own company, maybe?
Tommy: No! It's too much hassle having your own company!
----BMX Plus! April 1983 page 60.
He returned to his Motorcycle Motocross racing roots for a time, which he was involved in prior to his BMX career. Proving that BMXers typically like almost all type of racing, during his BMX career (and fittingly in light of his nickname) he has also dabbled in Outlaw Drag Racing, in which participants participate in illegal urban street racing.[21] This was in addition to his GPV racing (as outlined above).
[edit] BMX and general press magazine interviews and articles
- "Powerlite's Tommy Brackens: The Human Dragster Himself" Super BMX February 1983 Vol.10 No.2 pg.26
- "The New Torker" Super BMX November 1984 Vol.11 No.11 pg.22 Mini Bio with along with other Torker team mates.
- Mini interview during North Park NBL National BMX Action November 1984 Vol.9 No.11 pg.25
- "Four Taco Lunch And Conversation With Tommy Brackens" BMX Action May 1985 Vol.10 No.5 pg.86
- "How I won that Race" Super BMX & Freestyle May 1985 Vol.12 No.5 pg.59 Story written by Tommy Brackens
- Mini-interview BMX Action August 1985 Vol.10 No.8 pg.44 Gives play by play account of Pro Mains.
- "GT's Human Dragster" Super BMX & Freestyle September 1986 Vol.13 No.9 pg.62
- "A New World Champion" Super BMX & Freestyle December 1986 Vol.13 No.12 pg.32
- "The 1986 IBMXF World Championship: I don't feel any different" BMX Plus! December 1986 Vol.9 No.12 pg.46 Story written by Tommy Brackens of how he won the 1986 World Championship.
- "Tom and Gary: Not to be confused with the cat and mouse" BMX Action February 1987 Vol.12 No.2 pg.64 Joint interview with Gary Ellis.
- "Tommy & Tuni: Ready for '88" BMX Action January 1988 Vol.13 No.1 pg.34 Joint article with Turnell Henry.
[edit] End Notes
- ^ Super BMX February 1983 Vol.10 No.2 pg.26
- ^ BMX Action June 1983 Vol.8 No.6 pg.50
- ^ BMX Plus! November 1986 Vol.9 No.11 pg.16 Answer to "Positive Attitude = Big Fun" letter.
- ^ Super BMX February 1983 Vol.10 No.2 pg.26
- ^ Bicycle Motocross Action May 1981 Vol.6 No.5 pg.39 (race results)
- ^ Bicycle Motocross Action May 1981 Vol.6 No.5 pg.39 "ABA Rules Change"
- ^ Super BMX February 1983 Vol.10 No.2 pg.29-30
- ^ Super BMX November 1984 Vol.11 No.11 pg.22
- ^ Super BMX September 1986 Vol.13 No.9 pg.62
- ^ Super BMX September 1986 Vol.13 No.9 pg.62
- ^ Super BMX April 1987 Vol.14 No.4 pg.5
- ^ Super BMX June 1982 Vol.9 No.6 pg.5
- ^ BMX Plus! March 1981 Vol.4 No.3 pg.19
- ^ BMX Plus! October 1984 Vol.7 No.10 pg.10
- ^ BMX Plus! March 1986 Vol.9 No.3 pg.9
- ^ Super BMX May 1985 Vol.12 No.5 pg.61
- ^ BMX Action March 1987 Vol.12 No.3 pg.26
- ^ BMX Action March 1987 Vol.12 No.3 pg.20
- ^ Snap September 2000 Vol.7 Iss.9 No.47 pg.38 (Rumormill)
- ^ BMX Action August 1983 Vol.8 No.8 pg.30
- ^ BMX Action Februrary 1984 Vol.9 No.2 pg.60
