| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Bobby Encinas |
| Born | 1961 Canoga Park, California, United States of America |
| Height | 1.63m (5'4" Imperial units) |
| Weight | 61kg (135lbs. Imperial) |
| Team information | |
| Current team | Retired |
| Discipline | Bicycle Motocross (BMX) |
| Role | Racer/Promoter/Teaching Professional |
| Rider type | Off Road |
| Amateur team(s) | |
| 1973-1974 1974-1975 1975 1975-1977 |
Pedaler's West Bike Shop Kawasaki Motors Rick's Bike Shop Shimano Sales Corporation |
| Professional team(s) | |
| 1977-1981 1982-1983 1983- |
Shimano Sales Corporation Scorpion BMX Larry Wilcox Actionline |
| Infobox last updated on June 10, 2008 |
|
Bobby Encinas (born 1961 in Canoga Park, California) is a former professional "Old School" Bicycle Motocross (BMX) racer whose prime competitive years were from 1973 to 1980. He was one of the first superstars in BMX and one of its most savvy promoters. Raised in the barrio of Canoga Park, he had a juvenile criminal record for theft and was on probation for consuming alcohol and drugs before he was 12 years old.[1] He credits BMX for saving him from a life of crime. As a result he devoted much of his BMX career and after to promoting the sport at the grass-roots level, training kids in his BMX clinics, of which he was a pioneer, and launching future BMX careers and winning the respect and love of the BMX world.
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Note: In the early days of professional racing, 1976 and prior, many tracks offered small purse prize money to the older racers of an event, even before the official sanctioning bodies offered prize money in formal divisions themselves. Hence some early "professionals" like Stu Thomsen turning "pro" in 1975 at 16 years old where racing for small amounts of money at track events[2] when offered even before the NBA, regarded as the first true national BMX sanctioning body, had a professional division. The NBA started the first professional division in BMX for the 1977 season. For the sake of consistency and standardization noted professional first are for the first pro races for prize money offered by official BMX sanctioning bodies and not independent track events. Professional first are also on the national level unless otherwise indicated.
Started Racing: Officially in mid 1973 at age 12 at Soledad Sands Park BMX track in Acton, California. According to the July 1974 issue of Bicycle Mototcross News he was racing by the time of publication 10 months.[3] He was one of the children that were pretending to be racing Motorcycle Motocross (MX) an MX promoter, Ernie Alexander, noticed one day during the summer of 1973. That experience led Alexander to eventually start the National Bicycle Association (NBA) some six months later.[4] Prior to that, it was David Clinton and Marvin Church who introduced him into the sport prior to racing in sanctioned races. As with many of the very first BMXers they were devoted Motorcycle Motocross (MX) fans and like to pretend they were racing motorcycles, attaching various accoutrements like false fuel tanks and fenders, emulating their favorite MX idols.[5]
First racing bike: Schwinn Stingray
Sanctioning body: Independent.
Sanctioning body district(s): NBA Southern California District X (1975–1981).
First race result: Last.[6]
First win (local):
First sponsor: Peddler's West Bike Shop in mid 1973.[3][7]
First national win: He won the very first Sidehack class with Thom Lund at the very first National on March 29, 1975 at the NBA Winternationals in Phoenix, Arizona. In the individual 20" class he came in second place to John George in 14 & Over Expert class.[8] His first solo 20" win was in the 14-17 Expert Class at the National Pedal Sport Association (NPSA) Eastern Nationals in Atlanta, Georgia on September 7, 1975.[9]
Turned professional: 1977
First Professional race* result:
First Professional** win:
Retired: He had essentially went into semi retirement in 1979 after winning the NBA Southern California District No. 1 title in 1978. Starting in the 1979 season he concentrated mostly on the Public Relations aspect of BMX to promote it nationally and internationally. He retired from 20" racing in after the 1980 racing season,[10] but he would race in the 20" pro class again to aid in his teaching tours and to keep in shape, restarting with the 1981 National Bicycle Motocross Association (NBmxA) (formerly known as the National Bicycle Association (NBA)) Western States Championship in Fresno, California.[11] He continued to race Cruisers competitively until 1983.
Height and Weight at the height of his BMX career (1977): Ht:5'4 (approx) Wt:135 lbs.[12]
*At this time there was no separate pro class for pros due to the relatively small number of pros. They raced with the 16 Experts, making it a Pro/Am class essentially. This is why during the early years of the pro division the national number one racer of a sanctioning body could be either an amateur or professional. This practice continued until the NBA's 1979 season in which the pros earned separate pro points and a separate pro plate from the amateurs.
**At the time of Encinas turning pro there was not a two tier structure of pros i.e. Junior and Senior pro class.
Note: This listing only denotes the racer's primary sponsors. At any given time a racer could have numerous co-sponsors. Primary sponsorships can be verified by BMX press coverage and sponsor's advertisements at the time in question. When possible exact dates are given.
"Anonymous rumor: Kawasaki, you'd better bridge the communications gap with your team or...[14] ----reported by Bob Osborn in the September 1976 "The California BMX Rider"
Note: Listed are District, State/Provincial/Department, Regional, National, and International titles in italics. "Defunct" refers to the fact of that sanctioning body in question no longer existing at the start of the racer's career or at that stage of his/her career. Depending on point totals of individual racers, winners of Grand Nationals do not necessarily win National titles.
National Bicycle Association (NBA)
National Bicycle League (NBL)
*At this time Cruiser class was a Pro/Am class. Professionals raced with the amateurs but only won trophies.
American Bicycle Association (ABA)
United Bicycle Racers (UBR)
United States Bicycle Motocross Association (USBA)
International Bicycle Motocross Federation (IBMXF)
National Bicycle Association (NBA)
National Bicycle League (NBL)
American Bicycle Association (ABA)
United Bicycle Racers (UBR)
United States Bicycle Motocross Association (USBA)
International Bicycle Motocross Federation (IBMXF)
Pro Series Championships
*In the early years of the NORA cup the year the balloting was done and tallied was the year it was considered awarded. In 1983 it was switched to when the winner of the cup was presented to the public in BMX Action magazine (usually in the February or March issue) the following year it was considered awarded and not during the closing months of the previous year when the voting and tally takes place. This was done to give the rider (and the winners of No.1 bicycle and No.1 Factory Team) maximum publicity and advantage fancily. Therefore under the new system Bobby Encinas was awarded NORA in 1979.
"I've never won an NBA National, but I've won plenty of championships. You don't have to be a National champ to be a winner." --Super BMX April 1981[18]
For the rest of the 1980s Mr. Eincinas continued his career as a teaching Pro instructing young BMX racers at various tracks across the country as he did as an active competitive pro. He always reached out to kids to get involve in BMX to possibly keep them from falling into the same type of trouble he did as a young boy, being involved in petty crimes including shoplifting and stealing bicycles. As noted, he credits BMX for saving him from a life of crime.[6]
"If it hadn't been for BMX I'd probably still be in the barrio smoking, lying, drinking and stealing."[10] "We all need to remember the little guys, the small kids. They're the future of this sport. That's who I'm really doing it all for."[17] --Both Bobby Encinas Super BMX April 1981.
As far back as the summer of 1974 when he had only been racing for ten months, Bicycle Motocross News predicted that he would be the Henry Kissinger of BMX:
"We fell that a manufacturer would not only be getting an expert rider, but a great public relations person - perhaps the Henry Kissinger of bicycle motocross!"[3] --Bicycle Motocross News July 1974.
Several BMX superstars have followed in Bobby Encinas's footsteps, including Perry Kramer and Mike Poulson. Greg Hill's Speed Clinics are a modern descendant of Bobby's first works.
Bicycle Motocross News:
Minicycle/BMX Action & Super BMX:
Bicycle Motocross Action: & Go
BMX Plus!:
Total BMX:
Bicycles and Dirt: (ABA Publication)
NBA World & NBmxA World (The official NBA/NBmxA membership publication under two names):
Bicycles Today & BMX Today (The official NBL membership publication under two names):
ABA Action, American BMXer, BMXer (The official ABA membership publication under three different names):