Mike King (BMX rider)

Mike King
Personal information
Full name Michael Allen King
Born June 30, 1969 (1969-06-30) (age 42)
Washington, D.C. United States
Height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Weight 182 lb (83 kg)
Team information
Current team Retired
Discipline Bicycle motocross (BMX)
Mountain bike racing (MTB)
Role Racer
Rider type BMX: Off road
MTB: Dual slalom, Downhill
Amateur team(s)
1979
1980-1981
1983
1984
1984-1986
1986-1987
Wheels 'n' Things
Torker Inc.
Bicycle Parts Pacific/Dirt Slinger
Redline Engineering
Huffy Corporation
Haro Designs/Bicycles
Professional team(s)
1987-1990
1991-1992
1993
1994-1998
1999-2001
Haro Designs/Bicycles
Redline Engineering
Balance Cycles
GT Racing
Haro Designs/Lee Pipes
Infobox last updated on
June 27, 2008

Michael Allen King (b. June 30, 1969 in Washington, D.C. U.S.) is an "Old School/Mid School" former professional Bicycle Motocross (BMX) racer whose prime competitive years were from 1984 to 1998 and is also a former Mountain Bike (MTB) racer who prime competitive years in that discipline were 1993 to 2004.

Contents

Biography

Mike King is the younger sibling of one of the most respected brother combinations of BMX racing: Eddy & Mike King. They were at least on the par with the famous Ronnie and Richie Anderson brothers and second only to the best sibling combination of all the Brothers Brian and Brent Patterson. Of the two King brothers Mike had a more dominating career in terms of national titles he won as an amateur and professional. As with most brother combinations the younger brother often live in the shadow of the elder and Eddy King was a well-respected racer with a long career. Mike came out of his brother's shadow when he won his first national title when he became the American Bicycle Association's national number one amateur for 1984, still without a nickname at the time although he was also known as "Mikey". After he became a pro the handle of "The Snake" seemed to be applied to him.[1] Currently he is the BMX Olympic Team Coach guiding the USA BMX Team at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.

Racing career milestones

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


Started racing: June 29, 1975, one day shy of his sixth birthday and approximately six and a half months after his elder brother Eddy started racing on January 15, 1975 at the Silver Wing BMX track in San Diego, California. Went on a one and a half year hiatus from National racing for most of the 1981 season (he raced at least in one national event, the National Bicycle Motocross Association (NBmxA) 1981 Rancho National near El Cajon, California on August 16[2]) and into the first half of 1982 sticking to only racing on the local level.[3] He returned to National level racing during the 1982 season.[4] Dropped out briefly again for six months in 1983 but returned permanently for the November 1983 ABA Fall Nationals.[5] After his hiatus from racing BMX nationals he came back with renewed commitment stating:

"When I was 13 I decided I wanted to make BMX my career!"[6]--Mike King, American BMXer July 1985

Milestone Event Details
Sanctioning body: Independent track
Home sanctioning body district(s): National Bicycle Association (NBA) District "S" (San Diego, California) 1975-1981; American Bicycle Association (ABA) California 21 (CA-21) 1985
First race bike:
First race result:
First win (local):
First sponsor: Wheels 'n' Things
First national win:
Turned professional: December 1987 at 18 years old. His last amateur race was The ABA Grand National in November 1987. He won the 17 & Over Expert Class.[7]
First professional race result: Second in "B" Pro at the National Bicycle League (NBL) Christmas National in Columbus, Ohio on December 27, 1987. He won USD$325.[8] or USD 611.09 equivalent in 2008.Cost of Living Calculator
First professional win: At the American Bicycle Association (ABA) Ozark National in Pine Bluff, Arkansas on January 27, 1988 in "A" pro. He won USD 435,[9] the equivalent to USD 817.92 in 2008.
First Junior Men/pro* race result: See "First professional race result"
First Junior Men/pro win: See "First professional win"
First Senior pro** race result: First in "AA" Pro at the ABA Great Northwest Nationals in Vancouver, Washington on March 27, 1988. He won all three runnings of the "AA" Pro main, the first racer to do so on his first outing as a "AA" pro. He won USD 870 (USD 1,570.85 in 2008). He won Pro Open that day as well, doubling. He won USD 315 (USD 568.76 in 2008). Indeed, he also scored a rare double-double that weekended winning "A" pro and Pro Open on Saturday and then after transferring to the senior "AA" pro class won it and Pro Open again[10]
First Senior pro win: See above.
Height and weight at height of his career (1984–1989): Ht:5'9"-11" Wt:~182 lbs.
Retired: 2002 from BMX racing. 2006 from almost all MTB competition.

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. Primary sponsorships can be verified by BMX press coverage and sponsor's advertisements at the time in question. When possible exact dates are given.


Amateur

Professional

Career bicycle motocross titles

Note: Listed are District, State/Provincial, 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. Series and one off Championships are also listed in block.


Amateur

National Bicycle Association (NBA)

Bicycle Motocross Association of San Diego (BMXAOSD)

*The Tijuana BMX Cup was a one time event held in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, and sponsored by the International Cycling Organization, Coca-Cola, Carta Blanca, and the State Secretary of Tourism of Baja California. The BMX Association of San Diego after the major BMX governing bodies, the NBL and ABA, declined to sanction the event, ran it. As a result while heavily promoted it had sparse participation with only 200 racers comprising about 22 motos (including 13 professionals from the United States) out of the hoped for 6000 tourist. A promoter of the race Phil Bartel had anticipated making enough money to build three or four tracks in Tijuana. He instead lost US$5,000. The reason for the low turn out are attributed to the lack of ABA and NBL points for racers touring those circuits, negating an important motivation to attend. A further disincentive was the high entrance fees of $20 and the mere fact that it was in Mexico, a nation with foreign (to Americans) standards of culture and law, even though it was held only a half mile from the border inside Mexico.[14] In May 1984 the BMXA of San Diego merged with the ABA.[15]

National Bicycle League (NBL)

American Bicycle Association (ABA)

*Beginning in the 1985 season the ABA made it possible to earn an amateur national no.1 plate in the age group of the racer, similar to NBL practice. However, the ABA still had an overall National no.1 amateur, which in 1985 was Brent Romero.

International Bicycle Motocross Federation (IBMXF)

*The Vision Street Wear World Cup was the direct descendant of the Murry World Cup. Murray stopped sponsoring the World Cup after the fifth 1986 edition due to the failure of Murray of Ohio bicycle company and the NBL to come to an agreement about the sponsorship fee Murray would have had to pay the NBL. If Murray continued its sponsor ship, the 1987 addition would had been the sixth (VI) in the series.
**In Europe, Supercross is a pro/am class in which amateurs could win a limited amount of money but still retain their amateur status. Eddy King's amateur status in the NBL and ABA was unaffected in part because no prize money was awarded. However, this class is different from the Pro World Championship which was held by Gary Ellis in 1987.

Independent Events and Series

Professional

National Bicycle Association (NBA)

National Bicycle League (NBL)

American Bicycle Association (ABA)

United States Bicycle Motocross Association (USBA)

International Bicycle Motocross Federation (IBMXF)

Pro Series Championships and Invitationals

The International BMX Race of Bercy Paris was an invitational race sponsored by the Association Francaise de Bi-Crossing (AFB), the French BMX sanctioning body and was held in Bercy an eastern area in the city of Paris, France north of the river Seine. It was sponsored by the Yoplait Yogurt company. As such it was also known as the Bicross de Paris Challenge Yop Champion (The Paris Yoplait BMX Challenge) in which American and English pros as well as French pros were brought together to compete in a single race. As with the 1985 addition, which Tommy Brackens won, it was a hit in France with tickets sold out three months in advance.[16]

Notable accolades

Significant injuries

Miscellaneous

The introduction of clipless pedals

In a January 7, 2009 interview with Gary Haselhorst on the BMX dicussion site "BMX Action Online" Mike King says why he went to clipless pedals:
Gary Haselhorst: "You played a big part in Clips becoming standard in racing. How do you feel about all the ages using them? Do they help the little kids in the lower classes?"
Mike King: "My motivation to use SPD pedals/shoes had to do with the ABA introducing a pro time trial in 1995. Then it helped me when I was racing mountain bikes. However, I think the clip debate is overrated. I don’t think kids under 10 years old should be racing in them and I believe this has effected how tracks are designed today. They are too many cookie cutter type tracks in this country and this has slowed the progression of the sport."[35]

Racing habits and traits

Other significant sibling combinations in BMX

BMX press magazine interviews and articles

BMX magazine covers

Bicycle Motocross News:

Minicycle/BMX Action & Super BMX:

Bicycle Motocross Action & Go:

BMX Plus!:

Total BMX (originally Published by the NBL's Bob Tedesco):

Bicycles and Dirt (Published by the ABA):

Snap BMX Magazine & Transworld BMX:

NBA World & NBmXA World (The official NBA/NBmxA membership publication):

Bicycles Today & BMX Today (The Official NBL membership publication under two different names).

ABA Action, American BMXer, BMXer (The official ABA membership publication under two name changes):

USBA Racer (The official USBA membership publication):

Post BMX career

MTB racing career

Started Racing: 1993 at age 24.

First race result:

Sanctioning Body:

Career MTB factory sponsors

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 MTB press coverage and sponsor's advertisements at the time in question. When possible exact dates are given.


Amateur

Professional

Career mountain bike titles

Note: Listed are Regional, National and International titles.

Amateur

Professional

National Off-Road Bicycle Association (NORBA)

Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI)

Significant MTB injuries

End notes

  1. ^ BMX Plus September 1992 Vol.15 No.9 pg.50 (gray box)
  2. ^ BMX Plus! December 1981 Vol.4 No.12 pg.61
  3. ^ BMX Plus! June 1989 Vol.12 No.6 pg.75
  4. ^ BMX Plus! March 1985 Vol.8 No.3 pg.50
  5. ^ BMX Plus! April 1988 Vol.11 No.4 pg.32
  6. ^ American BMXer July 1985 Vol.7 No.5 pg.18
  7. ^ Super BMX & Freestyle March 1988 Vol.15 No.3 pg.22 (results)
  8. ^ BMX Plus! April 1988 Vol.11 No.4 pg.62
  9. ^ BMX Plus! May 1988 Vol.11 No.5 pg.57
  10. ^ BMX Plus! July 1988 Vol.11 No.7 pg.48
  11. ^ Super BMX May 1984 Vol.11 No.5 pg.5 "Comings/Goings" chart.
  12. ^ Super BMX July 1984 Vol.11 No.7 pg.16
  13. ^ BMX Plus! June 1991 Vol.14 No.6 pg.70
  14. ^ BMX Plus! September 1984 Vol.7 No.9 pg.59
  15. ^ ABA Action June 1984 Vol.7 No.6 pg.26
  16. ^ BMX Action March 1989 Vol.14 No.3 pg.12
  17. ^ BMX Plus! November 1984 Vol.7 No.11 pg.48
  18. ^ Super BMX Magazine April 1986 Vol.13 No.4 pg.42
  19. ^ BMX Action May 1986 Vol.11 No.5 pg.72
  20. ^ BMX Action August 1987 Vol.12 No.8 pg.38
  21. ^ BMX Action February 1989 Vol.14 No.2 pg.40
  22. ^ American BMXer January/February 1989 Vol.11 No.1 pg.69
  23. ^ BMX Plus! April 1989 Vol.12 No.4 pg.25
  24. ^ American BMXer May 1991 Vol.13 No.4 pg.29
  25. ^ BMX Plus! July 1991 Vol.14 No.7 pg.10
  26. ^ BMX Plus! August 1991 Vol.14 No.8 pg.34 (results)
  27. ^ BMX Plus! October 1991 Vol.14 No.10 pg.9
  28. ^ BMX Plus! July 1992 Vol.15 No.7 pg.8
  29. ^ BMX Plus! June 1992 Vol.15 No.6 pg.64
  30. ^ Super BMX August 1981 Vol.8 No.8 pg.32 (Advertisement)
  31. ^ BMX Plus! March 1997 Vol.20 No.3 pg.39 (photo caption)
  32. ^ BMX Plus! February 1995 Vol.18 No.2 pg.26
  33. ^ Snap BMX Magazine August 2000 Vol.7 Iss.8 No.46 pg.62
  34. ^ bmxactiononline.com Bubba Harris interview by Gary Haselhorst
  35. ^ bmxactiononline.com January 7, 2009 interview
  36. ^ BMX News.com posting about Mike King post BMX doings by poster fallbrookfatty
  37. ^ February 18, 2005 fatbmx.com article.
  38. ^ Genesbmx article.
  39. ^ UCI 1998 World cup report page. Mike King injury blurb near bottom.

External links