Stu Thomsen

Stu Thomsen
Personal information
Full name Stuart L. Thomsen
Nickname "Stompin' Stu", "The Man" ,"Stu Magoo"
Born (1958-05-20) May 20, 1958
Whittier, California, United States
Height 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)
Weight 90.7 kg (200 lb)
Team information
Current team Retired (represents Redline)
Discipline Bicycle Motocross (BMX)
Role Racer
Rider type Off Road
Amateur team(s)
1974 Newport Design & Manufacturing, Inc.
1975 Dirtmaster Racing Products
1975-1976 Webco Inc.
1976 D.G. Performance Specialties
1976-1977 FMF
1999-Present Redline (Reclassified Amateur)
Professional team(s)
1976-1977 FMF
1977-1979 SE Racing
1980-1983 Redline Engineering
1984-1986 Huffy Corporation
1986 Motobecane (MBK)
1987-1992 Stu Thomsen's Family Cycle Center
1987-1992 retired for six years
1992 Southridge Cycles
1993- SE Racing
Infobox last updated on
October 13, 2009

Stuart L. Thomsen (born May 20, 1958 in Whittier, California)[1] was an American bicycle motocross (BMX) racer.

Stu Thomsen was one of the first of the "Old School" of professional BMX racers who gained fame in the early days of the sport beginning in 1974. His prime competitive years were from 1976-1985. Sometimes called the Babe Ruth of BMX[2] for his prolific success and domination of BMX racing during the sport's early days from the mid-1970s into the mid-1980s, Thomsen's considerable career accolades and legacy remain a benchmark for modern sports achievement.

His nicknames, "The Man" and "Stompin Stu", were due in part to his size at 6 feet 1.5 inches and 200 lbs.

Racing career milestones

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 early professionals like Stu Thomsen turning "pro" in 1975 at 16 years old racing for small amounts of money at track events 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 in the 1977. 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.

Milestone Event Details
Started racing: Late 1973, 15 years old. He noticed a flyer about races at Scot Breithaupt's B.U.M.S track in Long Beach, CA. Since he didn't have a driver's licence he had a friend's father drive him to the track with some friends, looking to race in real competition. The track was holding a championship race of some kind.[3][4]
Sanctioning body: The proto governing body Bicycle United Motocross Society (B.U.M.S.)
Home sanctioning body district(s): National Bicycle Association (NBA) District "X" (Orange/Los Angeles Counties) 1977-1981; American Bicycle Association (ABA) California 1 (CA-1) (1985)
First race bike:
First race result: Fifth place at Scot Breithaupt's Bicycle United Motocross Society (B.U.M.S.) track in Long Beach, California[5]
First win (local):
First sponsor: Newport Design & Manufacturing, Inc.
First national win: Yamaha Bicycle Gold Cup a.k.a. the Bicycle Motocross Championship of California State on September 14, 1974 as an Expert, age 16* He won a Yamaha Moto-Bike winning one of the three qualifiers and for winning the final event a Yamaha motorcycle. Strictly speaking, the Yamaha Gold Cup, as it is colloquially known, wasn't a national but the final of a series of four races (including the Final) held at different tracks based in California, but it was the first highly organized mass event in BMX involving a large amount of racers and heavily promoted in the mass media in California. The first true National in which racers not from the state of California participated in and national points awarded to those out of state was the NBA Winter Nationals held in Phoenix, Arizona on March 29, 1975.[6]
Turned Professional**: 1975 Age 16[7]
First Professional race result:**
First Professional win: Possibly at the National Bicycle Association (NBA) Jimmy Weinert Supernationals on "Weinert Mountain" at the Racing World course in Trabuco Canyon, California on April 3, 1977 when he won the Trophy Dash.[8] It was a 100% payback race in which the racer gets back his entrance fee. This is one of the first officially sanctioned Pro BMX races held in BMX. Stu would go on to win about US$1,500 in 1977.[9] the equivalent to US$5,349.01 in 2008 (Cost of Living Calculator).
Height and weight at height of his career: Ht:6'1.5" Wt:200 lbs.

Retired from Senior pro (NBL-"A"/ABA-"AA"): July 1987 Aged 29. He couldn't find a factory sponsorship for the expensive national circuit which even with the resources of his bikeshop Stu Thomsen's Family Cycle Center.[10][11] A combination of him being let go by Huffy and the depressed economic state of BMX which resulted in a dearth of sponsorship offers despite his looking; and a shoulder injury that he himself didn't let heal properly due to his competitiveness. At 29 he had largely made his goal to race until he was thirty years old.[12] However, he did race in large races that was both close to his Yorba Linda home and had large purses. For example, he did race at least once in 1988 at the ABA Winter Nationals at Chandler, Arizona with a 4th and 7th in Pro Cruiser at the two races over that weekend. This is in addition to him racing locally close to his home. He raced in the 1990 ABA Fall Nationals and made the Pro Open Main in the Sunday race, coming in sixth. He also raced the 1991 ABA Fall Nationals as well along with fellow "retired" pros Eric Rupe and Harry Leary but did not make any of the Mains. He raced the Fall nationals again a year later reclassifying to "A" pro (along with Harry Leary) coming in third in Pro Cruiser on Day 2 (October 24).[13] In 1993 he resumed racing on a serious level in Pro Cruiser and in the then new ABA Veteran Pro class for a few years. Today he still races occasionally as an amateur in the ABA 45-50 cruiser and 36 & Over Expert 20" class sponsored by Redline. His last Senior Pro win in the 20" division before retiring from serious Senior pro competition appeared to had been at the NBL National in Sarasota, Florida on March 28, 1986.[14]

*Classifications at the time were determined by size and weight and not age and proficiency, so his age in this case is irrelevant. The Yamaha Bicycle Gold Cup was the first "National" to be held in BMX.
**At the 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. The NBL and ABA followed suit a year later for the 1980 season. These original Pro classes were the equivalent to Senior Pro/Elite Men at the time. In the following season, 1981, the pro class was divided into Junior and Senior levels in the ABA and NBL. The NBA remained with a single level pro class in 1981.

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

Amateur

Career bicycle motocross titles

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. Series and one off Championships are also listed in block.

Amateur

Independent Associations

National Bicycle Association (NBA)

*In the early days of professional competition professionals still could race in the amateur 16 Expert class and win amateur titles. Therefore, Thomsen was both the Professional and 16 & Over Expert Grandnational Champion for 1977.

National Bicycle League (NBL)

'National Pedal Sport Association (NPSA)

United Bicycle Racers (UBR)

American Bicycle Association (ABA)

Professional

National Bicycle Association (NBA)

National Bicycle League (NBL)

United Bicycle Racers (UBR)

National Pedal Sport Association (NPSA)

American Bicycle Association (ABA)

*He also won the 16 Expert Gold Cup. At this time the professional and the older amateur classes were not separate classes earning separate points. Professionals could still win amateur titles. The 1979 season was the first in the ABA for the professionals to have a separate points classification (measured in purse winnings), making them a separate class from the amateurs.

United States Bicycle Motocross Association (USBA)

International Bicycle Motocross Federation (IBMXF)

Other Titles

Pro Series Championships and Invitationals

This was an exhibition invitational that Stu Thomsen and several other American professionals including (but not only) Greg Esser, Eric Rupe and Tim Judge went to at the request of the Venezuela BMX officials to promote and celebrate the Venezuelan Bicicross Association's first national Championship.

*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 and Bicross Magazine, a French BMX publication. As such it was also known as the Bicross de Paris Challenge Yop Champion (The Paris Yoplait BMX Challenge) in which American, English and German pros as well as French pros were brought together to compete in a single race. They were offered a 12-day all expenses paid holiday to compete in the race with a US$5,000 purse.[27] 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. Thirteen thousand spectators ventured into the Palais Omnisport de Paris Bercy (POPB) to watch a BMX race.[28][29] In America you would be fortunate to seat 2,000. In the 1984 addition 330 racers were invited to France including United States professionals like Pete Loncarevich, Harry Leary Rod Beckering, Mike Miranda and Greg Hill in addition to Stu Thomsen. As it would be with the 1985 addition, which Tommy Brackens won, it was a hit in France with tickets sold out three months in advance.[30]

Amateur

Note: Thomsen reclassified himself as an amateur in the late 1990s.

National Bicycle League (NBL)

American Bicycle Association (ABA)

Notable accolades

*In the early years of the NORA cup the year the balloting was done and tallied was the year it was considered awarded. In 1984 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 financially. Therefore, under the new system Stu Thomsen was awarded NORA in 1980 and 1982.

BMX related product lines

Product Evaluation:
BMX Action January 1983 Vol.8 No.1 pg.14 Model year 1983
BMX Bi-Weekly Vol.3 No.13 pg.12 (British Publication) Model Year 1983
BMX Plus! August 1984 Vol.7 No.8 pg.33 Model year 1984
product evaluation:
American BMXer September 1984 Vol.7 No.8 pgs.19 & 21.
BMX Plus! December 1986 Vol.9 No.10 pg.28

Notable injuries

Images

Image of Thomsen racing at the 2008 NBL Grand National.

Racing habits and traits

Q: "What about rumors that you are getting ready to retire?"
A: "Just rumors. I may not race much anymore, but I will still like it very much."[47]
----Bicycle Motocross News August 1975

This was almost just two years after he began racing. The cause of this was probably because at 17 Stu Thomsen was one of the oldest racers in BMX at the time. During this era BMX racing was still regarded exclusively as a kid's sport and at best a training ground and stepping stone to racing standard Motorcycle Motocross when they reached adulthood. Of course as part of the first generation Stu Thomsen would remain one of the oldest riders throughout his career. These persistent rumors-at times aided by his own statements-would regularly crop up as people wondered what is the outer age limit of a competitive racer in this new sport.

BMX Plus!: "When you were interviewed by BMX PLUS! last year you said you were going to retire at the end of 1979. In fact you said you were going to retire every year since 1976. Are you going to tell us the same thing this year?"
Thomsen: (Laughing) "I always say that. You know me."[48]
----BMX Plus! January 1981

The question of his retirement would repeatedly arise until he actually retired at the beginning of the 1987 racing season.

Miscellaneous

*Riders often put slogans on the seat of their pants instead of their surname as a psychological ploy against their competitors, and to further their on-track persona.


Post BMX career

Thomsen would manage to merge his love of racing with law enforcement, competing in the California Police Olympics (in the year 2000 the name was changed to the California Police and Fire Games after Firemen were invited to compete). From 1995 to 2000 he was undefeated in the Mountain Bike racing division, accumulating 15 gold medals during that time. He also participated in the 1997 World Police and Fire Games, in Canada winning four Gold Medals[55] In addition to competitions he is part of the Project 999-Memorial Ride, the yearly 630-mile trek of around 45 Orange County Peace Officers who ride their road bicycles from the California Peace Officers' Memorial in Sacramento, California to the Orange County Peace Officers' Memorial in Santa Ana, California in tribute of the officers who fell in the line of duty serving the people of California in general and Orange County in particular. The ride, usually held in the last week of May each year, also in support of the Project 999 Fund which raises money for the families of the fallen and seriously injured. In 2009 Stu Thomsen and his 44 colleagues raised $40,000. "It is the least I can do to pay homage to those who paid the ultimate price". he said.[56]
Thomsen, in addition to being on the Bicycle Patrol Team, is on the Critical Incident Response Team (CIRT) and in 2005 was in training to be on the K-9 and as of that date was a K-9 agitator, i.e. play-acts the role of a fleeing, attacking or non compliant felon for the dogs to attack and hold in training of dogs and their handlers.[57] During his 15-year tenure as an Orange County Deputy he has never used physical force directly against anyone but he has been under fire and earned the Medal of Courage as he relates in an 2009 article in Garage Magazine:
"I have never hit anybody with my baton. I have never had to tase anybody, and I haven't shot my hand gun at anyone. I was involved in a shooting where I had to shoot a rifle. I am part of a first responder team, and we were responding to a call of a reported shooting. I couldn't see him. He was a sniper shooting at us, and I shot in the direction of the gun fire. I was laying down cover fire for my partner. I wasn't hurt, but my partner was hit. He was hit two times in the arm and has since fully recovered...it was about an eight-or nine-hour ordeal. The suspect ended up getting shot. The whole thing was on the news. That incident earned me a 'Medal of Courage.'".[58]
"Stu said he’ll be training more and plans on racing again this year. 'I still hate losing,' he said. 'I guess I’ll always be that way.'"[59]
As proof of that he won the 50-54 Cruiser main at the 2008 NBL Grand National, amazing on lookers by his jumping ability.[60]

Notes

  1. ↑ Orange County Sheriff's Department PDF file of Medal of Valor and Medal of Courage winners in 2005 page 22
  2. ↑ American BMXer January/February 1987 Vol.9 No.1 pg.46 (photo caption)
  3. ↑ Bicycle Motocross Action June 1978 Vol.3 No.3 pg.9
  4. ↑ Garage Magazine No.19 pg.47.
  5. ↑ Bicycle Motocross Action June 1978 Vol.3 No.3 pg.9
  6. ↑ Bicycle Motocross News May 1975 Vol.2 No.4 pg.16
  7. ↑ Bicycle Motocross News January/February 1978 Vol.4 No.1 pg.22
  8. ↑ Bicycle Motocross News April 1977 Vol.4 No.4 pg.8&10
  9. ↑ Bicycle Motocross Action June 1978 Vol.3 No.3 pg.12
  10. ↑ BMX Plus! June 1987 Vol.10 No.6 pg.35
  11. ↑ BMX Action November 1987 Vol.12 No.11 pg.12 (Dear Gork, 3-B)
  12. ↑ Garage Magazine No.19 pg.48
  13. ↑ American BMXer December 1992 Vol.14 No.11 pg.61 & 68 (results)
  14. ↑ BMX Plus! February 1987 Vol.10 No.2 pg.71
  15. ↑ Bicycle Motocross News May 1976 Vol.3 No.5 pg.9
  16. ↑ BMX Plus! July 1988 Vol.11 No.7 pg.26
  17. ↑ Bicycle Motocross Action June, 1977 Vol.2 No.2 pg.13
  18. ↑ Bicycle Motocross Action June 1978 Vol.3 No.3 pg.9
  19. ↑ Bicycles And Dirt September 1983 Vol.1 No.12 pg.57
  20. ↑ Bicycles And Dirt September 1983 Vol.1 No.12 pg.57
  21. ↑ Bicycles And Dirt September 1983 Vol.1 No.12 pg.57
  22. ↑ Bicycles And Dirt September 1983 Vol.1 No.12 pg.57
  23. ↑ BMX Plus! December 1986 Vol.9 No.12 pg.14
  24. ↑ BMX Action April 1987 Vol.12 No.4 pg.13
  25. ↑ Bicycle Motocross Action June 1978 Vol.3 No.3 pg.9
  26. ↑ Bicycle Motocross Action April 1982 Vol.7 No.4 pg.49.
  27. ↑ BMX Action Bike February 1985 No.27 pg.36
  28. ↑ Google English translation of BMX "OLD SCHOOL"
  29. ↑ The original French language version of BMX "OLD SCHOOL"
  30. ↑ BMX Action March 1989 Vol.14 No.3 pg.12
  31. ↑ Bicycle Motocross News January/February 1978 Vol.4 No.l pg.12&13
  32. ↑ Bicycle Motocross Action January 1980 Vol.5 No.1 pg.71.
  33. ↑ Bicycle Motocross Action February 1982 Vol.7 No.2 pg.53.
  34. ↑ Bicycle Motocross Action February 1982 Vol.7 No.2 pg.50.
  35. ↑ Super BMX March 1983 Vol.10 No.3 pg.5
  36. ↑ BMX Action December 1986 Vol.11 No.12 pg.30
  37. ↑ Bicycle Motocross Action June 1978 Vol.3 No.3 pg.43
  38. ↑ sebmx.com site.
  39. ↑ BMX Plus! August 1984 Vol.7 No.8 pg.36
  40. ↑ Bicycle Motocross News June 1975 Vol.2 No.5 pg.14
  41. ↑ Bicycle Motocross News July 1975 Vol.2 No.6 pg.10
  42. ↑ Bicycle Motocross News February 1976 Vol.3 No.2 pg.6
  43. ↑ Bicycle Motocross News June 1976 Vol.3 No.6 No.19
  44. ↑ BMX Action August 1984 Vol.9 No.8 pg.34
  45. ↑ BMX Plus! February 1986 Vol.9 No.2 pg.74
  46. ↑ Super BMX August 1986 Vol.13 No.8 pg.20
  47. ↑ Bicycle Motocross News August 1975 Vol.2 No.7 pg.20
  48. ↑ BMX Plus! January 1981 Vol.4 No.1 pg.26
  49. ↑ American BMXer November 1984 Vol.7 No.10 pg.20
  50. ↑ BMX Plus! July 1980 Vol.6 No.7 pg.69
  51. ↑ BMX Plus! June 1985 Vol.8 No.6 pg.6
  52. ↑ BMX Action May 1983 Vol.8 No.5 pg. 66 & 98
  53. ↑ Garage Magazine No.19 pg.48.
  54. ↑ Garage Magazine No.19 pg.48.
  55. ↑ PDF file of Orange County Deputy Sheriff Stu Thomsen's biography page 22
  56. ↑ Garage Magazine No.19 pg.49.
  57. ↑ Orange County Sheriff's Department PDF file of Medal of Valor and Medal of Courage winners in 2005 page 22.
  58. ↑ Garage Magazine No.19 pg.51.
  59. ↑ bmxtra.com article.
  60. ↑ redlinebicycles.com September 2, 2008 report on Thomsen's efforts at the 2008 NBL Grand National.

External links

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