Stu Thomsen


Stuart L. Thomsen is an American former bicycle motocross 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 1976–1985. Sometimes called the Babe Ruth of BMX 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.
MilestoneEvent 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.
Sanctioning body:The proto governing body Bicycle United Motocross Society
Home sanctioning body district:National Bicycle Association District "X" 1977–1981; American Bicycle Association California 1
First race bike:
First race result:Fifth place at Scot Breithaupt's Bicycle United Motocross Society track in Long Beach, California
First win :
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 held at different tracks based in California, but it was the first highly organized mass event in BMX involving a large number 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.
Turned Professional**:1975 Age 16
First Professional race result:**
First Professional win:Possibly at the National Bicycle Association 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. 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. the equivalent to US$5,349.01 in 2008.
Height and weight at height of his career:Ht: 6' 1.5" Wt: 200 lbs.

Retired from Senior pro : 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. 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. 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 coming in third in Pro Cruiser on Day 2. 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.
*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 cosponsors. 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

Stu: At the time, pro racing had been going on for a few years, but the prize money wasn't all that big yet. Redline was a much bigger company than S.E. Racing. The dollar signs were what attracted me more than just wanting to change. I needed to get more out of racing if I was to stay in it any longer. The opportunity to earn money by riding someone's product, other than just going out and winning it, was a big push. I decided racing was what I wanted and I had to get the best I could out of it.
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
*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
'National Pedal Sport Association
United Bicycle Racers
American Bicycle Association
National Bicycle Association
National Bicycle League
United Bicycle Racers
National Pedal Sport Association
American Bicycle Association
*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, making them a separate class from the amateurs.
United States Bicycle Motocross Association
International Bicycle Motocross Federation
Other Titles
Pro Series Championships and Invitationals
This was an exhibition invitational that Stu Thomsen and several other American professionals including 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, 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 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. 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 than in the United States. Thirteen thousand spectators ventured into the Palais Omnisport de Paris Bercy to watch a BMX race. 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.

Amateur

Note: Thomsen reclassified himself as an amateur in the late 1990s.
National Bicycle League
American Bicycle Association
*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 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 maximum publicity and advantage financially. Therefore, under the new system Stu Thomsen was awarded NORA in 1980 and 1982.

BMX related product lines

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."
—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: "I always say that. You know me."
—BMX Plus! January 1981

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

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.'