New Jersey Hall of Fame
Racers
Amon Emeka – North Jersey Factory Jag ripper and World Champion.
Sal Zeuner – 1978 NBL National Number 1 (they didnt have NAG it was all Amatuer, in 1978 NBL had no seperate Pro class so Pros raced 16& Over Expert. he raced factory MCS, Thruster and helped design the first Thrusters. He also raced factory DG.
Jenny Zeuner – Rode for DG. One of the first girl Pros I believe. She finished NBL New Jersey #5 in 1979 among all riders.
Rich Farside – The best known rider out of the Garden State. Rode for Hutch and Diamond Back. he finished NBL New Jersey #4 in 1979.
Mike Lynch – Rode for SE Racing, Vector and Cyclecraft. (I think). 1979 NBL New Jersey #1.
Steve Cohen – Known as Crankin’ Stevie Cohen out of Vineland, NJ he rode for Factory Jag.
Steve Malaguti Was on the cover of BMX Plus when he rode for SE Racing.
Charlie Litsky “Leapin” rode for factory Mongoose and was New Jerseys first star rider. He was often mentioned in Bicycle Motocross Action and went to college at USC. He was one of the Pro Cruiser pioneers.
Brad Dalbec Rode for Factory Thruster before a serious injury ended his career.
Mike Mayes Mike was amazing to watch ride, he rode for Pedaler’s East before getting a factory SE ride. I think he may have doubled at the 1980 ABA ? East Coast Nationals in Vineland, NJ.
Franco Perrino Factory Thruster rider and one of New jeseys first factory riders. (I have a full bio of him from an old NBA paper)
Kathy Schachel the most dominating girl rider ever out of New Jersey and one of the most dominating of all time anywhere.
John Epprecht From Iselin, NJ, the 1980 NBMXA East Coast National Number 1. He raced for Factory Columbia. (I have a full bio for him form an old NBA paper)
Mark Lopez A dominating rider in a very hard class was always in the mix. He raced Factory MCS.
Honorable Mentions or on the bubble till facts get straightened out.
Dan Nicholson One of New Jerseys first Pros, he rode for Redline. One of the first NJ Experts to make a name for himself at NBA Nationals.
Clay Goldsmid A top Am he was able to make the main at the ABA World Cup and went on to race Pro. he was a co-founder of Hyper Bicycles.
Rob Dolecki A factory Hyper rider and talented jumper. He went on to become a top BMX photographer.
Mark Zalewski A factory TNT rider and later he ran TNT with his father.
Paul Prestis A racer with a long career, rode for TNT.
Marcus Dixon Factory Hyper hotshot.
Drew Bentz One of New Jerseys first and fastest Pros rode for Langleys and co-factory Robinson.
Chriss Williams Rode for Torker East and Thruster.
Brian Shute One of the fastest riders from NJ in the 80’s.
He raced for Action Wheels.
Stephanie Defeo In 1982 she was the ABA overall #3 and NJ #1 points finisher for girls. Rode for JMC. She may have been a World Champion.
Riders worth mentioning and consideration
David Scruggs Mr Stix factory star one of the fastest riders from Central New Jersey. he finished NBL New Jersey #7 in 1979.
Anna Rowland In 1982 she was the ABA overall #4 and NJ #2 points finisher for girls.
Maria Teller In 1983 she was the ABA overall #7 and NJ #1 points finisher for girls.
Kevin Kozak I believe he was a support rider for DG. He finished NBL New Jersey #2 in 1979.
Paul Stephan From Frenchtown, NJ, Paul was the gentle giant riding for Petes Bike Shop team. He finished NBL New Jersey #3 in 1979
Mike Raines He finished NBL New Jersey #6 in 1979. He may have been a DG support rider.
Russ Peterson He rode for Thruster. 1979 NBL New Jersey #22.
TJ Taylor Raced for Action Wheels.
John Schachel Raced Pro for factory Columbia and Shimano?
Wayne MacFarquahr Spelled wrong maybe but he was a NJ Pro that raced for Shimano and maybe Columbia.
Rick Ward Raced Pro, may have been a factory support rider for DG.
Alan Jessat Raced Pro and rode for Thruster.
Terry Zeuner Raced Pro and factory support for SE Racing.
Other New Jersey Pros
Lee Veale Rode for AER, was leading and may have won the NJ NBL Pro title in 1980.
Mark Flores
Dave Woodward
Jack Harvey
Dave Thompsen
Other NJ riders mid school era
Frank Klimecki
Doug Luden
Rich Carolan
Dave Kapigian
Andy Currie Owner of Chip-N-Dales and ACE Cycles.
Guy Stevenson
Track Operators/Promoters
John, Dan and Sonia Force They ran Petes Bike Shop and team. They also ran the Flemington BMX track. The family was also the force (pun intended) behind the 1980 NBL War of the Stars race in Flemington, NJ.
Leroy Veale He helped run Millville BMX and was the NBL NJ State Commissioner. He published “New Jersey BMX News”. His son Lee raced Pro.
Marty Wolfgang He ran Marty’s Bike Shop and team. He ran the Lawrenceville BMX track that hosted the NBL War of the Stars in 1980.
The Zeuner family They ran Vineland BMX and Pedalers East Bike Shop. Vineland was home to the 1978 NBA Schwinn Tour and several Nationals.
The Gleason family They run Bicycle World and the Howell BMX Track that has been racing since 1979 (?).
Harry Meyer He started Craigmeur BMX track that hosted the 1978 and 1979 NBA East Coast Nationals. His events pushed New Jersey BMX into the national spotlight as they recieved magazine coverage. He later went on to promote Freestyle and the General Bikes Trick Team.
Considerations
William Bohren Bill was the 1981 NBL New Jersey State Commissioner.
Thomas Montross In 1981 he was a NBL District Commissioner for New Jersey.
Sam Conti In 1981 he was a NBL District Commissioner for New Jersey.
C. William Kreamer In 1981 he was a NBL District Commissioner for New Jersey.
Bob Mahn Bob ran the Monmouth County BMX track in titon falls, NJ.
Ron Boorman He ran the Vineland BMX track at one point.
The Woodworth family They ran the ABA tracks in Woodbury and Deptford, NJ. They also own Action Wheels Bike Shop and had one of the top teams in the USA in 1990.
Brett Middaugh A former racer and now promoter of BMX. ePublisher of Brokenspokes.net and NJ Zine among other websites.
No one is certain how many riders earned points in new Jersey in 1979. that year the NBL only published the top 500 riders in the nation lol.
NJ Rider #50 had 1,841 points!!! So NJ could have had over 500 racers just racing NBL, we will never know unless the NBL goes back and digs up the old records and redoes them.
Bike Shops
Bicycle World – Howell, NJ
Pedaler’s East – Vineland, NJ
AER – Millville, NJ
Action Wheels – Woodbury and Deptford, NJ
JV Bikes – North Bergen, NJ
Marty’s Bike Shop – Lawrenceville, NJ
Chip-N-Dales – Mt. Holly, NJ
Langleys – Vineland, NJ
Pete’s Bike Shop – Flemington, NJ
CJ Cycles –
Beacon Bikes –
BMX Companies
TNT Bicycles – Linden,NJ Founded by the Zalewski’s.
Hyper Bicycles – Malaga, NJ Founded by Clay Goldsmid and Erick Weinstetter
ACE Cycles – Mount Holly, NJ Founded by Andy Currie
Speed Unlimted – Wayne, NJ bikes made under the brand name Thruster. Founded by?
This list was done mostly from memory. I only raced from 1978-81 and 88-90 in New jersey and didnt race all sanctions in a single year. the list certainly should be expanded and more details of each rider added. For points I only have the 79 NBL NJ top 50 standings. I dont have any ABA or NBA or WWBMXA standings. All my newspapers were left at clays house and he cant find them, they dated back to 78 🙁
There may be some errors in areas done from memory. for instance I know a NJ redline rider got magazine coverage from the 78 or 79 race at craigmeur. I think it was Dan Nicholson but not certain. I do know Dan raced NJ Pro in 80. So it may have been another rider anyone got the issues covering Craigmeur?[/b]