SAN DIEGO, CA (BRAIN)—The National BMX Hall of Fame 2010 inductees have been announced.
Below are the six being inducted this year:
Pioneer BMX Racer - Tim Judge
TJ was one of the top stars on the East Coast in the mid 1970s. His fame expanded exponentially after winning the 1981 Jag World Champion title and getting picked up by the legendary Hutch BMX Factory Team. At Hutch, he added a 1983 IBMXF Cruiser World Title to his list of accomplishments. Judge's BMX experience played a pivotal role in his post-BMX career, when he became an internationally-known racer and mechanic in the Jet Watercraft (JetSki) industry.
BMX Racer - Steve Veltman
The first rider to win the ABA National Number One Amateur and Cruiser titles in the same year (1982), Steve Veltman also stacked up two Jag World Championship Age Group titles, and two IBMXF world age group titles in his amateur career, and was an Elite Cruiser Bronze Medalist at the 1989 World Championships. As a professional, Steve won both the NBL and ABA Grandnationals, and the 1993 ABA National Number One Pro title. He competed in three X Games and raced in the top class for 15 years, retiring in 2004. Veltman is the only BMX racer to have ever appeared on a Wheaties cereal box.
BMX Industry - Craig "gOrk" Barrette
Few industries have a person so well known and respected that one name suffices in identifying them. In BMX, it's "gOrk." As someone who has raced at a national level (UBR national number one sidehack three year running), rode and promoted freestyle shows, worked in the warehouse at CW Racing, and served as editor of both the iconic "BMX Action" and the ABA's BMXer Magazines, he has made his mark on nearly every era of our sport. In 1999, after 10 years with ABA, gOrk moved to the Pacific Northwest to join Seattle Bike Supply as the director of marketing for their flagship brand, Redline, where he remains in that role today.
BMX Freestyler - Woody Itson
Most people had their first exposure to Woody Itson in BMX Action's "Hot Shots" feature, as he blasted an impossibly high air at the Big O Skatepark. This racer-turned-freestyler wowed crowds all over the nation on tour for Vans Tennis Shoes, but it was his riding for Hutch BMX Products that made him a household name. He designed the Hutch Trick Star, one of the most popular bikes of the day, and captured both an AFA and an NFA National Title for Flatland in 1985 ands 1986, respectively. As half of the Diamond Back Freestyle Team, he was "Mr. Flatland" to the "Mr. Air" of Mike Dominguez. After a break to attend college, Itson hung up his riding uniform, and became freestyle program director for the megawatt GT Freestyle Team, where he stayed until 2001. Soon after, he started his current company, Satellite Sports Group, and has since been managing a crew of riders who perform BMX Freestyle shows at over 500 venues each year.
Special Recognition - Linda Dorsey
In honoring someone for whom the sharpest wit and cleverest turn of phrase was as natural as green on grass, words are difficult to wrangle when talking about legendary announcer, Linda Dorsey. Her son, Bryan, probably summed it up as well as any of us could, saying, simply, "BMX was her life." During her three-decades on the mic, Dorsey was a fixture on the NBL National circuit, served on the NBL Board of Directors, and brought her voice to France and Japan, among other places motos were posted. Dorsey passed away from cancer in 2008, but announced BMX races with the same fire and passion until three months before the end of her life.
Special Recognition - Al Fritz, father of the Schwinn Sting-Ray
Starting on the welding line of Schwinn`s landmark Kostner Avenue plant in Chicago, Al Fritz worked his way up from the factory floor in 1945, to become the number two man and a member of the Board of Directors at Schwinn Bicycle Company. During a chance Saturday phone call in 1963, a West Coast sales rep told him of a "goofy" fad out there, where kids were "buying used 20" bikes and equipping them with Texas Longhorn handlebars." That Saturday morning phone call planted the seed for a project Fritz would rapidly prototype, and ultimately launch as the Schwinn Sting-Ray. Every BMX bike on today`s track and trails can trace its roots directly to that first Sting-Ray, built by Al Fritz in the winter of 1963.
A select number of tickets are being offered to the public for the 26th Annual induction ceremony at the San Diego Hall Of Champions (San Diego) on Thursday, September 16, 2010. Visit the above link below for more information and to purchase tickets.
