David Clinton

David Clinton (born January 2, 1960, in Sun Valley, California ) is an "Old School" former professional Bicycle Motocross (BMX) racer whose prime competitive years were from 1973 to 1979.

Nicknamed "Dynamite" early in his career David Clinton could be truthfully said to be the sport's first true superstar.

Started Racing: 1971 at age 11.

He was doing halftime show BMX races between the minicycle races at the Indian Dunes track in Valencia, California.

Sanctioning Body: None.

First race result: Unknown.

First win (local): Some time in 1971 at the Indian Dunes Motorcycle Motocross track in Valencia, California At the time some BMX tracks were made out of active MX tracks.

First sponsor: Pedalers West 1972.

First national win: Yamaha Bicycle Gold Cup Final on September 14, 1974, in Junior class* age 14.

While the Yamaha Bicycle Gold Cup was not a true national-no national points were awarded to any participant who resided outside of the state-it was the very first large, heavily promoted race series up to that time in BMX.

He was the first racer to win an official National No.1 plate of any kind when the first BMX sanctioning body, the National Bicycle Association (NBA), introduced the title in 1975.

During the previous year he won the junior class division of a series of what could be called proto Nationals, a part of the first major BMX series, when he took first place in the Junior class at the Yamaha Bicycle Gold Cup which decided the California State Champion.

Clinton along with Scot Breithaupt and John "Snaggletooth" Palfryman participated in the first true National sanctioned by the NBA in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1975 and became the first official pro in BMX in 1977 (although Thom Lund could be considered the first BMXer to race for money. He raced for a share of the US$200 purse and won the Scot Breithaupt sponsored Saddleback Park race in Irvine, California, in 1975).

Hence some early "professionals" like Stu Thomsen turning "pro" in 1975 at 16 years old where 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.

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.

Clinton's first true national win was in 14 & Over Expert at the National Bicycle Association (NBA) Tri-State National in Tucson, Arizona, on March 30, 1975.

It was the second true national in BMX history.

The first one was the previous day's NBA Winternationals held in Phoenix, Arizona.

John George won the 14 & Over Expert class.

Because records only published the first four placers it is not known through available public records what position Clinton came in that day, or even if he made the main.

Height & weight at height of his career (1975–1978): Ht:5'3" Wt:135-~230 lbs. Note: the 230 pounds figure is for roughly at the end of the peak in his career.

*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 event that could be referred to as a "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.

Note: In the early days of professional racing, 1977 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.

Turned professional: 1977 at 17 years of age with the NBA.

He was the very first official pro.

First Professional race result**: First place at NBA National in Chandler, Arizona, on April 30, 1978.

First Professional win: See above.

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.

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.

Retired: Late 1980 at age 20.

He made a brief comeback in 1982 at the ABA Fall Nationals in Lancaster, California, on October 16 and 17 but a preexisting knee injury forced him to retire from BMX permanently.

He also was still doing obsolete one pedal starts when most other pros (Andy Patterson being one notable exception) had adapted the quicker reaction two pedal balance starts.

His failure to adapt also contributed to his truncated comeback.