Perry Kramer

Perry Kramer (born October 6, 1959 in Santa Monica, California U.S.) is a former American "Old School" professional Bicycle Motocross (BMX) racer whose prime competitive years were from 1974-1981.

Among his accomplishments is his co-founding with Scot Breithaupt of Scot Enterprise Racing (SE Racing).

His nickname "PK" is a simple derivation from his first and last initials of his name and the inspiration of one of the most popular models of BMX bicycle, the "PK Ripper", that is still in production.

His first race was at what was the very first BMX track, Palms Park in Los Angeles, California which was started by Ron Mackler in 1969.

Started Racing: 1973 or 1974.

Perry Kramer himself is vague on this point.

In the very first issue of Bicycle Motocross News, June 1974 he is listed in the recap section that listed race results as coming in second on April 24, 1974 in 12-14 Jr. Expert.

in the Palms Park Series in Los Angeles, California.

Sanctioning Body: Independent.

First race result:

First win (local):

Home sanctioning body district(s): National Bicycle Association (NBA) District "N" (Northern California);

First sponsor:

Hence, some early "professionals" like Stu Thomsen who turned "pro" in 1975 at age 16, would race for small amounts of money at track events when offered.

Even before the NBA, this was regarded as the first true national BMX sanctioning body and had a professional division.

For the sake of consistency and standardization, noted professional firsts are for the first pro races involving prize money offered by official BMX sanctioning bodies and not independent track events.

Professional firsts are also on the national level unless otherwise indicated.

Note: In the early days of professional racing, prior to 1976, 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.

First national win: In the Open Main at the National Bicycle Association (NBA) Winter Nationals in Scottsdale, Arizona on April 17, 1976.

Turned Professional: 1977 age 18.

First Professional* race result:

First Professional** win:

This practice continued until the NBA's 1979 season, when the pros earned separate pro points and a separate pro plate from the amateurs.

The NBL and the ABA followed suit a year later.

**At the start of his pro career, there wasn't a two-tier system of Junior and Senior Pros, therefore his first pro race and/or win was his first in Senior pro.

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.

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.

National Bicycle Association (NBA)

National Bicycle League (NBL)

American Bicycle Association (ABA)

Retired: 1985

Height & weight at height of his career:

*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.