Scot Breithaupt

Scot Alexander Breithaupt (July 14, 1957 – July 5, 2015) was an entrepreneur, "Old School" professional motorcycle MX and bicycle motocross (BMX) racer and a founding father of BMX in 1970 whose prime competitive years were from 1970 to 1984.

This makes his birth year 1957, and makes him 13 when he started organizing races in Long Beach in November 1970.

In fact nine other riders in the event were over 16.

In fact, Ramocinski's sponsor, Dirtmasters, and its general manager Mike Devitt protested Breithaupt.

Many consider him, in some ways, a founder of "Old School BMX"—an era from roughly 1969 to 1987 or 1988, from its very beginnings to just after its first major slump in popularity from 1985 to 1988.

He first organized what was called Pedal-Cross at the time on November 14, 1970., and established a track in a vacant lot in Long Beach, California.

He also founded what could be called BMX's first sanctioning body of any kind, the Bicycle United Motocross Society (B.U.M.S).

Breithaupt—who was a teenage MX racer for Yamaha—set up organizational features around his races much as later sanctioning bodies did: rulebooks, a point system, a skill level structure, a racing season, trophies and promotions of special races that were the prototype for Nationals.

By the late 1970s, he did things beyond his young age—promoting races, nationwide tours, teaching racing clinics, safety seminars for the C.P.S.C. and starting and consulting with companies while still a teenager.

Later, it became a running gag as to just how old he was.

Of course the joke being, if true he helped invent BMX in 1970 when he was seven years old.

Young Breithaupt did not just tend to his own track.

He designed the Saddleback Park B.M.X. Track in Orange County, California, Westminster BMX, City of Walnut BMX, Signall Hill BMX, Escape Country, and also collaborated with the municipal government of La Palma, California, to design the La Palma Youth Village BMX track, and also Fountain Valley Boys and Girls Club Track.

Significant accomplishments for a teenager by any standard.

In later years, Breithaupt designed and built Narler Park in Long Beach, California, the first track with a separate pro section.

He produced the 1st California State Championships in 1972.

Breithaupt adapted these structures from motocross sanctioning bodies such as the AMA, CMC and AME, as would other pioneers like Ernie Alexander, [founder of the National Bicycle Association (NBA)] and George Esser [(founder of the National Bicycle League(NBL)]—both of whom, like Breithaupt, had roots in motorcycle motocross as racers or promoters. Breithaupt was the first to do it in BMX, at the age of 13.

His nickname was and is "OM" for "Old Man," in part because he was older at a time when BMX was seen as a pre-teen and early teen activity.

This was the first of three preceding qualifying races prior to the final to be held in September 1974.

Only those 16 years and younger could participate and he had turned 17 between the time he signed up for the race and the day the qualifying race was actually held, July 20, 1974.

He turned 17 on July 14, 1974, six days before the race.

It was a story in Popular Mechanics in 1974 by Mike Anson, headlined, "Promotional Genius at 16."

In his early years, Breithaupt promoted a bevy of races, both independent and in conjunction with the nascent NBA.

In the January 1975 issue of Cycle Illustrated in its report on the Yamaha Bicycle Gold Cup Finals (a.k.a. the Bicycle Motocross Championship of California State), which Breithaupt conceptualized, promoted, and built a custom track for, has him listed as 17 years old.

At 17, his age hadn't become a running gag yet, although he could not participate in the Yamaha Bicycle Gold Cup series finals-ironically since he was the race promoter-because he was disqualified after a win in the Expert Class in the first qualifying race at Birmingham High School in Van Nuys, California, with Brian Ramocinski declared the winner.

Further confirmation came on page 11 of the November 1975 issue of Bicycle Motocross News, which described Breithaupt as an "18-year-old dynamo."

This running joke is with his complicity.

He used to put a "?"

mark in the space for the rider's age on the ABA sign-up form for when he raced Cruiser class.

Also, in part two of a four-part series of interviews by BMXUltra.com profiling Mr. Breithaupt and SE Racing in response to a question "When did you start SE?"

He was brought on as their National Public Relations Director in 1975 and announced many of their major events, including the 1975 Shimano Grandnationals, which he sat out due to injuries.

He also produced and promoted the very first Pro BMX @ Saddleback Park in 1975.

Breithaupt had a hand in virtually every aspect of BMX: racing, promoting, announcing, designing tracks, manufacturing, sponsoring and managing teams.

He even had a hand in founding and/or guiding the existence of the founding four BMX publications; Bicycle Motocross News where he wrote some of the first articles and was the first racer interviewed by a nation spanning BMX publication.

He was a contributing writer and staff product tester on Minicylce/BMX Action,** later known as Super BMX, when it began to transition from combined minicycle and BMX racing coverage to BMX only reporting.

he quips "I started SE Racing in Mid 1977 when I was 14."

It was also the site of the last ever National Bicycle Association (NBA) Grandnationals in December 1982.

Racing started to rise in participation again around 1988–89 and is considered the start of Mid School BMX, roughly 1988–2000.

He was born in Long Beach, California.

Breithaupt was a BMX pioneer—perhaps the inventor of its modern infrastructure.