John George

John George (born May 20, 1958, in Canoga Park, California United States) was a professional American "Old School" Bicycle Motocross (BMX) racer whose prime competitive years were from (1972–1978).

Started racing: September 1972

Sanctioning body: None.

This was the era before official sanctioning bodies and individual tracks had their own

race series and championships.

First race result: Unknown, but over the first two years of his career he won 40 trophies of which 36 were for first place

First win (local): See above.

Home sanctioning body district(s): National Bicycle Association (NBA) District "X" (Orange/Los Angeles County);

First sponsor:

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

First national win: He won the very first official National in BMX history in both his class and overall, the National Bicycle Association (NBA) Winternationals held in Phoenix, Arizona, on March 29, 1975.

He won both 14 & Over Expert and the Trophy Dash, which made him the overall event Champion.

*This was a combined event of the two sports Held at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa, California, between August 2 and 5 1975.

The BMX event was held on the 2nd and 3rd.

Participants in either discipline were not and did not compete in both events.

National Bicycle League (NBL)

National Pedal Sport Association (NPSA)

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

Retired: The May 1976 issue of Bicycle Motocross News implies he retired around March 1976.

However, George would frequently come out of "retirement" after not racing for a few months and compete in large races.

The NBA started the first pro division Class in 1977 called Open Pro a pro/am class in which racers 14 and over could race in.

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.

Turned professional: 1977

First professional race result:

First professional win:

He retired from active competition for good after the 1978 NBA Grandnational getting a first in Open Pro winning USD$180 and a second in Trophy Dash but even then in 1980 and a few years after that he raced once a year being employed by Mongoose as a Plant Manager and representing Mongoose at races they sponsored once a year.

Height & weight at height of his career : Ht:" Wt:lbs.

Note: This listing only denotes the racer's primary sponsors.

At any given time a racer could have numerous ever-changing 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 used.

""Yes, John George came out of (Huh!) retirement to race the Western States Championship with Bobby.""

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.

Non Sanction titles*:

*In the days before the creation of official sanctioning bodies for BMX individual tracks had their own Championship titles.

National Bicycle Association (NBA)