Tinker Juarez

David "Tinker" Juarez (born March 4, 1961) is an American former professional BMX and cross-country mountain bike racer.

While he was also known as the "Hollified Flash" after one of his home BMX tracks he used to race at and dominate in the early-1970s, the moniker "Tinker" is a nickname that was coined by his family.

According to his Mother Rose: "We used to say 'Stinker' when he was a baby, everybody thought we were saying 'Tinker" David Juarez is so well known by his nickname "Tinker" many people probably think that is his real first name.

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.

*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.

His prime competitive years in BMX were from 1978 to 1984 and in mountain bike racing 1986 to 2005.

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 ever-changing co-sponsors.

Primary sponsorships can be verified by BMX and MTB press coverage and sponsor's advertisements at the time in question.

When possible exact dates are used.

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)

United States Bicycle Motocross Association (USBA)

International Bicycle Motocross Federation (IBMXF)

National Bicycle Association (NBA)

National Bicycle League (NBL)

American Bicycle Association (ABA)

United States Bicycle Motocross Association (USBA)

International Bicycle Motocross Federation (IBMXF)

Independent Events and Series

In April 1980, Tinker was named the first King of the Skateparks by Bicycle Motocross Action magazine.

He even graced the April 1980 cover of the magazine, making it one of the first pure freestyle magazine covers by a BMX magazine.

Although no contest was ever held, it was a general declaration for his highly advanced maneuvers that no one were matching at the time.

Tinker, despite eventually becoming a top pro BMXer in racing and gaining "high airs" in both dirt jumping and vertical freestyle, went ten years without breaking a bone.

It is very common for BMXers, especially in the pro ranks to become occasionally seriously injured because they are pushing themselves to as far as their talents can take them and beyond at high speeds, or in the case of vertical freestyle and dirt jumping to high altitudes and distances.

Since late 2005, he has competed as a Marathon mountain bike racer.

In all three disciplines, he has won numerous national and international competitions.

Most recently, Juarez finished third in the 2006 Race Across America Endurance bicycle race.

Born in Downey, California, Juarez is a highly talented cyclist who has made significant impacts in the cycling disciplines of BMX Racing, Freestyle BMX, Cross-country Mountain Bike racing, and now Marathon Mountain Bike racing for over thirty years.