Scott Clark (BMX rider)


Scott Clark is an American "Old School" former professional Bicycle Motocross racer whose prime competitive years were from 1978 to 1985.
Scott was and still is known for his easygoing, affable manner, as in the case of Tommy Brackens and Eric Rupe and in contrast to Greg Hill's intensity and abruptness. Like Eric Rupe, he had no well-known nickname despite being a top pro.

Racing career

Note: Professional first are on the national level unless otherwise indicated.
Started Racing: Late 1974 at 12 years old.
Sanctioning body: Local Police Athletic League
First race bicycle: He borrowed a friend's Schwinn Sting for his first race. After the race he purchased a Webco.
First race result: First Place.
First win : See Above
Home sanctioning body district: National Bicycle Association District "N" ;
First sponsor: 1974, The Bicycle Hut of San Jose; one month after he started racing.
First national win: In 12-13 Expert at the first annual National Bicycle Association Grandnational Championship in Newhall, California on November 23, 1975. This was the first ever BMX Grandnational Championship.
Turned professional: 1976 at 14 years of age. He was the third racer to turn professional at the time. David Clinton and Byron Friday were the first two in that order.
First Professional race* result:
First Professional* win: 1977 in a Colorado National with the National Bicycle Association.
Retired: Late 1986 Age 24 during "the year of no sponsors" when even some of the most respected top pros could not find sponsorships due to manufacturers cutting back or dropping entirely their factory racing teams. The cause of this were in part to the financial problems brought on by the advents of the revival of skateboarding, the high price of producing bicycles in the United States and most importantly companies trying to start and make room for freestyle teams with the huge boom in BMX Freestyle.
Height & weight at the height of his career : Ht:5'7" Wt:~185-200 lbs.
*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. 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. The ABA and NBL followed suit for the 1980 season.

Career factory and major bicycle shop sponsors

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.

Amateur

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.

Amateur

National Bicycle Association
National Bicycle League
American Bicycle Association
Independent Invitationals and special race series:

Professional

National Bicycle Association
National Bicycle League
"After reading your story on the IBMXF World Championships in Canada, I could not help getting upset at your story about me in the Pro Cruiser class. I was unaware at the time that I was not signed up in both Pro Classes. I had assumed that Bob Hadley had signed me up, and when I checked the motoboard, I did not see my name. I could not find Bob Hadley anywhere, so I went over and spoke to Rosie Banks, explaining that I thought I was signed up for both Pro classes and could she add my name to the list. I told her that Bob Hadley signed me up, and I could not find him to verify it. I was told it was okay, and I told them that instead of having to bring the moto sheet down the mountain, I would just add my name to the list. They said okay, I found out that I was disqualified when Bob Hadley called me after I was already home in California, and I was surprised, to say the least. I was not just waiting to see how long I could get away with it."

BMX Plus! went on to apologize to Stu Thomsen, saying it got the details of the previous story from Bob Hadley himself and thought subsequently that Thomsen knew of the discrepancy. This implies that it was quoting Bob Hadley when Thomsen allegedly said about "...how long it would take them to find out".
American Bicycle Association
United States Bicycle Motocross Association
International Bicycle Motocross Federation
Pro Series Championships

Notable accolades

Still he had few injuries in his career which is quite unusual for a professional. There are comparatively little injury among the amateur class, but at the pro level injuries are quite common, particularly among the top pros. This is in part because the top pro class contain some of the most daring and tenacious racers. With money on the line as a further incentive pro racers routinely push themselves to the edge of their talents and often beyond at the highest speeds. In the amateur classes they may only have two or three racers like that in each age class at the national level, making it easy for one or two racers to dominate the class he or she is in. They are often far out in front of the traffic, often straight out of the gate. With them being the fastest and most talented with only one or two other racers at their skill level, they often only have to worry about the obstacles themselves. In the top "AA" Pro class virtually every racer are at that same high level and have the fierce desire to dominate, to win, and have to worry about the other seven, who are just as fast as he is. As a result, the pro class are much more aggressive with each other than in the other classes. Conversely they are less likely to back down. This results in highly aggressive moves to either stay in front or overtake, done at full speed backing down only when absolutely necessary with up to eight racers at a time. This of course could result in fierce wrecks incurring serious injury. Hence injuries up to and including broken limbs and collar bones are comparatively common if compared to even the top national amateurs. Many pros have had promising seasons and/or careers interrupted by serious injury. Darrell Young for example; or cut short totally as with Mike Poulson and Robert Fehd. For a top pro to be as successful as Scott Clark was and not have serious injuries during his career is quite remarkable. Perhaps only Tinker Juarez has a more impressive injury-free record, especially given he was a pioneering vertical freestyler as well as a racer.

Racing traits and habits

Post-BMX career

Like a lot of his fellow BMXers, his need for the thrill of racing did not end with his BMX career. Immediately after he retired from BMX in late 1986 he got involved in motorcycle speedway racing. Scott Clark has raced sprint/midget cars, motorcycle, and drag racing. He has even raced radio controlled model cars. Scott Clark did race in a few American Bicycle Association Veteran Pro races in the mid-1990s but a series of knee operations forced him to retire from any serious competition and race strictly for fun.

BMX and general press magazine interviews and articles

Bicycle Motocross News:
Minicycle/BMX Action & Super BMX:
Bicycle Motocross Action & Go:
BMX Plus!:
Total BMX:
Bicycles and Dirt:
NBA World & NBmxA World :
Bicycles Today & BMX Today :
ABA Action, American BMXer, BMXer :
USBA Racer :