history of BMX in port angeles
PORT ANGELES BMX: A HISTORY
By Mike Thomas
The following is my best recollection of the history of BMX racing in Port Angeles. I’m relying on memories from 44 years ago and albums of photos and clippings from ‘back in the day’, forgive any inaccuracies that may appear in the following material.
The very first track in Port Angeles was on the SW corner of 7th St. and Chase St. It was the summer of 1979. Back then, what is now Rite-Aid and Goodwill, used to be Pay-N-Save and Albertsons. I had gone to the grocery store with my mom and noticed kids riding bikes as we headed back home. We only lived a couple of blocks away and I told my mom that I wanted to grab my bike when we got home and go check it out. This was grass roots BMX at its finest. I could not tell you who ran the track, built the track, etc. I was 6 at the time and just wanted to go ride my bike. The ‘track’ was not anything that you would think of in today’s BMX world. As I recall, it had a wooden, raised starting gate, cones set out to delineate the course, and a few jumps made of plywood on top of hay bales. The gates back then were all run manually. There was a bar attached to the gate on one end that the starter could use to lift the gate. Riders would get in the gate and the starter would say something like ‘Riders ready, Pedals ready, Go’ and let go of the bar. I don’t remember many details of my first encounter with BMX other than the fact that I got a 1st place trophy and was hooked for life. The lot where the first track was is still pretty much exactly as it was back then, minus the gate and plywood jumps.
That original track was in place for the summer of 1979 before moving on to bigger and better things at the Clallam County Fairgrounds in 1980. Early spring of that year a track was built at the main grandstand area of the Fairgrounds. I have some clippings from June and July of that year with race results attached to this article. This track was a big upgrade from the previous. It was an all dirt track, with an actual starting hill (still manual gate), dirt jumps (think small, 1’ tall rollers here and there) and I remember ‘ant hills’ (mounds of dirt in the straight that you had to maneuver over or around). Also worth noting, there were no berms back then, only flat corners. The biggest thing I remember from that track was the ‘King Kong’ jump. It was a massive, 10’ tall roller in the middle of the one of the straights. It was a cool obstacle until you had to race in the mud, then it was almost impossible to get up, especially for us little guys. Looking through some of the articles I have, it seems that Mike McNemar was credited with running the track during this time. This track only lasted a few months at this location, I would guess because it had to be torn down for the County Fair in Aug.
BMX moved from its temporary location at the Fairgrounds to a permanent home on Black Diamond Rd. This would be the fall of 1980 when this track opened. It was located on a piece of property about ½ mile south of the bridge that crosses Hwy. 101 (site is now homes). I remember the track being built on a sloped piece of property which allowed for some added speed. Not necessarily a ‘downhill’ track but it did have a nice drop out of turn one down to the lower half of the track. There several pictures and articles attached with race results from the track on Black Diamond Rd. Reading back, it looks like some parents got together to run the track in 1981 and an electronic gate was purchased. That was a bid deal for a local track in the early 80’s. Still a far cry from todays gate systems, the early electronic gates still had to be lifted manually. They would then latch closed. A simple switch system would trigger the lights and drop the gate. Also, the cadence was still done manually by the starter. You might recognize some familiar names as you look at the results. Some of them you can still see at, or around, the tracks to this day.
BMX in Port Angeles would soon go into its Dark Ages. There were several years that there was not a track in town. Not sure if it was lack of leadership, lack of funds, or if the use of the property was the factor. The track on Black Diamond Rd. closed down in 1982? There were still plenty of racers from the area, but we all had to travel a bit more to compete. In the mid 80’s there were plenty of WA tracks; Peninsula Indoor (then known as MTS), River Valley, Silverdale, Port Orchard outdoor track (for a minute), Sea-Tac, Pete’s Downhill in Tacoma, Oakwood indoor, Mt. Vernon, Centralia, etc. Lots of options for those willing to travel a bit more.
In 1990, Port Angels BMX opened in its current location under the direction of Glen and Debbie Miller. They had moved to Port Angeles from the Puget Sound area and had several kids that raced. They grabbed the reins and BMX was back in Port Angeles. There are some old sketches of some of the early versions of PA BMX attached. It was a bit smaller of a footprint in the beginning, but it was good to have a local track again. Glen and Debbie did a great job of growing the sport and getting kids back to the track in PA.
After two seasons as track operators, Glenn and Debbie were moving back to the Puget Sound area for Glenn’s job. As the 92 season got underway a young (18), professional BMX’er named Mike Thomas took the helm as track operator of Port Angeles BMX. BMX in the early 90’s was on an upward trend and the rider count continued to grow in Port Angeles. The track was expanded to the footprint that you ride on today and the invention of the Air Ram Hydraulic gate system came about around that time. We had some great seasons during this time and many events that started back then are still in existence to this day, just a little tweaked. The ‘Tuesday Ten Series’ began in the mid 90’s, which now exists as the ‘Summer Series’. There was also a ‘Speed Week’ for a few seasons, where we would race 7 straight days with special awards for those that attended all of them. This was a fun series, but very exhausting for the volunteers.
Fast forward 16 years, to the 2008 season. Mike made the difficult decision that after 22 years of racing and 16 years of being a track operator, it was time to pass the torch. The search went out for any interested parties to take over as track operators. After several months of consideration, he decided to hand the track to Geri Thompson. If nothing else, Geri kept Port Angeles BMX alive for the next 8 years. Port Angeles BMX rebranded in 2017 under the new name Lincoln Park BMX, which opened as a non-profit run BMX track.
The rest of this history can be filled in by the current track operator of Lincoln Park BMX, Sean Coleman. I will say this though, all the ideas, dreams, and vision I had for the track during my tenure all came to fruition, and then some, under Sean’s guidance. He had no idea what my dreams were for the facility, but they have been realized all the same. Sean has done more for the track, the City, and the sport of BMX during his time than I did in my 16 years as track operator. Make sure to say ‘Thank You’ to Sean, and for that matter, to any track operator, for all they do for the sport and for your kids. It is often overlooked that running a track is a business and is all done by volunteers.
For the Love of BMX . . . to be continued.