Where did Frank Post's nickname 'Wildman' come from?

BMX Action publisher Bob Osborn gave Post the nickname 'Wild Man' after a photoshoot in 1979. Earlier in his career Post was known as 'CW Post,' a play on his surname and the cereal brand, a nickname he dropped once the BMX brand CW Racing became well known in 1981.

How many BMX teams did Frank Post ride for?

Wikipedia's sponsor-chain timeline lists more than twenty separate sponsorships across Post's career, from Hank & Frank Bicycles in 1979 through full factory Schwinn in the mid-1980s. BMX Plus! wrote in February 1984 that Post 'has never been able to get along with most of his major sponsors for more than a few months at a time.'

When was Frank Post inducted into the BMX Hall of Fame?

Frank Post was inducted into the National BMX Hall of Fame as a Pioneer Racer in the Class of 2015, announced by USA BMX on July 17, 2015, with the induction ceremony held October 10, 2015 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, California.

Frank Post

Q: Who was Frank Post in BMX?

Frank Post, nicknamed "Wildman," was a Watsonville, California BMX racer who turned pro in 1978 at age 16. In 1980 he became the first racer to win the Pro Grand Nationals of three different sanctioning bodies — UBR, NBA, and ABA — in a single season, without a major factory sponsor. He was inducted into the National BMX Hall of Fame as a Pioneer Racer in 2015.

Watsonville, California · "Wildman" / "Wild Man" · 1979 UBR National No. 1 Pro · 1980 UBR, NBA, and ABA Pro Grand National Champion · 2015 National BMX Hall of Fame Pioneer Racer

A BMXRacingHistory.com preview · hosted on Legend Bike Co

At a glance

Name: Franklin Post, racing as Frank Post.
Born: April 20, 1962, Watsonville, California.
Nicknames: "CW Post" early on (a play on the cereal name), then "Wild Man" / "Wildman" after a Bob Osborn photoshoot for BMX Action.
Prime competitive years: 1978 to 1981. Raced pro through the 1986 season, came back as a reclassified amateur in the 26-30 class at the 1990 ABA Winternationals.
Headline titles: 1979 UBR National No. 1 Pro · 1979 UBR Pro Class and Open Expert Grandnational Champion · 1980 UBR, NBA, and ABA Pro Grandnational Champion · 1982 Mongoose/GNC International A Pro Champion · 1980 Pro Trophy at the JAG World Championships.
Hall of Fame: National BMX Hall of Fame, Pioneer Racer category, Class of 2015. Induction ceremony at the U.S. Olympic Training Center, Chula Vista, California, October 10, 2015.

Watsonville start

The first time Frank Post lined up, he won his moto and then crashed in the main. That was 1976, McLaren Park track in San Francisco, and he was 14. The bike was an R&R a friend just handed him.

His home district was NBA District "N" — Northern California — and Watsonville was the track he kept coming back to. As an amateur in early 1978, his one credited sponsor was a bike shop team, Cycle City West. He turned pro in May 1978 at 16. Back then the pros and the 16 Experts still shared a gate, because there just weren't many pros yet. Post made the 16 Expert main at the 1978 NBA Grand National in Los Angeles. Then Brent Patterson landed in front of him off a jump and that was that. The gate he shared that day had Stu Thomsen on it, Kevin McNeal, and Patterson himself.

1979: first pro win and the UBR No. 1 Pro plate

His first pro win landed on May 27, 1979 at the NBA Spring National. At home, in Watsonville. Sixteen years old, and he had spent the whole previous year racing pro with nobody behind him — no team, no help, nothing.

That win is what brought the sponsors out. Hank & Frank Bicycles / Cycle Pro signed him as his first pro shop sponsor. A week later Vance Patterson of Patterson Racing came calling and Post switched over. Trouble was, Patterson would only pay for races Post could actually get to, and with no car and no travel money, he couldn't get there. So in September 1979 he moved to Panda Bike Company, who agreed to cover the travel.

On Panda he doubled the UBR Grandnationals — Pro Class and Open Expert both — and closed the season as the UBR National No. 1 Pro.

1980: three sanctions in one year

1980 is the year the whole record hangs on.

Post won the Pro Grand Nationals of three different sanctioning bodies in a single season — UBR, NBA, and ABA. First racer ever to do it. And he did it with no major factory contract behind him. His sponsor at the time was Wes' BMX, a bike shop.

The same season he took the Pro Trophy at Renny Roker's JAG World Championships and won the 1980 NBL ROC Championships. BMX Action ran him in their "hot shots" listing in January 1980, and BMX Plus! gave him a feature that April.

Kuwahara, the Amarillo incident, and the long sponsor list

Late December 1980 he signed with Kuwahara Cycles, Ltd. The bike showed up Christmas Day, two days before the JAG World Championships on December 27. He rode for Kuwahara until mid-October 1981, then walked over travel and equipment support he said never materialized.

1981 had the ABA Pro Spectacular win in Detroit. It also had Amarillo. At the ABA Summernationals, Post was convinced Kevin McNeal had hit him on purpose in the first turn — so he went after him, knocked McNeal's visor clean off, and walked away with a 30-day suspension. BMX Plus! straightened out the record afterward: Greg Hill and McNeal had touched first in that same turn, McNeal drifted into Post on the outside, and the contact was incidental. Didn't matter much in the moment.

Post told his own version of how the first Kuwahara run ended in a January 2006 post on the Vintage BMX forum. By his account, the team didn't get him a ticket to the 1981 NBL Grands, so he paid his own way there — then couldn't get his bike on the flight home and had to leave it at the St. Louis airport with a Panda-sponsored rider he names as Margo Carroll. The next week, at the Silverdome, there was no ticket again. "They say well how can you race w/ no bike," he wrote, "I say why isn't my bike here already." Six weeks later he was back with the team for a second stint anyway.

From late 1981 on, the sponsor list reads like a directory of the era, and Wikipedia's sponsor-chain timeline — sourced to contemporary BMX Plus! issues — lays out the exact dates. JC BMX (late 1981–December 1981). Boss Racing Frames (December 1981–mid-February 1982). A second stint at Kuwahara (mid-February–late March 1982). JC BMX again (April–early May 1982). Wes' BMX (May 1982–early 1983). Boss Racing Frames again (early 1983–October 1983). Race Incorporated (late October 1983–March 1984, when the company itself went out of business). Boss Racing Frames a third time (March–July 1984). CW (Custom Works) Racing as a factory-support deal (July 8, 1984–late 1984). U.S. Boss Racing Products (late 1984–December 1984). JMC Racing Equipment (December 1984–early/mid 1985, until JMC itself closed in July 1985). Two more short returns to Wes' BMX and U.S. Boss across mid-1985. Then Livermore Schwinn in late October 1985, where he wrenched as a mechanic, followed by full-factory Schwinn from mid-November 1985, and a co-factory deal with MCS Magnum Force in early 1989. BMX Plus! put it plainly in February 1984 — Post "has never been able to get along with most of his major sponsors for more than a few months at a time."

1982: GNC International A Pro

In 1982 Post took the A Pro class at the Mongoose Grand National Championships / GNC International on March 14, 1982. It was a one-off, non-sanctioned promotion that Jerry Surber put on, with ABA officials helping run it under NBL rules. Odd setup, real title.

Why he never got paid like Stu or Greg

Post never danced around his own reputation. By his own telling he was "a reputed bad guy...but really just mis-understood." No team ever paid him a salary. The only money he made came off the track, race by race. He said he was as fast as Stu or Greg on any given day, but he knew the factory deals weren't coming his way — and called that "a very heavy mental blow." You believe him.

Retirement and after

Post faded out after the 1986 season. In 1990 he had himself reclassified as an amateur and lined up 26-30 at the ABA Winternationals. After racing he turned his hand to a few things — culinary chef, pool shark, machinist, salesman.

Hall of Fame, 2015

USA BMX announced the Class of 2015 on July 17, 2015. Post went in as the Pioneer Racer of the class, alongside Christophe Leveque (Racer), Bob Tedesco (Industry), Brian Blyther (Freestyler), Kathy Schachel (Woman), and Ron Mackler (Special Recognition). The induction ceremony was held Saturday, October 10, 2015 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, California.

The USA BMX announcement called him "the original Wildman."

Where he fits

Frank Post is the Northern California pro of that 1979 to 1981 window — the kid who took three Grand Nationals in one year off a bike shop sponsorship and pure will, while Stu Thomsen and Greg Hill were cashing factory salaries.

What we have not been able to verify

1981 ABA Pro Grand National repeat. The USA BMX 2015 induction text names Post as the first back-to-back ABA Grands winner (1980 and 1981). Wikipedia's race-results table lists the 1980 ABA Pro Grandnational but does not list a 1981. Flagged for confirmation against contemporary BMX Action / BMX Plus! coverage.
The 1978 Cycle City West amateur sponsorship. Wikipedia's infobox lists it as Post's only credited amateur team, immediately before his May 1978 pro turn, but no magazine citation or further detail is given beyond the single team credit.

Sources

Wikipedia "Frank Post" — primary biographical and career-results entry, including the full sponsor-chain timeline and title-by-title infobox. USA BMX, "National BMX Hall of Fame announces the Class of 2015," July 17, 2015 (usabmx.com/news-and-media/6/2015-07-17/National-BMX-Hall-of-Fame-announces-the-Class-of-2015). USA BMX Hall of Fame photo directory — Frank Post listing. USA BMX National BMX Hall of Fame directory. BMX Museum reference page 3898 "Frank 'Wildman' Post." BMX Society community forums — referenced threads on Hank & Frank Force 1. oldschoolmags.com magazine archive listings for BMX Action and BMX Plus!. Underlying magazine citations via Wikipedia footnote chain: Super BMX Aug 1980; BMX Plus! April 1980, April 1981, July 1981, April 1982, July 1982, Feb 1984, March 1986; BMX Action June 1982. 23mag.com BMX magazine archive index. Frank Post's own January 2006 post on the Vintage BMX forum (archived), and a separate undated post attributed to him on Roostbmx.com (archived via the Wayback Machine), both quoted via Wikipedia's footnote chain for his account of the Kuwahara/NBL Grands travel dispute and his own explanation of never earning a sponsor salary. YouTube — 2015 National BMX Hall of Fame Pioneer Frank Post induction ceremony video.

About this page. See also: The History of BMX, SE Racing. Riders: Scot Breithaupt, Eddie Fiola, Stu Thomsen, Greg Hill, Mike Miranda, Perry Kramer, Pete Loncarevich, R.L. Osborn, Todd Anderson, Tommy Brackens, Denny Davidow, Clint Miller, Jeff Bottema, Damian Fulton, Billy Griggs, Darwin Griffin, Brian "Bogi" Givens, Todd Steen, Martin Aparijo, Matt Hadan, Eddy King, Bob Haro. Brands: CW Racing, Diamond Back, Centurion Cycles, GT, Haro, Hoffman, Hutch, JMC, Mongoose, Redline, Schwinn, Skyway, Torker, Robinson, Free Agent, Panda Racing, LRV, S&S Performance, Bassett Bikes, Kuwahara. Sanctions: BUMS, NBA, NBL, ABA, IBMXF, USA BMX.

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