Frank Post

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

Post started racing in 1976, age 14, at the McLaren Park track in San Francisco. First bike was an R&R given to him by a friend. He won his first moto and crashed in the main.

His home district was NBA District "N" — Northern California — and Watsonville was the home track he kept coming back to. He turned pro in May 1978 at 16. At that point pros and 16 Experts still raced together because there were so few pros. Post made the 16 Expert main at the 1978 NBA Grand National in Los Angeles, then crashed after Brent Patterson landed in front of him off a jump. He shared that gate with Stu Thomsen, Kevin McNeal, and Patterson himself.

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

Post's first pro win came on May 27, 1979 at the NBA Spring National — at home, in Watsonville. He was 16. He spent the previous year racing pro totally independent, no team behind him.

That win brought sponsorships. Hank & Frank Bicycles / Cycle Pro signed him as his first pro shop sponsor. A week later Vance Patterson of Patterson Racing offered him a ride and he switched over. Patterson would only pay for races Post could get to, and without a car or travel money he couldn't get there. So in September 1979 he moved to Panda Bike Company, who agreed to cover his travel.

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

1980: three Grand Nationals, three sanctions, no factory

1980 is the year that anchors his record.

Post won the Pro Grand Nationals of three different sanctioning bodies in one season — UBR, NBA, and ABA. He was the first racer to win the Grands of three different sanctions in the same year. He did it without a major factory contract behind him; his sponsor at the time was Wes' BMX, a bicycle shop.

That season he also won the Pro Trophy at Renny Roker's JAG World Championships and the 1980 NBL ROC Championships. He took the BMX Action "hot shots" listing in January 1980 and a feature in the April 1980 BMX Plus!.

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 and left over travel and equipment support he said didn't land.

The 1981 season included the ABA Pro Spectacular win in Detroit and the well-documented Amarillo incident at the ABA Summernationals. Post thought Kevin McNeal had collided with him deliberately in the first turn, went after him, knocked McNeal's visor off, and earned a 30-day suspension. The BMX Plus! account corrected the record: Greg Hill and McNeal had touched first in the same turn, McNeal then drifted into Post on the outside, and the contact was incidental.

From late 1981 onward the sponsor list reads like a directory of the era: JC BMX, Boss Racing Frames, Kuwahara again, Wes' BMX, Race Incorporated, CW (Custom Works) Racing as a factory-support deal in mid-1984, U.S. Boss, JMC, Livermore Schwinn (where he worked as a mechanic), full-factory Schwinn from mid-November 1985, and a co-factory deal with MCS Magnum Force in early 1989. BMX Plus! in February 1984 wrote that 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, held March 14, 1982. The event was a one-off non-sanctioned promotion put on by Jerry Surber with ABA officials helping operate it under NBL rules.

Why he never got paid like Stu or Greg

Post addressed his own reputation directly: he was "a reputed bad guy...but really just mis-understood," was never paid a salary by a team, and the only money he made was on the track. He said he was as fast as Stu or Greg on any given day but knew the factory deals weren't coming his way, and that was "a very heavy mental blow."

Retirement and after

Post faded out of racing after the 1986 season. In 1990 he had himself reclassified as an amateur and raced 26-30 at the ABA Winternationals. Post-racing: 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 the 1979 to 1981 window — the rider who took three Grand Nationals in one year off a bike shop sponsorship and a will to win, while Stu Thomsen and Greg Hill were drawing 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.

Sources

Wikipedia "Frank Post" — primary biographical and career-results entry. 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. 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. Sanctions: BUMS, NBA, NBL, ABA, IBMXF, USA BMX.