Did John George really win BMX's first national championship?

Yes. George won the 14-and-over Expert class and the Trophy Dash at the NBA Winternationals in Phoenix, Arizona in 1975, which made him the meet's overall champion — generally regarded as the first true BMX national. Bob Osborn's 1984 book dates the race to February 1975; the more heavily footnoted period-magazine record used elsewhere in this library dates it to March 29, 1975.

Did John George take the No. 1 plate from David Clinton?

Per Bob Osborn's book, yes — Clinton was the NBA's first National No.1, and George took the plate from him later in 1975. George's own period-sourced career record lists a 1975 National No.1 title of his own, which is consistent with Osborn's account.

What did John George do after he stopped racing?

He went to work for Mongoose (BMX Products, Inc.), starting on the warehouse floor and working up to plant manager within a few years, while still racing once a year at the Mongoose-sponsored NBA Grand Nationals.

John George

Phoenix, 1975: He Took the Sport's First National, Then Took the No. 1 Plate From David Clinton

A Legend Bike Co. rider page · primary source: Bob Osborn, The Complete Book of BMX (Harper & Row / Wizard Publications, 1984), pp. 15-16 · supplemented by period-sourced Bicycle Motocross News record and vintagemongoose.com

At a glance

Born May 20, 1958, Canoga Park, California
Career 1972–1978, with occasional appearances after
Teams Canoga Cycle Center · Canoga Schwinn · Shimano Sales Corporation · Mongoose (BMX Products, Inc.), 1978–1983
Known for Winning BMX's first-ever national championship, taking the National No.1 plate from David Clinton, and later running the Mongoose factory floor

Before 1975, BMX had fast kids at fast local tracks and nothing more official than that. John George is the answer to the question of who won when the sport finally staged something worth calling a national championship. He won it, took the sport's first-ever No.1 plate away from the rider who'd started it, and then spent the second half of his BMX life on the other side of the counter — building the bikes instead of racing them.

The First National, Phoenix, 1975

Per Bob Osborn's book, George won the first BMX national championship ever held — the NBA Winternationals in Phoenix, Arizona, in February 1975. Legend Bike Co.'s own David Clinton chapter, and the period-sourced Bicycle Motocross News record behind it, date that same race to March 29, 1975. We're not going to smooth that gap over — it's a small discrepancy between two sources this library trusts, and it's noted here rather than picked apart. Whichever date is right, the result isn't in dispute: George won both the 14-and-over Expert class and the Trophy Dash, which made him the meet's overall champion — the first rider in BMX history to win a national.

Taking the Plate From David Clinton

David Clinton, covered elsewhere in this library, was the first rider to hold the NBA's National No.1 ranking. Osborn's book credits George with taking that plate away from Clinton later in 1975, and George's own period-sourced career record lists a 1975 National No.1 title of his own — backing up Osborn's account rather than contradicting it. It's the kind of handoff that only happens in a sport still figuring out who its first stars were going to be.

From the Gate to the Warehouse Floor

George turned pro with the NBA in 1977 and was one of the founding members of the Professional Racing Organization, the first riders' guild the sport had. His racing wound down through 1978, closing with a win in Open Pro and a second in the Trophy Dash at that year's NBA Grand National. By 1978 he'd taken a job at BMX Products — the company known to every rider as Mongoose — starting, by his own account, mounting tires on wheels for roughly ten hours' work before moving to boxing parts. Within a year he was warehouse manager. A few years after that, plant manager — exactly the role Osborn's book credits him with holding by the time it was written. He kept racing once a year for several years at the Mongoose-sponsored NBA Grand Nationals, representing the company that had become his employer.

The Palms Park Connection

Osborn's book also states that George married Brenda Lee, daughter of Rich (or Rick) Lee, the promoter behind Palms Park — one of BMX's earliest tracks, in Santa Monica. We haven't been able to independently verify this marriage or family connection outside Osborn's account, so it's presented here as the book's claim, not confirmed fact.

Where the public record runs thin

The exact date of the first NBA Winternationals — February 1975 per Osborn's book, March 29, 1975 per the period-sourced magazine record used elsewhere in this library — isn't reconciled here. The Brenda Lee / Palms Park marriage detail comes from Osborn's book alone and hasn't turned up independently. What George did after his Mongoose years in the 1980s is not documented in the sources checked for this page.

Where John George fits in the bigger story

Riders: David Clinton. Sanctions: NBA. Brands: Mongoose. The bigger arc is in our History of BMX series.

Sources

Bob Osborn, The Complete Book of BMX (Harper & Row, Publishers / Wizard Publications, Inc., 1984), pp. 15-16 — the Winternationals win, the No.1 plate handoff from Clinton, the Mongoose plant manager role, and the Brenda Lee marriage claim. Wikipedia, "John George (BMX rider)" — a heavily footnoted record citing period Bicycle Motocross News and Bicycle Motocross Action coverage, used for birth date, team timeline, and title record. vintagemongoose.com, "John George" employee page, for his Mongoose warehouse role. Legend Bike Co.'s own David Clinton chapter, cross-checked for the Winternationals date and the No.1 plate sequence.

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