Steve Veltman

“Spider-Man,” “V-Dog” — the Only BMX Racer Ever on a Wheaties Box

A Legend Bike Co. rider page · built from Steve Veltman's ABA, NBL, and IBMXF record, Torker Racing's own published history, and period BMX press

At a glance

Level AA Pro, Elite Men
Nationality American, born August 4, 1969, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; raised in Conroe, Texas
Team Hutch Hi-Performance BMX/Products (1981–86) → U.S. Boss Racing Products (1988–95, on and off, turned pro here) → Torker (1996–98, under Seattle Bike Supply ownership) → Next, Magna, GT Bicycles (2004) among others across a 20-plus-year career
Known for The only BMX racer ever to appear on a Wheaties box (1983); 1993 ABA National No. 1 Pro; USA BMX Hall of Fame

Steve Veltman raced BMX at the top level for the better part of two decades, across an alphabet of sponsors and three different sanctioning bodies, and one single fact still outshines the rest of it: he is the only BMX racer to ever appear on a box of Wheaties.

Conroe, Texas, and a Raleigh Rampar

Veltman started racing at age 10 in early 1980, at the Armadillo Downs track in Conroe, Texas, after watching his friends race. He mowed lawns and washed cars to save up for his first bike, a Raleigh Rampar.

“Spider-Man”

His first nickname came from his riding posture. Tucked back low over the rear wheel through speed jumps, right elbow down and left elbow up instead of level, in a red-and-white Hutch uniform with mirrored-lens goggles, the 12- and 13-year-old Veltman looked enough like the comic-book superhero swinging through the air that the name “Spider-Man” stuck to him early and hard.

Hutch Hi-Performance, and a Breakout Amateur Run

Richard Hutchins, owner of Hutch Hi-Performance, first noticed Veltman after Steve's father, Jim Veltman, pointed him out at a 1981 ABA National in Ohio, where Veltman won his class. Hutchins saw him again at that year's ABA Grand National pre-race, gave him a uniform to wear for the Grand Nationals proper, and signed him to a full sponsorship after he placed fourth in 12 Expert. His first race for Hutch was the ABA Winter Shootout in Jersey City, New Jersey, on December 13, 1981.

1982 was the breakout year. Veltman became the first ABA racer, amateur or professional, to win two ABA National No. 1 titles in the same season — Amateur 20-inch and Amateur Cruiser. The same year he won the IBMXF Double World Championship, Junior Men 20-inch and 24-inch, in Ohio, and followed it in 1983 with the IBMXF World Championship, Junior Men 20-inch, in Slagharen, Holland. He also showed an entrepreneurial streak young: at 13 he designed and sold “Rad Kaps,” dice-shaped bicycle tire valve caps, and he invented the Posi-Stop brake cable guide, later manufactured and sold by Odyssey under the adjusted name “Pozi-Stop.”

The Wheaties Box

On August 14, 1983, Veltman became part of the Wheaties advertising campaign, featured on the cereal box alongside a list of sports legends that includes Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, Babe Didrikson, Jackie Robinson, and Wilt Chamberlain. He remains the only BMX racer ever to appear on a Wheaties box.

Turning Pro

Veltman took a year off the national circuit starting in mid-1986, citing burnout, and returned in mid-1987. He rode for McDonald's BMX team through late October 1988 — McDonald's ran a BMX program for two years before shutting it down, a shorter run than rival Hardee's had. He turned pro with U.S. Boss Racing Products in late October 1988.

His amateur-to-pro results record shows a genuine discrepancy worth flagging plainly: Wikipedia's IBMXF title table lists him as “1989 18–24 Cruiser World Champion,” while USA BMX's own Hall of Fame biography, as republished on blackcycling.com, describes him as an “Elite Cruiser Bronze Medalist at the 1989 World Championships.” Both are on the record here; we have not resolved which one reflects the actual 1989 result.

1990 brought the ABA Pro U.S. Gold Cup West Championship and the ABA Pro Super Cup Championship, plus the NBL 20-inch Pro Grandnational title in 1991. In 1993, Veltman won the ABA National No. 1 Pro title — the prize included a black Ford Ranger truck — and set the ABA's single-season pro win record at 14 wins, a mark that stood until John Purse broke it in 1998. BMX Plus! named him 1994 Racer of the Year. In 1996 he set the World Bunny Hop record at 46 inches, breaking the previous mark held by Brian Lopes.

Years before either of them wore Torker colors, Veltman and Matt Hadan were paired as rookie pros in the same magazine features — “New Kids on the Block” in Go, September 1990, alongside Kenny May, and “Young Guns!!!” in BMX Plus!, October 1990, alongside Eric Carter, Tim Hall, and Kenny May.

Injuries That Came in Waves

Veltman's late career reads like a list of the sport's worst luck: mononucleosis after the 1988 ABA Grand Nationals, a broken collarbone at the 1992 ABA Mid America Nationals, three months out with torn tendons and tissue in his lower spine after the 1994 Silverdollar Nationals, a separated wrist at the 1994 Empire National, and a snapped ACL requiring donor-ligament surgery that same year, keeping him out for six consecutive months. He kept coming back from all of it.

Torker, Under Seattle Bike Supply

Veltman closed out much of his career on Torker, riding for the brand during its Seattle Bike Supply-owned era. Wikipedia's sponsor record dates the tenure January 1996 to January 1998; Torker Racing's own published team history dates it October 1996 to November 1997. Both figures are on the record here rather than picked apart to force a single date. Torker's own history credits him plainly: first rider to win ABA National No. 1 Amateur and Cruiser titles in the same year, IBMXF World and double-World Champion, NBL and ABA Grand National winner, 1993 ABA National No. 1 Pro, and the only BMX racer ever on a Wheaties box.

The “brand manager” question

Every source checked for this page — Wikipedia's team table, Torker Racing's own official rider history, and Veltman's LinkedIn profile — describes his time with Torker strictly as a rider on the SBS-era factory program, not as a brand manager. Legend Bike Co.'s own Torker Racing chapter treats him the same way: a decorated professional racer who happened to close out much of his career on a Torker jersey. We found no source documenting a separate brand-manager role for him at Seattle Bike Supply, so this page follows what the record actually shows.

Winding Down

After Torker, Veltman rode for Next (late 1998 into late 1999), then Magna (late 1999 through 2001), followed by a string of short late-career sponsor stints — ODI and Answer Products in 2003, and GT Bicycles in 2004. Multiple sources place his retirement in 2004, though he kept racing occasionally afterward in the ABA Veteran Pro class, placing third at the ABA Grand National on November 24, 2006.

Hall of Fame, and Life After Racing

Veltman is a USA BMX Hall of Fame inductee. Older biographical sources place him working as a personal trainer in the San Diego, California, area; his LinkedIn profile lists him today in athletic performance and corrective exercise work.

Where the public record runs thin

His 1989 IBMXF Cruiser Worlds result is reported two different ways — “18–24 Cruiser World Champion” per Wikipedia's title table versus “Elite Cruiser Bronze Medalist” per USA BMX's own Hall of Fame biography — and we have not resolved which is correct. His exact USA BMX Hall of Fame induction class year was not found in the sources checked for this page. And to be direct about the assumption this page was built to check: no source found documents a Torker or Seattle Bike Supply “brand manager” role for Veltman; every primary source, including our own Torker Racing chapter, describes him solely as a sponsored racer.

Where Steve Veltman fits in the bigger story

Team: Torker, where he later shared factory-program space with Matt Hadan — the same rider he'd appeared alongside in rookie-pro magazine features years earlier. Record he broke: the bunny hop mark previously held by Brian Lopes. Later team: GT Bicycles. Sanctioning history: ABA, NBL, IBMXF, USA BMX. The bigger arc is in our History of BMX series.

Sources

Wikipedia, "Steve Veltman" — birth details, full sponsor and title record, injury history, and the 1989 IBMXF result. blackcycling.com, "BMX Legend Steve Veltman" — USA BMX Hall of Fame biography text, including the conflicting 1989 Elite Cruiser bronze-medal claim. Torker Racing, "The #1 BMX Factory Team in America: Complete Torker Racing History" (torkerracing.com) — SBS-era Torker tenure and dates. FatBMX.com, "Let's Meet the BMX Pro Title Winner — Steve Veltman" by Cali Gail. LinkedIn, Steve Veltman profile — present-day work. Legend Bike Co.'s own Torker Racing chapter, cross-checked for consistency. oldschoolmags.com and bmxsociety.com were checked first per house research standards; both returned only scattered forum references (including a BMX Society thread on Veltman's L&S-era equipment), not a dedicated period profile, for Veltman specifically.