Tommy Brackens

Tommy Lee Brackens (born November 20, 1960, in Los Angeles, California) is an American former professional "Old School" Bicycle Motocross (BMX) racer. His prime competitive years were from 1980 to 1988.
His nickname was "The Human Dragster", so named for his adeptness at getting the "Holeshot", or getting out in front literally at the drop of the starting gate and leading the other competitors down the first straight and into the first turn. The moniker was coined by Bob Hunt, an NBL announcer at the 1982 NBL Grand Nationals that Tommy raced in. Many racers received their monikers from the pithy play by play race announcers.
Tommy Brackens was a former motorcycle motocross (MX) racer that made the switch to BMX in 1977 (he would return to MX after his BMX career). Quiet, shy and highly likable he was believed to have all the talents to be truly a top level racer. If Mr. Brackens was likable he had a strong desire to be liked. One of his goals was to be voted as the fan favorite among kids as their favorite racer; "...to be the "people's" favorite is my goal." he said. That goal was fulfilled in 1987 When he won "BMX Action's" Number One Racer Award (NORA) Cup for that year.
Unfortunately his inconsistency prevented him from winning a national number one plate for any association amateur or professional. The closest was a National No. 2 with the NBL in 1986. He failed to transfer out of his semi (crashed) while only a few points behind the eventual No.1 for that year, Pete Loncarevich (who was not doing well himself at the time and barely qualified for the main). However, he did win the 1986 IBMXF World Championship. 1986 was a good year by any measure.
Racing career milestones.
Note: Professional first are on the national level unless otherwise indicated.
Career factory and major bicycle shop sponsors.
Note: This listing only denotes the racer's primary sponsors. At any given time a racer could have numerous ever-changing co-sponsors. Primary sponsorships can be verified by BMX press coverage and sponsor's advertisements at the time in question.
Career bicycle motocross titles.
Note: Listed are District, State/Provincial/Department, Regional, National, and International titles in "italics". Depending on point totals of individual racers, winners of Grand Nationals do not necessarily win National titles. Only sanctioning bodies active during the racer's career are listed.
Amateur.
National Bicycle Association (NBA)
National Bicycle League (NBL)
American Bicycle Association (ABA)
Professional.
National Bicycle Association (NBA)
National Bicycle League (NBL)
American Bicycle Association (ABA)
United States Bicycle Motocross Association (USBA)
International Bicycle Motocross Federation (IBMXF)
Pro Series Championships and Invitationals
The 1984 European Challenge Cup was a comparatively small race (130 motos) that drew a select portion of racers, professionals and amateurs, Europeans and Americans held on June 10, 1984, in Slagharen, the Netherlands. Though small, it was well received.
The Kellogg's Frosties BMX Championship held in Birmingham, England was a series of six races held on three days total (but stretched out over a week including off days) that was centered on the invited 12 top pros of the United States and 12 British pros and tailored for British television broadcast. There were also eight amateurs class races held but the race focus was meant for the pros.
The 1985 Paris Yoplait BMX Challenge was an invitational race sponsored and promoted by the Yoplait Yogurt company in which American and English pros as well as French pros were brought together to compete in a single race. As is typical in Europe, the public had greater enthusiasm for BMX than the American public, in part because bicycle racing of any type was and is much more popular in Europe (and in Asia and South America as well) than in the United States. A staggering (by American standards) 18,000 spectators attended the sell out event and it was covered live on French television.
The Scorpion International Spring Classic was an invitational race held at Lowestoft, a town in Suffolk, East Anglia, England on May 4, 1986. Four American pros were invited: Eddy King, Scott Clark Travis Chipres and Tommy Brackens. They raced at least four respected English pros in the main including Tim March, Geth Shooter, Garry Llewellyn Jamie Vince and Charlie Reynolds. Other nationalities were invited but did not make the pro main. Brackens was pro champion.
Miscellaneous.
He was the 1986 winner of the "King of the Mountain" outlaw Gravity Powered Vehicle (GPV) Championship.* This win was the beginning of a career in GPV racings. His enthusiasm was reflected in this quote:"That, by far...and I'm serious, meant more to me than winning ANY BMX race I've ever won! THAT was intense."----"BMX Action" March 1987
GPV racing had been around since the late 1970s but achieved wide notoriety among BMXers beginning in early 1985. Many BMXers both retired and active, participated like Jeff Bottema, and Scot Breithaupt among the retirees and Eddy King, Harry Leary, Kevin Hull the active racers. Freestylist as well participated in the discipline like Dave Vanderspek, Eddie Fiola, Ceppie Maes and Rich Sigur. There were racers who participated which their specialty was downhill road racing like Dan Hanabrink as well. Most racers used converted pedalless BMX or Freestyle bicycles, often with the handlebars turned almost completely down. Often so was the bicycle frame with the bottom bracket pointing toward the racer's chest to lower the profile of the bike for greater stability. In later, fairings were added and also bicycles built specifically for downhill runs. They raced down courses (which were public roads) that were from 1.3 to seven miles long, hitting speeds of 50 to 90 mph. The outlaw aspect was that during the early days they would race down open to traffic roads which, while not illegal, was not sanctioned by a formal sanctioning body either, like the NBL sanctioning BMX races. At the beginning of the 1988 GPV season they started getting highway department permission to block off roads, therefore removing the outlaw characteristic of the activity. The sport is still around but the initial faddish aspect of it lasted from mid-1985 to approximately late 1989.
In mid-2000 he qualified for an ESPN X Games GPV race in Saint George, Utah event on a bike he purchased from a Target discount store, beating custom bikes costing US$2,000 to $3,000. It was his very first GPV race since a 1990 race in Palm Springs, California where he set the course record of 90 mph. Scott E. Burdick who made a fairing out of cardboard, and still was able to reach speeds of more than 100 mph in the final straight away of the palm springs California tramway hill. You can find the race as seen on ESPN or on VHS video.
Post BMX career.
He started his own BMX bicycle company Brackens Racing Products. This is ironic given the answer to a question in a "BMX Plus!" interview about owning his own company one day:
BMXP!: "What are your ambitions after racing? Have your own company, maybe?"&lt;br&gt;
Tommy: "No! It's too much hassle having your own company!"
&lt;br&gt;----"BMX Plus!" April 1983 page 60.
The company lasted two years from 1988 to 1990 sponsoring racers including Eric Carter along the way. The company went out of business due to competition from overseas. He worked for Huffy Service First a division of Huffy that assembled bicycles for department chain stores. He worked there from his time as part timer while he ran his own bicycle business. When his business folded in 1990, he worked at Huffy Service First full-time up through the early 2000s. Brackens returned to his Motorcycle Motocross racing roots for a time, which he was involved in prior to his BMX career. Proving that BMXers typically like almost all type of racing, during his BMX career (and fittingly in light of his nickname) he has also dabbled in Outlaw Drag Racing, in which participants participate in illegal urban street racing. This was in addition to his GPV racing (as outlined above) which he still participated in through the first decade of the 2000s.
BMX magazine covers.
Note: Only magazines that were in publication at the time of the racer's career(s) are listed unless specifically noted.
Bicycle Motocross News:
Minicycle/BMX Action &amp; Super BMX:
Bicycle Motocross Action &amp; Go:
BMX Plus!:
Total BMX:
Bicycles and Dirt:
Bicross Magazine (French Publication):
NBA World &amp; NBmxA World )The NBA/NBmxA official publication):
Bicycles Today &amp; BMX Today (the NBL official publication under two names):
ABA Action, American BMXer, BMXer (the ABA official publication under two name changes):
USBA Racer (The official USBA membership publication):