Danny Nelson

Danny Nelson
Personal information
Full name Daniel Lee Nelson
Nickname "Thunder"
Born (1975-05-03) May 3, 1975
Simi Valley, California, United States of America
Height 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Weight 90.7 kg (200 lb)
Team information
Current team Retired
Discipline Bicycle Motocross (BMX)
Role Racer
Rider type Off Road
Amateur team(s)
1981-1983 Robinson Racing
1983-1986 GT Racing
1987-1991 Robinson Racing
1991-1992 GT Bicycles
1992 Powerlite Industries
Professional team(s)
1992-2000 Powerlite Industries
2000-2001 Hot Wheels/GT Bicycles/TL Designs
2001 Troy Lee Designs
2001-2003 Giant/Troy Lee Designs
Infobox last updated on
October 30, 2008

Daniel Lee Nelson (b. May 3, 1975 in Simi Valley, California, U.S.) was an American professional "Mid & Current School" Bicycle Motocross (BMX) racer whose prime competitive years are from 1993 to 2003. His nickname is "Thunder".[1]

Racing career milestones

Note: Professional first are on the national level unless otherwise indicated.

Started racing: In 1981 at six years of age at the Teen Center in Van Nuys, California. He was riding with older kids one day and since they appreciated his talent of being "the wheelie king" of the neighborhood at such a young age they suggested he try racing.[1]

Sanctioning body:

Home sanctioning body district(s): American Bicycle Association (ABA) California District 20 (CA-20) (1985); United States Bicycle Motocross Association (USBA) CA-2 (1986)

First race result: Nelson does not recall how well he did overall but he was leading his first moto but went back up the starting hill which was parallel to the straight. He simply did it automatically and without thinking since it was accidentally ingrained into him during the practice sessions previous to the race to avoid the ride back to the starting hill that would be necessary if he ran the entire track in practice.[1]

First win (local):

First sponsor: Robinson Racing 1981.[1]

First national win:

Turned Professional: December 1992 age 17.

First Professional race result:

First Professional win:

First Junior Pro* race result:

First Junior Pro win:

First Senior Pro** race result:

First Senior Pro win:

Retired: October 2003, just after the NBL Grandnationals.[2] to devote himself to a new business he was partnered in.[3] he made his formal announcement in a speech to the spectators to the ABA Fall Nationals in Del Mar, California on October 26, 2003 stating it was time to move on.[4]

Height & weight at height of her career: Ht:6'4" Wt:200 lbs.

*In the NBL "B" Pro/Super Class/"A" Pro/Junior Elite Men depending on the era; in the ABA it is "A" Pro.
**In the NBL it is "AA" Pro/Elite Men; in the ABA it is "AA" Pro.

Career factory and major bike shop sponsors

Note: This listing only denotes the racer's primary sponsors. At any given time a racer could have numerous co-sponsors. Primary sponsorships can be verified by BMX press coverage and sponsor's advertisements at the time in question. When possible exact dates are given.

Amateur

Professional

Career bicycle motocross titles

Note: Listed are District, State/Provincial/Department, Regional, National, and International titles in italics. "Defunct" refers to the fact of that sanctioning body in question no longer existing at the start of the racer's career or at that stage of his/her career. Depending on point totals of individual racers, winners of Grand Nationals do not necessarily win National titles. Series and one off Championships are also listed in block.

Amateur

National Bicycle Association (NBA)

National Bicycle League (NBL)

American Bicycle Association (ABA)

†Beginning in the 1985 season the ABA made it possible to earn an amateur national no.1 plate in the age group of the racer, similar to NBL practice. However, the ABA still had an overall National No.1 amateur which was J. Brent Romero in 1985.

United States Bicycle Motocross Association (USBA)

International Bicycle Motocross Federation (IBMXF)*

Fédération Internationale Amateur de Cyclisme (FIAC)*

Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI)*

*See note in professional section.

Other Titles:

Professional

National Bicycle Association (NBA)

National Bicycle League (NBL)

American Bicycle Association (ABA)

United States Bicycle Motocross Association (USBA)

International Bicycle Motocross Federation (IBMXF)*

Fédération Internationale Amateur de Cyclisme (FIAC)*

Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI)*

*Note: Beginning in 1991 the IBMXF and FIAC, the amateur cycling arm of the UCI, had been holding joint World Championship events as a transitional phase in merging which began in earnest in 1993. Beginning with the 1996 season the IBMXF and FIAC completed the merger and both ceased to exist as independent entities being integrated into the UCI. Beginning with the 1996 World Championships held in Brighton, England the UCI would officially hold and sanction BMX World Championships and with it inherited all precedents, records, streaks, etc. from both the IBMXF and FIAC.

Pro Series Championships

BMX product lines

Product Evaluations:

Notable accolades

Significant injuries

Post BMX career

TWBMX: You're #2 in ABA Points; why are you retiring now?
Nelson: "In a perfect world, I would have liked to have finished out the season to see if I could have defended the title, but this other opportunity came up. It's where my future's headed; I couldn't afford to put it on hold or wait around to get to it. I had to do it now."
TWBMX: What opportunity is that?

Nelson: "It's a thrift store deal that I'm working on down in Long Beach. It's a large operation, it's a lot of work, and we've got a long way to go with it, but we've been open five weeks now and things are on track. Now it's just a matter of plugging away and getting it to where we want it to be."[3]

The full, illustrated website version of the interview, originally posted on January 8, 2004, can be seen here.

BMX and general press magazine interviews and articles

BMX magazine covers

Note: (defunct) denotes that the magazine was out of business before the career of the racer started.

Bicycle Motocross News:

Minicycle/BMX Action & Super BMX:

Bicycle Motocross Action & Go:

BMX Plus!:

Total BMX:

Bicycles and Dirt:

Snap BMX Magazine & Transworld BMX:

Twenty BMX:

Moto Mag:

BMX World:

NBA World & NBmxA World (The official NBA/NBmxA publication):

Bicycles Today & BMX Today (The official NBL publication; one name change):

ABA Action, American BMXer, BMXer (Three incarnations of the official ABA publication):

USBA Racer (The official USBA membership publication):

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 Snap BMX Magazine July/August 1997 Vol.4 No.4 Iss.17 pg.53
  2. ↑ Moto Mag November/December 2003 Vol.3 No.6 pg.5
  3. 1 2 3 Transworld BMX February 2004 Vol.11 Iss.2 No.88 pg.17
  4. ↑ Transworld BMX February 2004 Vol.11 Iss.2 No.88 pg.83
  5. ↑ BMX Plus! July 1994 Vol.17 no.7 pg.23 Powerlite Industries advertisement.
  6. ↑ USAcycling.org News site.
  7. ↑ American BMXer July 1985 Vol.7 No.5 pg.4
  8. ↑ American BMXer March 1991 Vol.13 No.2 pg.10
  9. ↑ BMX Plus! December 1992 Vol.15 No.12 pg.19
  10. ↑ Snap BMX Magazine September 1999 Vol.6 Iss.7 No.35 pg.66

External links

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