The American Bicycle Association is proud to announce this year’s inductees to the ABA BMX Hall of Fame. The ABA is in its 30th year of operations as the largest BMX sanction in the world. The ABA BMX Hall of Fame began in 1985 and is now in its 23rd year. The annual Hall of Fame Banquet takes place in Tulsa, Oklahoma at ABA's host hotel, the Crowne Plaza, Wednesday November 21st 2:00pm. Seats are limited so be sure to get there early! This year, the ABA BMX Hall 'O Fame welcomes the following people for their contributions to the sport of BMX:
Greg Grubbs: Greg was the first racer from Nebraska to make a name for his self on the national circuit. Not only was he fast, he
was the hero to many racers that wore glasses and he was well known for his sense of humor. Greg started racing in 1976, turned Pro at age 15 in 1980, then won the ABA Cornhusker National in the 16 expert class, back when you could race Pro and expert in the same day. In 1981, he won 12 ABA single A races, while riding for SE Racing in the summer. He won the Jag World Championships in A Pro and Pro Open in 1981. In 1982, he was picked up by Redline and won his first race for his new sponsor in Orlando , Florida as AA Pro. He was featured on the December ‘82 BMX ACTION cover. He finished the ‘82 season as the #3 Pro behind the
Patterson Bros. In 1983, Greg was dropped from Redline and began wearing a jersey that stated “FREE AGENT”. In the summer of ‘83, he was the first instructor/counselor at the Woodward Training Center along with
Mike Miranda, Mike Poulson and
Joe Baumert. He briefly rode for JAG BMX. He rode for Hyper BMX from mid-1984 to end of 1985, until owner
Billy Farrell was killed in an auto accident. He retired in 1986. From ‘86 to ’90, he attended the University of Nebraska , where he received his B.A. in Anthropology. He made a comeback in 1990 by winning first race back as A Pro at the Mid-West Nationals. In 1991, he blew out his knee at the Mile High Nationals and retired permanently. He was the on-camera talent for the ABA BMX TV Show “Pump”. Greg currently lives in Los Angeles where he works on commercial production and works for the TV show Motocross Files.
Dennis Dain: Best known as the
“Red Baron”, this Western Sports-A-Rama local was pilot of the world’s greatest side-hack team. During the hack era of the 70’s, Dain & Ruiz were on top, practically undefeated between the years 1975 to 1979. He was one of the original bike testers for
Elaine Holt’s Bicycle Motocross News (the sport’s first newspaper). Dain was one of the first racers to be sponsored by GT, and even had his own Dain replica frame. He also rode for
Redline and was a longtime racer for ABA BMX Hall of Famer
“Big Daddy” Ralph throughout most of his career. Dain was a founding member of PRO. Dennis still lives in California and works for UPS.
Elaine Holt: Elaine got involved in BMX through her marriage to Ben Holt, who had introduced a plastic gas tank for BMX. Seeing a great opportunity, Elaine came out with the first real publication devoted to BMX,
“Bicycle Motocross News”, in June 1974. She actively covered BMX races and is responsible for spreading the word of BMX to tens of thousands of potential racers from the beginning. Elaine is credited with coining the term
"BMX" from our sport of Bicycle Motocross.
The ABA would like to thank all the voters, fans, racers, and industry for their participation. We would also like to send a HUGE congratulation to the newest ABA BMX Hall of Fame inductees!Grubbs photo by Tim Lillethorup