Tinker Juarez

American cyclist

David "Tinker" Juarez (born March 4, 1961) is an American former professional BMX and cross country mountain bike racer. His prime competitive years in BMX were from 1978 to 1984 and in mountain bike racing 1986 to 2005. Since late 2005, he has competed as a Marathon mountain bike racer. In all three disciplines, he has won numerous national and international competitions. Most recently, Juarez finished third in the 2006 Race Across America Endurance bicycle race. Born in Downey, California, Juarez is a highly talented cyclist who has made significant impacts in the cycling disciplines of BMX Racing, Freestyle BMX, Cross country Mountain Bike racing, and now Marathon Mountain Bike racing for over thirty years. While he was also known as the "Hollified Flash" after one of his home BMX tracks he used to race at and dominate in the early 1970s, the moniker "Tinker" is a nickname that was coined by his family. According to his Mother Rose: "We used to say 'Stinker' when he was a baby, everybody thought we were saying 'Tinker" David Juarez is so well known by his nickname "Tinker" many people probably think that is his real first name.

Note: In the early days of professional racing, 1977 and prior, many tracks offered small purse prize money to the older racers of an event, even before the official sanctioning bodies offered prize money in formal divisions themselves. Hence some early "professionals" like Stu Thomsen turning "pro" in 1975 at 16 years old where racing for small amounts of money at track events when offered even before the NBA, regarded as the first true national BMX sanctioning body, had a professional division. For the sake of consistency and standardization noted professional first are for the first pro races for prize money offered by official BMX sanctioning bodies and not independent track events. Professional first are also on the national level unless otherwise indicated. Milestone Event DetailsStarted racing: 1974 at 13 years of age. Sanctioning body: Independent track. Home sanctioning body district(s): National Bicycle Association (NBA) District "X" (Southern California/Los Angeles County) 1973 1981; American Bicycle Association (ABA) California District 22 (CA 22) (1982)First race bike: First race result: First win (local): First sponsor: First national win: In 14 & Over Intermediate at the first annual National Bicycle Association (NBA) Grandnational Championship in Newhall, California on November 23, 1975.). This was the first ever BMX Grandnational Championship. Turned Professional: 1977 Age 16. First Professional race result: First Professional win: Height and weight at height of his career: Ht:5'8" Wt:~140 lb. Retired: 1986 at age 25. His possible last race was the NBL War of the Stars IX National in Montclair, California on April 27, 1986. He came in third in Pro Cruiser. His name apparently drops off the national results listing permanently after this race. He transitions to mountain biking during the summer of 1986. Unlike most BMXers who "retire", he never looked back and dedicated the rest of his cycling career to Mountain Biking and later endurance Road Racing. *At the time there was no separate pro class for pros due to the relatively small number of pros. They raced with the 16 Experts, making it a Pro/Am class essentially. This is why during the early years of the pro division the national number one racer of a sanctioning body could be either an amateur or professional. This practice continued until the NBA's 1979 season in which the pros earned separate pro points and a separate pro plate from the amateurs.

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 and MTB press coverage and sponsor's advertisements at the time in question. When possible exact dates are used.

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.

In April 1980, Tinker was named the first King of the Skateparks by Bicycle Motocross Action magazine. He even graced the April 1980 cover of the magazine, making it one of the first pure freestyle magazine covers by a BMX magazine. Although no contest was ever held, it was a general declaration for his highly advanced maneuvers that no one were matching at the time.

He was Bicycle Motocross Action's very first star interview in their first issue (December 1976/January 1977). He is a 1993 inductee into the ABA BMX Hall of Fame.

Tinker, despite eventually becoming a top pro BMXer in racing and gaining "high airs" in both dirt jumping and vertical freestyle, went ten years without breaking a bone. It is very common for BMXers, especially in the pro ranks to become occasionally seriously injured because they are pushing themselves to as far as their talents can take them and beyond at high speeds, or in the case of vertical freestyle and dirt jumping to high altitudes and distances.

Tinker also participated in what was call Formula One (F 1) bicycle racing. F 1 racing was a short lived fad from 1987–1989 that involved bicycles with 20" wheels that looked like a cross between BMX, Road Race Touring and Mountain bicycles. Other famous BMX stars both retired and active at the time participated, including Harry Leary, Pete Loncarevich, David Clinton, Stu Thomsen, Eddy and Mike King. The two major BMX sanctioning bodies ABA and NBL, sanctioned the events. Tinker won the first ABA sponsored F 1 series race in Phoenix, Arizona in early 1988. In the following NBL sanctioned Grand Prix series he got a sixth in Memphis, Tennessee (the very first NBL F 1 race) and a second in Orlando, Florida.

"Almost a Legend in his own Time. Tinker Juarez: The Hollified Flash" Bicycle Motocross Action December 1976/January 1977 Vol.1 No.1 pg.27
"The King of the Skateparks Tinker Juarez" Bicycle Motocross Action April 1980 Vol.5 No.4 pg.25. Pictorial of Tinker performing Vertical Freestyle at Lakewood Skatepark in Lakewood, California. "Interview: Tinker Juarez" BMX Action January 1983 Vol.8 No.1 pg.26

General Bicycles (General Bicycle & Moped Company): March 1988 – 1989 Juarez would turn pro with this sponsor.

Tinker Juarez appeared in two of the first instructional mountain biking videos ever produced: The Great Mountain Biking Video released in 1988, and "Ultimate Mountain Biking: Advanced Techniques & Winning Strategies" released in 1989 by New & Unique Videos of San Diego, California. Juarez was selected as a member of the 1996 and 2000 Summer Olympics. He was inducted into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame in 2001. Cannondale awarded Tinker its 'Icon Award' in 2005 for his contribution to the sport.