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The Grand National Museum was a giant success due to the efforts of many dedicated collectors and racers!
Upon arrival in Tulsa, Shannon Gillette of ABA, Hal Marshman of VintageBMX.com and Tommy Montgomery of Tulsa greeted me. They already had the museum room opened up and had begun setting up the area. After a short time the bikes were assembled and on display in the racks that were generously loaned from a local Tulsa shop. Thanks again Tommy for making those arrangements! ABA provided poster size race photos from the 70's and 80's showing the early Yamaha Gold Cup races, downhill tracks like Corona, and famous riders like Stu Thomsen, Kevin McNeal, Toby Henderson, Richie Anderson, David Clinton, Brian Patterson and Greg Grubbs to name just a few. They also had large photos of previous ABA Grands tracks going back to 1979 in Las Vegas. I brought along poster-sized ad reprints from 1976 issues of BMX NEWS. A TV/VCR combo continually played old race videos of the '74 Yamaha Gold Cup, '85 ABA Grands, and Scott Towne's cult classic - "COBRAS FOREVER". Thanks go out to everyone involved at the museum; Shannon, Clayton, and B.A. from the ABA, Tommy Montgomery and his son Mitchell, Hal Marshman, Liam and the entire VintageBMX.com team including Cash Matthews, Scot McKay, Pat Quinn, Phil Kelso, Mike Weaver, Bruce Ritter, Darren Joplin (JOE DIRT), all of the guys who supplied bikes and other memorabilia - Joe Baumert, Gino Ormond, Titian Burris, John Zook, Phil (Capt. Caveman), Kip Lowe, Ron House and Dave Vontesmar. Please let me know if I left someone off the list! I also want to thank the crew from Nebraska who rode with me to Tulsa and did a lot of the work setting up and taking down the museum. Chris Rowlette, his niece Dayne Chase, and Beth O'Brien who raced her first PRO race at the Grands. The Grands track was one of the best ever! Racing was intense and many of us old school'ers got to feel like we were 18 again! I bumped elbows with Clarence Perry and my old pal Woody Woodruff in my first Grand National main event since 1981! Did I have a great time? You bet I did! It was an honor to be a part of the event and a pleasure to work with all of you to put it together! Use the menu on the left of this page to browse the museum! I will also add video clips of the museum and racing in the next few days. Some bikes I only have video of. These I will also add in the next few days. Tim Lillethorup |
