The American Bicycle Association (ABA) is an American based Bicycle Motocross (BMX) sports sanctioning body in Chandler, Arizona created by Merl Mennenga and Gene Roden in 1977. It is the largest sanctioning body in the United States concerning BMX. It has tracks in Canada and Mexico as well as in the USA. It was and is known for its efficiency in running events known as Nationals, where BMX racers from around the country race in competition for points and in the case of Professionals, money, to determine who will earn the right to run a National no. "1" plate in the several divisions the following year. The other leading sanctioning body, the National Bicycle League (NBL) also holds Nationals as do several smaller regional governing bodies. == chandlerLink title == may refer to many different meanings: Profession: A chandlerBold textItalic text is someone who makes or sells wax or tallow candles, and also usually soap. ... Official language(s) English Capital Phoenix Largest city Phoenix Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 6th 295,254 km² 500 km 645 km 0. ...

History

Mr. Mennenga's direct motivation for creating the ABA was his and his family's bad experience with the now defunct IBMX (not to be confused with the now defunct but respected International Bicycle Motocross Federation (IBMXF)). He had signed his son up for a tour of IBMX race events. Many things were promised to Mr. Mennenga's and other BMX families but few of those promises realized. This consumer dissatisfaction and the lack of alternatives to the IBMX tracks near his home town of Phoenix, Arizona (they were once NBA tracks but the IBMX acquired them) was what compelled him to create the ABA. He wanted a organization made up of average people like himself were average people would be treated with honestly and with consideration not out of the motivation for quick profits. ... Official language(s) English Capital Phoenix Largest city Phoenix Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 6th 295,254 km² 500 km 645 km 0. ...

What was also stressed in the ABA was efficiency. Indeed, Mr. Mennenga came up with the idea of the Direct transfer System as opposed to the Moto or Olympic system of graduating racers to the finals from the qualifying heats were in part that it was easier to score and therefore the event could be run faster with fewer errors in paperwork. His philosophy is that anything that does not directly pertain to the efficiency of running the race was superfluous and was done away with. This gave the ABA the reputation of efficiency without the delays during racing the NBA was suffering at the time. By 1979, two years after its founding, it had passed the older NBL and passed the oldest and first sanctioning body the NBA to become the largest governing body in BMX. For a further period of two years the ABA continued to grow due to its reputation of honesty and efficiency.

Still it too has gone through some controversies over its life time. There were criticisms, some legitimate like the perceived costly entry fees and sub par tracks that hosted nationals. There were also complaints of scheduling conflicts with the rival NBL and NBA; rules discrimination and the general politics between the sanctioning bodies and promoters. Most of these concerns were the worry of some of the governing officers of the ABA and outside observers in the BMX press. However, with the exception of the issues of entrance fees and the quality of the national tracks, the rank in file racers and families were largely oblivious. They were seeing well run races that met the needs of the consumer. This was reflected by the growth rate and attendance levels at both the local level and at its Nationals. The in house tabloid newspaper, "ABA Action", was as efficient as the organization itself with its always current listings of points standings and race coverage, which were of course the direct concern of the rank and file racers. The ABA served the majorities needs and not the concerns, even the legitimate concerns of the Professional and top Expert racers, the BMX Press and the in house politicking between ABA officers. Newspaper sizes in August 2005. ...

Perhaps this dizzying success gave Mr. Mennenga a false sense of security. As the complaints from the BMX upper crust-the Pros and BMX Press-increased, the more Mr. Mennenga resented and took a defensive position. This defensiveness that perhaps slowly calcified to an unwillingness to listen help to create an unorganized Pro rider boycott in 1983 and into part of 1984. It was led unofficially by Greg A. Hill, one of the most respected and winning-est professionals at the time, over the alleged unfairness of its pro points system that was in place during that time. It was a long standing complaint going back to Mr. Hill's 1980 objections to the 1979 season points scoring. An editorial boycott by Bob Osborne, the editor and owner of "BMX Action", a major BMX magazine, was over long simmering slights perceived by Mr. Osborn at ABA events but the direct cause of his boycott was his being denied a photographer's pass at an ABA national. It was this boycott that was responsible in large part that set the ABA and Mr. Mennenga on the hard road that would lead to his demise as the head of the ABA.

While "BMX Action"'s deliberate boycott was damaging, it was not the only reason the ABA was receiving reduce coverage in the BMX press, including in "BMX Action"'s biggest competitors "BMX Plus!" and "Super BMX". Many ABA nationals coincided with important NBL nationals. This lead to a further decrease in coverage which the BMX industry noticed. In consequence, there were fewer BMX and non-BMX companies willing to sponsor ABA events with the fewer direct and indirect advertising possibilities. The in house "ABA Action" newspaper was not enough since it was restricted to ABA members and therefore it had a limited audience in comparison to a newsstand magazine. The obvious solution afforded to the ABA was to create its own magazine. In 1982 Mr. Mennenga created "Bicycles & Dirt" to circumvent the established press and attract advertisers. The first issue of "Bicycles & Dirt" or BAD, premiered with the September 1982 issue with legendary and dominant Pro racer Stu Thomsen on the cover. Contrary to Mr Mennenga's expectations, advertisers did not flock to the new magazine, despite its built in audience. Like the newspaper "ABA Action" it was a subscription only magazine at the time. With this in mind the ABA put BAD on newsstands a year after its premier. It did not change the situation. The financial woes of BAD only grew worse and worse. However, instead of cutting one's losses after a few issues as most publishers would do, Mr. Mennenga continued to throw good money after bad and pump ABA funds into the ill conceived and ill executed venture. Eventually, it became clear to Mr. Mennenga that the ABA could not sustain the loss and there was no hope of a turnaround, he folded BAD with the September 1984 issue.

Unfortunately stopping the hemorrhaging that was BAD was too little, too late, The magazine had bled the ABA white and left it on the verge of bankruptcy. On top of the BAD affair came the rising cost of the insurance crises of the early 1980's with its sky rocketing rates. This affected every sanctioning body, but given the ABA's greatly weakened state it was life threatening to it. By 1984 the first indications of the plateauing of the popularity of BMX was the flattening growth in memberships and the falling off of attendance of nationals. Some of this was caused by the growing popularity of BMX Freestyle siphoning potential racers from BMX and the beginnings of the resurgence of skateboarding, both of which would explode in popularity by 1985.

If the above woes and tribulations were not enough, a new headache, one that he would feel as a personal betrayal, the defection of five former ABA officers to create the United States Bicycle Motocross Association (USBA).

Those five former officers were Ira Sims, Steve Schaeffer, Dave Cook, Rich Mann, and Rod Keeling, the head of the new governing body that was a former pilot for the ABA's failed air charter service who rose to the rank of Vice President of Marketing. Previous to the piloting position with the ABA, he had no experience with BMX racing. Some thought the creation of the USBA was timed to take advantage of the ABA's financial dire straights and to cause a stampede of ABA tracks to change affiliation to the new organization. Mr. Mennenga saw it as a personal betrayal to the point that he called a press conference to denounce them. He charged at that press conference it was them who gave him bad advice to take a hard uncomprimising line against the track owners, the racers, and the BMX press. His basic charge was that their collective advice was deliberate sabotage to undermine the ABA so they could make this move to set up their own governing body and destroy the ABA. Whatever Mr. Mennenga's intention, it came off as a desire to shift blame for his actions as well as being unlike that this conspiracy could keep its cohesion for over two years. It would the actions of the new USBA leadership that would lend credence to Mr. Mennenga's charges.

The two year war between the ABA and the USBA was perhaps the most ugly rivalry that BMX has ever saw. It seems the USBA was making most of the aggressives moves. It tried to foster a sense of impending doom facing the ABA over its financial dire straights in order for them to change their affiliations to the point of harassment. Eeven the father of a respected pro racer Gary Ellis Sr., the father of Gary Ellis who ran the ABA affilliated River Valley BMX track in Sumner, Washington. Rod, Keeling, the founder and President of the USBA went so far as to have a face to face meeting with Mr. Ellis to convince him to jump ship. Such a defection of a high profile track operator would had been a large propoganda feather in Mr. Keeling's cap. He was not successful, in large part according to Mr. Ellis was that Mr. Keeling stressed the problems of the ABA, without stating how joining the USBA would be avantages to Mr. Ellis and BMX as a whole Sumner has several possible meanings in the English language. ... Official language(s) None Capital Olympia Largest city Seattle Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 18th 184,824 km² 385 km 580 km 6. ...

There were other issues for the ABA to worry about. The general dislike of the transfer system by pros and amateurs alike; A rival sanctioning body was created from dissident ABA employees, the United States Bicycle Motocross Association (see below). With its financial problems and steady lost of tracks and membership it looked like for a while that the ABA might go the route of the NBA. Then in March 1985 ABA Founder and President Merl Mennenga with the lost of membership and tracks (in part because of rising insurance cost of liability), the ABA on the verge of bankruptcy and personal burnout, sold the ABA to Bernie Anderson and Jamie Vargas. They reversed some questionable programs like having three separate point seasons in a year (as opposed to having one continuous season for about a year) meaning a racer would race for the lowest number he could get not once but three times). A year later they brought a majority share of the USBA becoming its two principle stockholders in 1986. Until the end of 1986 the USBA remained a separate body until the final merger of it to the ABA. The result was the ABA re-reacquiring some tracks and some brand new ones-160 in total-and the USBA's membership.

Though all this it still remained the largest of the two major bodies.

In 2002 the ABA attempted to purchase the NBL from USA Cycling but was turned down.

Vital statistics

Founded: 1977

Headquarters: Chandler, Arizona == chandlerLink title == may refer to many different meanings: Profession: A chandlerBold textItalic text is someone who makes or sells wax or tallow candles, and also usually soap. ... Official language(s) English Capital Phoenix Largest city Phoenix Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 6th 295,254 km² 500 km 645 km 0. ...

Oringinal Owner: Merl Mennenga

Oringinal President: Merl Mennenga, 1977-1985

Original Vice President:Gene Roden, 1977-1982

Current Owner:

Current President:

Current Vice President:

Employees:

Frist track: Chandler, Arizona 1976

Number of tracks: 232

Members: 60,000

Number of nationals per year: Approximately 30 (including Grand National)

Operations

ABA Rule book

ABA National number ones by year

*The ABA did have a pro class in 1977 & 1978 but the title of National Number One Professional was not created until the 1979 season. Until then the #1 plate holder was considered #1 over all Amateur or professional.

Special Race Series

ABA Website

Notes

External links