Congratulations to the late Don Smith! Inducted into The British BMX Hall Of Fame Class of 2024, Pioneer Influencer Category

If you read the early issues of Official BMX, BMX News, or later BMX Weekly, or if you were there at the start of BMX in the UK, you might know that Don Smith was one of the key figures and pioneers in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Before BMX, Don was a multi-time European Motorcycle Trials Championship Series winner, a trials, speedway and motocross racer, and a design and development consultant for motorcycle factories worldwide.

Alongside ACE’s Richard Barrington and with support from Malcolm Jarvis at Ammaco, Don helped organize the first official BMX race in the UK at Brockwell Park in London in 1979, which was won by Pete Middleton.

In those early days, Don worked for Malcolm at Ammaco and organized events that fostered camaraderie amongst riders. He contributed to the establishment of BMX clubs and tracks and collaborated with manufacturers, playing a pivotal role in the sport’s growth.

Don wrote The Complete Book of Bicycle Motocross: Ride It BMX, and who could forget the iconic early shots of Don with his BMX IT (number plate) Ford featuring a Mongoose logo, along with the image of a young Andy Ruffell jumping over him while he is in it?