Steve Strong

Over the last few years, I’ve had the chance to get to know the UK’s Steve Strong while attending Dirtyfest in Temecula, California. Whenever Steve makes the trip over to the US, we always seem to cross paths, and I wanted to get to know a little more about his trips to America, his experiences racing at Dirtyfest, and what keeps bringing him back.

I asked Steve to write about his trip, Dirtyfest experiences, racing in the US, and some of the memories he’s made along the way.

Diary of a Nobody 

Some people say never meet your heroes. I disagree!!!

Way back when I first started out in the world of collecting Old School BMX, chance and fate led me down the path into the 1970s, the first decade of BMX.

Fast forward a whole bunch of years, multiple shows, ride-outs, and a few trips to the States. I found myself representing the NBA/Fasthouse BMX Team at the vintage BMX race/show known as Dirtyfest.

Rewinding a few years, the first show I attended Stateside was the NBA Reunion back in 2019. The NBA was the first association dedicated to Bicycle Motocross. In 1972, the National Bicycle Motocross Association was formed, and at its head was Ernie Alexander. I got to meet Ernie and was invited along to Fasthouse Headquarters, headed up by his son Kenny, for a private tour along with Bryan Dworshak, Kenny Nachman, and Danny Arroyo, all NBA first-generation riders. This initial trip forged new friendships as well as cementing old friendships from talking online for a bunch of years.

Back to the present day. I arrived at Dirtyfest 4, which was held in Temecula, California, to meet my good friend Steve Firestein, whom I was staying with for the weekend. The first job on the agenda was to meet Ernie and the team, and also to receive the fabled NBA/Fasthouse team shirt. I hadn’t seen any of the guys for a couple of years, so we spent a bit of time catching up and listening to them bench race for a while. Some of the stories are just nuts…

Next was to check out my buddy Rob Lane’s Redline Museum on Wheels. If you have never seen this before, check it out online. It is literally a who’s who of Redline bikes from all the pro riders of that time period. Everywhere you look, there is a bike, a part, a team plate, a jersey, etc. But the coolest thing about it is Rob himself. His generosity knows no bounds, and everyone is welcome. Rob also had none other than Curt Kastan with him (Lynn’s son), whom I managed to spend a fair bit of time with over the weekend.

After meeting and greeting, checking out the vendors, and the swap meet, it was time to do what I came here for… RACE!

Dirtyfest is the closest anyone will get to riding the gnarly tracks of the ’70s. Corona, Yarnell, Saddleback, etc. I padded up, pulled on my trusty OG Pro-Tec, and started to walk up the hill. I looked up from the first turn towards the start gate and found myself saying out loud, “What the **** am I doing here?” Anyway, I made it up the hill, joined the line for the gate, and was ready for my first spotter lap. Off I went and made it to the finish line without crashing, which was my aim lol.

Another three laps down the track and all was good. I had worked out my preferred line. Two sections of staggered moguls kind of worried me going flat out, but that was tomorrow’s problem!

Race Day

We all met up at the NBA/Fasthouse camp. For me, this was when things started to get surreal. The team had been asked to open the show with the parade lap down the track. If you haven’t been Stateside to witness this, it’s quite a big deal. We’re talking Marine Honour Guard, the National Anthem being sung live, and everyone applauding. The team lined up on the gate, and we were given the go-ahead to open the track. It was an awesome experience. I had my St George’s Cross with me and ended up crossing the finish line side by side with Perry “PK” Kramer.

The racing is done on a three-moto system, and the first three from each group would go through to the next round. I had entered two classes: the ’76-’79 20-inch class and the 50-59 age group Open class (20/24/26-inch wheel).

Moto One – ’76-’79 20-Inch Class

S***! I had been put in lane one. All my practice laps were from lane six. I was completely out of position!!

I was on the gate with my good friend, Hall of Famer AC Chambers. This guy is seriously fast and bleeds BMX! The gate dropped and I went for it. I couldn’t get cut off going into the first corner. AC took off, and I ended up alongside Kevin “KC” Cleveland going into turn one. We literally battled all the way down the track, overtaking each other many times, neither of us giving up. This resulted in us crashing into each other going into the second-from-last corner.

I ended up going down quite hard. I asked Kev if he was OK, but he was already scrambling for his bike (we were still fighting for third place).

I looked down and my bike’s bars were twisted 90 degrees, so I was out. Just glad that we were both OK… or so I thought (more on that later).

Moto One – 50/59 Age Open Class

I was back on the start again in lane one and decided I was going to take it a bit easier during this race, as I felt banged up from earlier (we ain’t getting any younger!). I looked to my left and KC was in my race again over in lane three on a cruiser! The gate dropped and I ended up following Kev all the way to the line, finishing fourth, which I was OK with considering.

Moto Two – ’76-’79 20-Inch Class

Finally, I was in lane five, so I knew my line should be OK going into turn one, although this time, in true ’70s style, we had a rubber-band start. AC Chambers ended up jumping the start, and as a forfeit, Hollywood Mike Miranda made AC start with his bike facing backwards lol.

The band pinged across my bars and we were off. Over the first jump, second jump, and heading into the first turn. Before we got there, AC had already overtaken everyone. I was doing OK and felt a bit more comfortable as we were coming out of the third-from-last corner. I was catching the guy in front of me and knew I could pass him, so I put the pedals to the floor and overtook him coming off the step-up going into the second-from-last corner.

I heard a tyre skid out and someone go down. I quickly finished the lap, binned my bike, and ran back onto the track to see if he was OK. I ended up staying with him until the medics took him off to the medical centre. Unfortunately, he ended up with a broken collarbone.

It was at this point I realised I was a “tourist” and decided I was done for the weekend, race-wise. Upon returning to the UK, I have since found out that I suffered a torn rotator cuff during the crash in the first race, so in hindsight, I made the right decision.

Dirtyfest was an absolute blast, and I have to say many thanks to Mike “Hollywood” Miranda and the guys for putting on a top-notch show. It’s a wild weekend, and I can’t wait to do it again.

There really are way too many people to thank for an epic weekend, so I’ll only name a few: to all my NBA/Fasthouse teammates, Ernie and Bryan for selecting the “English bloke,” Redline Rob, Curt Kastan, Ian Johnson, Danny Carlson, and my very good friends Steve and Cindy Firestein. Plus Rick Gaytan, I’m so glad you made it, Brother.

The Team