| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Eric Fitzgerald Rupe |
| Nickname | "Big Daddy" |
| Born | June 14, 1963 Reseda, California, U.S. |
| Height | 1.68 m (5 ft 6 in) |
| Weight | ≈66.1 kg (146 lb) |
| Team information | |
| Current team | GT Bicycles |
| Discipline | Bicycle Motocross (BMX) |
| Role | Racer |
| Rider type | Off Road |
| Amateur teams | |
| 1976 | Canyon Schwinn Cyclery |
| 1977 | Rick & Rick Racing |
| 1977 | Schwinn Bicycle Company |
| Professional teams | |
| 1977-1980 | Schwinn Bicycle Company |
| 1981 | SE Racing |
| 1981-1983 | Mongoose |
| 1983 | Profile Competition Racing Products |
| 1984-1990 | Mongoose |
| 1991-1992 | Haro Designs/Bicycles |
| 1993-1994 | Pro Forx-GHP |
| 1995-1997 | Parkpre Bicycles |
| 1997-2007 | Mongoose Bicycles |
| 2007-2012 | GT Bicycles |
Eric Fitzgerald Rupe (born June 14, 1963) is an American professional bicycle motocross (BMX) racer. His prime competitive years were from 1978 to 1990.
Considered one of the most underrated BMXers in its history,[citation needed] he also had one of the longest careers in BMX. He nominally retired from Senior pro racing after the 1990 American Bicycle Association Grand National but would go on to participate in Pro BMX competition on a serious basis for another 11 years, albeit in Masters/Veteran pro class, the class for racers past their peak competitive years, much like the Champions Tour (formally called the Senior PGA Tour) in golf. He was given the term "Big Daddy" at a 1988 Rockford ABA race by the announcer Dugan Finnel. He used the phrase “Big Daddy coming out on fire” for his win in Senior pro that day. He specifically called him that because he knew Eric was a father by then with a few children at home.[1] Eric was one of the first racers to become a family man when he had his first child in 1984 (albeit Greg Hill became a father in late 1983) His clean-cut born again Christian lifestyle and philosophy lent greatly to the family man image. Over thirty-four years after his first race he was still racing professionally in the ABA Veteran pro class until recently. Today, he races in the Amateur 45 and Over cruiser class. However, he still is very competitive, winning the USA Cycling BMX National Championship in that class on March 21, 2009.
Note: All first in Pro Class are on the national level unless otherwise noted.
| Milestone | Event Details |
|---|---|
| Started racing: | November 1974 at age 11 at the Soledad Sands, California Motorcycle Motocross (MX) track. His uncle Bill used to race motocycles there.[2] The previous November Rupe's father had told him and his brother Robby that he didn't want them to ride their motorcycles anymore least they get hurt. A few days later sensing his sons dis appointments he suggested racing their bicycles there.[3] |
| Sanctioning body: | National Bicycle Association (NBA) |
| Sanctioning body district(s): | |
| First race bike: | A Schwinn Sting-Ray custom welded by his brother Robby Rupe in his school shop class.[4] |
| First race result: | Sixth place overall (out of eight in his 11 Novice class). He wrecked after the drive chain broke. He raced the next two motos on his older brother's (Robby Rupe) bicycle.[2] It would take him a year to get his first trophy, a second place in January 1976.[4] |
| First win (local): | February 1976.[4] at the Van Nuys Youth Center in Van Nuys, California, just over a year after he started racing.[4] |
| First sponsor: | Canyon Schwinn Cyclery (Bike Shop) April 1976.[4] |
| First national win: | 13 Expert, September 1976 NBA Fall Nationals in Las Vegas, Nevada.[4] |
| Turned professional*: | 1977, age 14. In a March 1988 BMX Action interview with Eric Rupe it has him listed as turning pro when he was 13, but in the sidebar "The Life and Times of Eric Rupe", a year-by-year chart of his career, it is listed as having him do so in July 1977. If he was born on June 13, 1963, that would have him being 14 years of age in July 1977, not 13.[5] |
| First professional race result: | Third place at the local race at the Van Nuys Youth Center on the first night of local races. He won US$3.00 winnings,[3] the equivalent of US$10.18 in 2007 (Cost of Living Calculator). It cost him US$2.00 to enter the race.[6] |
| First professional win**: | Pro Class at the National Bicycle League (NBL) War of the Stars National in Petersburg, Indiana, on July 5, 1980. |
| Height and weight at height of his career (1983–1988): | Ht: 5'6" Wt: ≈148 lbs.[7] |
Retired (nominally): After 1990 ABA Grand National age 26. It was according to Eric a forced retirement due to the unsatisfactory contracts that were offered him by Mongoose.[8] He even made a formal announcement prior in the September 1990 issue of American BMXer, the American Bicycle Association's newspaper[9] in a letter dated July 24, 1990. However, while he may have retired from the points chasing top pro circuits that contends for no 1 Pro for the year, racing was not out of his system. Like a lot of retired BMX racers who come back and race a national or two for old time's sake and to keep a thumb in the pie, Rupe raced occasionally after his retirement. His post-"retirement" racing was one of the more active. After about 11 months of "retirement" he raced in the October 26–27, 1991 ABA Fall Nationals along with fellow retirees Stu Thomsen and Harry Leary. He had himself reclassified as an "A" pro and came in second to Eric Carter in that division as well as third in Pro Cruiser on Saturday and a fourth in Pro Cruiser on Sunday. In the ABA Grand National of that year he raced and won the Pro Cruiser Class. Most returning pros did it mostly for fun but Rupe had a serious cant to his "semi-retirement". He raced in the 1991 ABA Grand National on December 1, getting a first place in Pro Cruiser. Beginning in 1995, he would race and totally dominate in the mid and late 1990s and early 2000s the ABA Veteran Pro Cruiser class and win the 2000 and 2004 NBL Masters class no. 1 plate. He was still racing seriously in the ABA's Veteran Pro and NBL's Master classes as of 2006. He is 43 years old.[when?]
*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. The NBL and ABA followed suit a year later.
**During the era Eric Rupe turned pro, there wasn't a two-tier system of Junior and Senior pros.
Note: This listing only denotes the racer's primary sponsors. At any given time a racer could have numerous co-sponsors. Primary sponsorships can be verified by BMX press coverage and sponsor's advertisements at the time in question.
*Pros could race in the amateur classes at the time.
Note: Listed are district, State/Provincial/Department, regional, national, and international titles in italics. "Defunct" refers to the 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.
National Bicycle Association (NBA)
National Bicycle League (NBL)
American Bicycle Association (ABA)
National Bicycle Association (NBA)
National Bicycle League (NBL)
*By 2000 the NBL would adapt ABA practice and designate "AA" pro as the Senior pro division and rename "B" pro/Super Class to "A" pro. In the 2004 season the pro designations would be Elite Men and Superclass
American Bicycle Association (ABA)
United States Bicycle Association (USBA)
†"Unlimited Pro" was the USBA's term for its senior professional class. It was renamed "A" Pro in the following racing season.
International Bicycle Motocross Federation (IBMXF)
*The Vision Street Wear World Cup was the direct descendant of the Murry World Cup. Murray stopped sponsoring the World Cup after the fifth 1986 edition due to the failure of Murray of Ohio bicycle company and the NBL to come to an agreement about the sponsorship fee Murray would have had to pay the NBL. If Murray continued its sponsorship, the 1987 addition would have been the sixth (VI) in the series.
Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI)
USA Cycling BMX
For whatever reason, Eric Rupe had rarely raced ABA since its inception in 1977 until January 1984. In fact until the GT Supernationals held on January 27, 1984, in Burbank, California, it was only the fourth ABA national he ever attended. He happened to double, winning "AA" and Pro Open class at that one, his first ABA national wins as an amateur or professional.[14]
Note: Only magazines that were in publication at the time of the racer's careers are listed, unless specifically noted.
Bicycle Motocross News:
Minicycle/BMX Action & Super BMX:
Bicycle Motocross Action & Go:
BMX Plus!:
Total BMX:
Bicycles and Dirt (ABA publication):
Snap BMX Magazine & TransWorld BMX:
Moto Mag:
BMX World:
NBA World & NBmxA World (The official NBA/NBmxA membership publication):
Bicycles Today & BMX Today (The official NBL membership publication under two names):
ABA Action, American BMXer, BMXer (The official ABA membership publication under three names):
USBA Racer (The official USBA membership publication):
Specials: