Starting Gates
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That was how the vocal cadence went back then and it was spoken by a real live human rather than a recording so you would have to rely on the accuracy of the individual starter. The gate would usually drop on the "T" of "Time" but since the cadence was spoken by a human it helped to be familiar with that starter and his or her style. Take a look at the photo... the pad was like today's platforms, the height of the gate varied from track to track as did the release system. Most of the release systems where just like this photo, a piece of pipe with an old grip attached and the starter would pull the handle back towards the rider's until the handle would flex so that the gate would spring forward when released. There were some other release types but this style was widely used in my area. Because of this manual style of gates there were a lot of kids flipping over the top back then. In the late 70's "Snapping" had not been invented yet but kid's were trying to "Slingshot" the gate which was illegal, basically your tire was not supposed to leave the gate until it dropped! |
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If you have any old gate photos or views on the above let us know by emailing BMX Old School.
The above photo is from "Greg Hill's Professional BMX Skills" book from 1983.
Photo by: James Cassimus.
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