Memories of Scot Breithaupt Part 4

This clip is a bunch of still shots of Scot Breithaupt and friends from the early days of BMX racing, and his company SE Racing.

It was those nights watching Scot edit his ESPN shows at Unreel Productions that I really got to know the Old Man of BMX.  He was on yet another comeback, and his outrageous enthusiasm was flowing heavy.  While his editor pieced together his TV shows, Scot told us tales of his life in the early days of BMX, and some of his crazy tales from outside BMX.  The story that stuck in my mind was Scot telling me that once, at one of the early downhill tracks, he actually passed another rider by jumping right over the guy's head and landing in front of him.  By that point, I knew to take everything Scot said with a grain of salt, and sometimes half a salt shaker.  He did lots of crazy stuff in his life, but he also was prone to exaggeration. 

I think it was early 1989, when Scot approached me and said he needed a cameraman to shoot video at a race for the weekend.  He agreed to pay me $200 and rent a car for me to drive to Reno with all the equipment after I finished work on Friday.  The race was the Reno Nationals, and I picked up the car and camera equipment and headed north from Costa Mesa, California.  I'd been to Reno once before, in the summer, and planned to take the same route.  I'd head north to Sacremento, then head west over the mountains into Reno.  Somebody, I don't remember who, said it was a lot shorter to take route 395 through the mountains.  I didn't know any better, so I took that route... in January.  I hit Bishop, the last town before Mammoth and June Lake, and I was told I needed to buy chains for the car because of the snow up ahead.  Now I grew up in Ohio and Idaho as a kid, so I was used to driving in snow and it didn't bother me much.  But I drove right into a snow storm.  When it got bad, I pulled over to put the chains on.  I put the first chain on the back wheel when a driver from another car walked up to me.  "Uh... do you know that car is front wheel drive?" he asked.  It was a rental, and I had no idea.  So I took the chain off and put them on the front wheels.  I plugged along slowly, not realizing how far it was from Bishop to Reno.  I tool off the chains and put them back on a couple of more times.  In all, it was a frustrating 11 hour trip through a blizzard to get to Reno.  But I finally made it. 

I was exhausted, and got my key at the front desk and headed to my room.  There was Scot, watching TV, next to a king size bed.  I just wanted to sleep, and I asked Scot why the hell there was only one bed.  He said that was the only room available.  I'll be honest, I was worried.  I knew Scot liked women, but I wasn't sure if his tastes went any farther than that.  He assured me it the king size bed was an mix up, and I went to sleep.  Scot didn't bother me in any way, and we got up early the next morning and headed to the track. 

For the first time, I saw Scot Breithaupt in his world, the world of BMX racing.  He knew everyone, and everyone knew him.  I went out on the track and shot video for an hour or two, and then I'd touch bases with Scot, to see who he wanted me to focus on in the upcoming races.  At one point, Scot was hanging with a bunch of older guys between motos.  They all had raced with him in the 70's, and were sharing stories from those days.  I realized I was watching BMX history and I just hung out and listened.  Then one of the guys said, "Hey Scot, do you remember that time you jumped right over my head at Corona?"  They all laughed about it and shared their memories of  that race.  I thought, "Holy crap!  It actually happened.  Scot literally jumped right over this guy's head in a race and passed him."  Then another guy chimed in, "Hey, you jumped over my head, too, at another track."  Scot himself had forgotten all about that one.  My mind was blown.  Here I was shooting video for one of the best BMX racers ever, a guy who was one of the main promoters of the whole sport in the early days.  My skepticism of Scot's stories went down dramatically that afternoon. 

After that day's racing, we put the camera gear in the room and headed downstairs for dinner.  Scot led me to a blackjack table, bought some chips, and handed me a few $2 chips.  He said to just bet one chip per hand and have some fun while he won us dinner money.  I shook my head.  In the next 20 minutes, Scot won about $50 at blackjack, then said, "OK, let's go eat."  After dinner, we switched to a room with two queen beds, and I plopped down on my bed, exhausted."  Scot wanted to go to the bar and check out the ladies.  I just shook my head.  "Man, I'm still tired from yesterday.  Wake me up in the morning."  He took off to go have some fun, and I crashed out.

The next day he raced and hung out with the old timers, and I shot video.  We packed up the rental car after the race, and headed back to Southern California... the right way.  The whole trip back he told me stories about BMX and all the crazy stuff he'd done in the early days.  He also told me some of his plans for producing TV shows.  On one hand, I was stoked at the opportunity to hear all those crazy tales from a legend in the sport.  On the other hand, I was wondering if he was actually going to pay me for working that weekend.  As we got into L.A., Scot said he was a little short on cash, and he gave me $30 of the $200 we agreed upon.  He said he'd pay me the rest in a couple of weeks. That was Scot in action.  He would amaze you with his ability to get things done, like sell a bike TV series to ESPN, and produce shows on a shoestring, and then he would wind up short on cash, and he'd end up owing you.  The crazy thing is that I didn't mind that much.  I had a fun time that weekend shooting video and listening to legendary BMX racers talk about the good ol' days.  I never did get that other $170, and at this point I couldn't care less.  I was one of the many people who got to know Scot Breithaupt personally, and I have my tales to tell about this guy who, more than any other single person, made BMX what it is today.  Ride in Peace, Scot.  C-ya!