2012 INDUCTEE JIM WAHL
Jim Wahl started racing in 1978 at the Woodhaven, Michigan ABA track and continued racing in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan – BMX was “cemented”. He remembers watching Stu Thomsen, the Patterson brothers, Jeff Ruminer, Tinker Juarez, Jon Anderson and others and he never wanted that summer tour to end.
Jim’s parents started the first ABA track in northwest Ohio (Toledo) in 1981 at the Toledo Speedway. They also started an indoor track called Challenge BMX in 1982. Challenge stayed open through the 1980’s and was a hotspot for Michigan and Ohio riders in the winter time.
Jim began making national mains in 1986-87 as a 16 expert and then in 17 and over expert. Racing people like Mike King, Darwin Griffin, Bill Au, Jameson Hendler and Doug Davis he finished top 20 in NBL several times and NAG top ten in 1987. He finished World Number 5 at the IBMXF world championships in Orlando Florida in 17 Cruiser. He rode for Reggie’s Toledo bike shop during this time.
He turned PRO at the Christmas Classic in 1987 and raced PRO while attending college. He took a few years away from BMX while attending college.
Jim re-classified to amateur in 1992 and started racing locals again. He was picked up by Dans Competition in 1995 and raced the NBL national series heavily from 1995-2001. He finished National #2 twice and National #3 twice in that time on Cruiser.
He moved to Omaha, Nebraska in 2001 and started racing more ABA while still racing with Dans Comp in the NBL for 4-5 more years. During the last decade in Nebraska Jim’s contributions to BMX have gone far beyond racing. He has helped build and maintain every track from Council Bluffs to Omaha and his home track Star City BMX in Lincoln. Jim’s son Ty has raced since he was age 4 and son Justin started at age 3. Daughter Samie raced a few times but had more fun being “pretty” at the track. She is a better mechanic than her brothers and often fixes their bikes for them.
Jim won the USAC National Championship in 2008 and finished NAG #8 in 41 and over expert in 2011. Jim was inducted into the Nebraska BMX Hall of Fame on August 18th, 2012.
