Manuelito Wins National BMX Race With No Front Wheel

If you raced BMX in 1985, you might remember Larson Manuelito. He won the #1 amatuer title in the USBA for that year, riding for Bicycle Harbor out of AZ. Manuelito was from the Four Corners region of New Mexico, and he was one of the best BMX racers ever. That year, in '85, the 66 nationals were held in Albuquerque, NM. It was the weekend of the Fourth of July, and it was hot, - over 100*.

The gate dropped on a rack of 15X's, and Manuelito had the Holeshot. Coming up on the first jump, which was a Drop-off type jump, Manuelito pulled up the front end, to pedal down the backside, then his front wheel just kept on rolling without him! Amazingly, he did not crash. Incredibly, he kept on pedaling around the first 90 degree turn, in the lead still, headed for a set of knarly offset moonwalkers. Unbelievably, with skill I have not seen displayed before, or since, he completed the entire track, including jumping the moonwalkers, and a HUGE step-up that was there. He negotiated 3 turns and several smaller jumps too, all while leading a national race.

Manuelito looped-out on the last roller near the finish line, but ran easily the few feet for the win. Clearly this story is hard to believe, over the years I have found it hard to believe myself. I know only one other racer from Albuquerque who can corroborate this tale, there are others out there! Famous Racers in attendance that day include:
Jaydee Finney, John Purse, Toby Henderson, Many others.
I would say the term "manual", meaning to ride on the back tire, is short for MANUELITO! Yeah!!
Anyone out there remember this?

After salting "The Legend" around the Internet for a few days, it came to my attention that many people "In The Know" claim to have never even heard of our hero Mr. Manuelito. They go so far as to say that I "made him up", that I should "lay off the LSD", even doubting his very existence. When first researching for supporting evidence, looking on the search engines yielded nothing. But recently I have found a few tidbits proving my claim that he was USBA #1 amatuer in 1985, he even got the cruiser title too! I found a wikipedia entry here, a forum thread here. He can be found on PeeWee Lee's site in the ABA's 20,000 points club in 1984 (9th position with 26,837 points) and I dug deep into my own archives to produce some photos (The photo above right is the giant starting hill at the 1985 USBA 66 Nationals). The photo below is Manuelito, in his Raleigh colors, going head to head with one of the best racers ever, none other than Steve Veltman. Take that, doubters! Also, I know that the "Manual" is not named after Larson Manuelito, but it should be.