An individual like Leroy Veale would be hard to come by in today’s BMX landscape in New Jersey.
In 1976 BMX racing was still a relatively new and faddish sport done primarily in California. One person in South Jersey though decided to take a monstrous risk and open a track in the Garden State. The liability of opening a track now would seem ludicrous but back then it felt like less of an issue and the amount of fun that Leroy’s kids could have racing and riding BMX far outweighed any risk that might come down the road. So it was in early 1976 that Millville BMX opened its doors for the first time and held races. It was pretty raw. Rubber band starts, 12 riders in a moto, tires outlining the track. It was pure good old fashioned core bicycle motocross.
It was a huge hit and kids came from all over NJ to race on that track. From there the sport in NJ would explode throughout the 1980′s and this was all due to one person taking the risk to open a track. Leroy Veale. I don’t have any pictures of Mr. Veale but thanks to Tim Cook by way of Old School racing pro Dave Dechert, we have photos of the racing from them. From humble beginnings great things come. A true pioneer by taking a chance on something that in NJ, had never been done before.
Leroy Veale: First inductee to the BMXNJ Hall Of Fame for BMX Pioneer.
