Drew Jameson

The BMX Journey of Drew Jameson

Interviewer: How did you get started in BMX?

Drew: Chuckles. Well, my ninth-grade year was pretty bad. I was in the principal's office every week or two. Two or three weeks before the end of the school year, I blew up a lawn mower engine in shop class and was suspended from the class. That was the last straw for my mom, and she began looking into sending me to military school.

Later that summer, in 1978, my friend Barry Hatcher invited me to a race at Rosedale Park. I ended up racing on a borrowed bike and finished third. I was hooked. The only problem was that I didn't have a bike of my own.

Shortly afterward, I asked my mom if I could get one. She gave me a look that said, You have got to be kidding me. Then she asked how much it would cost, gave me a stern lecture, and called Bill Mundus at Turner's Schwinn to tell him I was coming to purchase a bike.

Years later, she said it was the best $85 she ever spent.

From Rosedale Park to the Pro Class

Drew Jameson entered BMX during its formative period in Kansas City. Tracks were often temporary, equipment was rapidly changing, and much of the sport was being built by riders, parents, promoters, and volunteers as they went along.

The International Bicycle Motocross Association provided the foundation on which Drew learned to race, compete, travel, and become part of a close community of Kansas City riders. In 1979, he finished the season as the IBMA No. 2-ranked 16 Expert.

Drew entered his first American Bicycle Association race at the Kansas Coliseum on January 20, 1980. Although he already had two seasons of IBMA experience, he entered the ABA system as a Novice. After earning five wins, he advanced to Expert and, by September 1980, was competing in the 16 Expert class. He finished the year ranked No. 20 in the ABA KS-1 District.

In 1981, Drew added the Cruiser class to his racing schedule. He finished second in Cruiser at the ABA Lone Star National and ended the season among the country's Top 50 Cruiser riders, earning ABA National No. 41.

In 1982, Drew moved into the professional class.

Drew does not present that progression as an uninterrupted march toward greatness. There were good races, poor decisions, missed opportunities, and results that mattered far more to him at the time than they do today. Nevertheless, becoming a professional placed him among a relatively small number of Kansas City riders who reached that level during BMX's early years.

More important than any particular finish were the friendships and experiences that came with it. BMX took Drew to tracks throughout the Midwest and beyond, but its lasting influence came from the people with whom he traveled, raced, worked, argued, celebrated, and grew up.

From Racer to Builder

As his role in BMX expanded, Drew became involved in more than his own racing career. With help from his friends and other members of the Kansas City BMX community, he built and operated Optimist VFW BMX, creating another place for local riders to compete.

With Mark Denton, Drew also designed and constructed an early pneumatically operated starting gate. The project received additional support from the Denton Fence shop, which provided knowledge, materials, and assistance. Built with pneumatic actuators, two-inch angle iron, fence top rail, expanded metal, and considerable experimentation, the gate anticipated operating principles that later became common throughout BMX.

Drew also organized the Jameson Distributing racing team, co-sponsored by Patterson Racing and Zeronine. Its eleven riders included four district champions, two AA Professionals, one A Professional, and several other highly ranked competitors. The team earned numerous trophies, including a team victory during the 1983 Wheaties Gold Cup series.

None of those accomplishments belonged to one person alone. They depended upon riders, parents, mechanics, sponsors, builders, and friends. The separate histories of Optimist VFW BMX, the pneumatic starting gate, and Jameson Distributing document those collective efforts in greater detail.

Leaving and Returning

Drew's final race of his original career was the ABA Midwest National at Kansas City International Raceway in July 1985. Racing in A Pro, he qualified for the main event. He stepped away from competition after that event, but BMX never disappeared entirely from his life.

He returned in 1995, competing on his old Patterson and winning a Gold Cup race in Topeka. He finished the season with the No. 15 plate and continued into 1996, qualifying for the 35+ Cruiser main event at the ABA Ozark National. After nearly a decade away from racing, Drew discovered that the instincts and competitiveness had not entirely left him.

Another return began in 2009, when Drew purchased a bicycle with no intention of competing. His oldest daughter eventually encouraged him to enter a race, pointing out that her two youngest siblings had never seen him compete.

Drew entered a race at Blue Springs BMX and finished third behind Mike Cromwell and Ben Tarwater. What began as a single appearance developed into a successful season.

In 2024, Drew returned once more. By then, racing carried a different meaning. Results still mattered, but not as much as riding again, reconnecting with old friends, meeting newer generations, and appreciating a sport that had remained part of his life for nearly five decades.

Preserving the Starting Gate

Interviewer: What is it like to return to racing after a long absence?

Drew: The only real concern is that I'll make a fool of myself. Fortunately for me, I've done pretty well for an old guy.

The other thing is that, sooner or later, someone finds out I was a Pro.

"Did I hear right that you were a Pro?"

"Yeah. I wasn't a very good Pro, but I had some amazing friends."

Returning to BMX did more than place Drew behind a starting gate again. It reconnected him with people and stories from Kansas City's earlier racing years. Conversations with former riders, builders, parents, and track operators revealed how much of that history remained undocumented—and how easily it could disappear.

When Drew was young, a poor race could remain with him long after the trophies had been awarded. He would replay mistakes and wonder what might have happened differently. His mother answered those thoughts with a simple reminder:

"You can't change what if."

It took many years for him to understand the full meaning of that advice.

The Kansas City BMX History project grew from that perspective. Its purpose is not merely to identify the most successful riders or hand out honors. It is to preserve the people, families, teams, tracks, shops, parents, volunteers, innovations, and events that made the local sport possible—and to document how those events happened before the evidence and memories disappear.

Drew's own record is only one part of that larger history. He raced, turned professional, built a track, helped develop a starting gate, organized a racing team, and repeatedly returned to competition. Yet the most important outcome of the journey may be the community that began with a borrowed bicycle at Rosedale Park.

The $85 Schwinn Mag Scrambler did more than keep a teenager out of military school. It provided direction, responsibility, friendships, and a lifelong connection to BMX.

His mother was right.

It was the best $85 she ever spent.

Career Highlights

1978 — First race at Rosedale Park; third place on a borrowed bicycle

1979 - IBMA No. 2, 16 Expert

1980 - First ABA race at the Kansas Coliseum on January 20 1980 - Advanced from Novice to Expert after five wins

1980 - ABA KS-1 District No. 20

1981 - ABA National No. 41 Cruiser

1981 — Second place, Cruiser ABA Lone Star National

1982 — ABA KS-1 No. 2 Cruiser

1982 — Moved into the professional class

1983 — ABA KS-1 No. 1 Cruiser

1983 — Jameson Distributing team trophy, Wheaties Gold Cup series

1984 — ABA KS-1 No. 2 Cruiser

1985 — A Pro Main Event Qualifier, ABA Midwest National at KCIR

1995 — Won a Gold Cup race in Topeka on his old Patterson

1995 — Year-end No. 15 plate

1996 — Main Event Qualifier, 35+ Cruiser, ABA Ozark National

2009 — ABA Kansas State No. 1 Cruiser

2009 — ABA KS-1 District No. 1 Cruiser

2009 — ABA Central Gold Cup No. 2

2024 — USA BMX South Central Gold Cup No. 2

2024 — 2nd Place, 61–65 Cruiser, USA BMX (ROC) Race of Champions

2024 — USA BMX Grand Nationals Main Event Qualifier

2025 — USA BMX South Central Gold Cup No. 1

2025 — USA BMX Grand Nationals Main Event Qualifier

2025 — USA BMX National Age Group No. 7

Historical preservation — Founder of the Kansas City BMX History project

Interviewer: Looking back at all of it, how do you think you did?

Drew: Chuckles. When I see it all on paper in front of me, I did pretty well.