Dave Mirra's Impact On The BMX World

Dave Mirra who is he many of you probably don't know who he is, what he has done for society or the impact he made on a sport most commonly know as BMX. Dave Mirra was born in the small town of Chittenango New York April 4th, 1974. Dave had a relatively easy life besides the fact his parents had gotten divorced at the age of five. Dave and his brother Tim mainly lived, with their father, but saw their mother in Syracuse, New York quite often. When it came to goofing off time, Dave would really enjoyed riding his bike with his brother and neighborhood friends but one day Dave and his brother noticed something peculiar they saw a few kids doing cool tricks on their bikes. Dave was inspired and decided to do the same thing with a few friends

to support him. They all began to ride BMX which stands for bicycle motocross. ("Dave Mirra Biography - Life, Children, Parents, Name, History, School, Mother, Old, Information, Born, College")

Dave became the miracle boy at such a young age he was creating new tricks never seen or thought of before. A few years later when The miracle boy himself noticed the increase in popularity of his hobby and seen the opportunity to make it a career. He knew if it weren't for his friend's motivation, and that motivation would follow him all the way through his career, pushing him to his maximum potential. It finally happened a local pro had noticed Dave for his flatland ability and that earned him a small sponsor where he would get a discount on BMX parts bikes and etc. He knew this was just the beginning of his career and just to make things better later that year he was sponsored by Haro BMX which is one of the few big BMX companies now with this sponsor he received free food lodging and travel this was unheard of for a 13 year old boy to receive something like this it made Dave look like a prodigy to Bmx and someone to look up to. ("Dave Mirra Biography - Life, Children, Parents, Name, History, School, Mother, Old, Information, Born, College")

Dave entered his first competition and he was a nervous wreck which leads to him doing terrible landing him in 11th place later on with the year Haro dropped him not because of him doing terrible in the competition but for the reason bike sales were down and the company needed to cutbacks. Dave was upset about the whole ordeal but it didn't stop him and his progression with BMX. Out of nowhere dave decided to switch to vert riding he seen this as a new direction with his career he always loved taking risks and going jumping ramps so he saw this as the opportunity and he took it he also wanted to be different and everyone his age wasn't doing it. While at a contest in Pennsylvania he met an another BMX rider from the hoods or what their real group name would be is the plywood hoods but this riders name was Mark Eaton and Mark had seen Dave shredding during the contest and admired his style and was amazed by Dave's skill he invited him to join the Plywood Hoods Dave was honored to ride with them. ("Dave Mirra Biography - Life, Children, Parents, Name, History, School, Mother, Old, Information, Born, College")

The plywood hoods were the first BMX group to create the first underground BMX video and if you take a look nowadays everyone is filming at skateparks to get themselves noticed so this group has made a significant impact on BMX almost revolutionary. Dave was a part of many great things with the plywood hoods such as creating the first underground BMX video. they were are now one of the most recognized BMX group to have ever been created. The plywood hoods specialized in flatland and were featured in magazines and were know for them basically saying we do what we want and we don't care you don't like it or not it's your problem, not ours. They became basically heroes to the underground scene to all the kids who had spare parts and threw a bike together they were known as BMX stars to young kids. ("Dave Mirra Biography - Life, Children, Parents, Name, History, School, Mother, Old, Information, Born, College")

That competition Dave entered in Pennsylvania wasn't just no ordinary contest it had no age restriction for the amuture division and best of all it was a vert contest so young 14 years old dave was going up against 20+-year-old riders. he didn't do terrible out of 25 competitors he placed 8th which is crazy to even think about him later that year entered another event involving vert and found himself placing so well he landed a sponsorship with dyno BMX which gave him free bikes etc. This was the year for dave things were going great later on in life when he turned 17 he finally went pro and he took the world by storm being sponsored by Hoffman,standard, and airwalk. He went on to create some of his most famous tricks backward weasel and the frame stand peg pick. ("Dave Mirra Biography - Life, Children, Parents, Name, History, School, Mother, Old, Information, Born, College")

The year was 1993 the pressure was on Dave he was put up against the 3-time vert champion Matt Hoffman who is a legend in the BMX world. Dave went into the contest confident and beat Matt Hoffman a little bit after this the freestyle BMX industry kinda went down hill like a few years prior so riders were basically on their own again. It wasn't clear if the flame would come back to freestyle but that didn’t phase dave one bit he was more motivated then ever to surpass himself in every way. In the highlight of his year, he was struck by a drunk driver that nearly ended his career he was unable to ride he received a fractured skull torn shoulder and a blood clot in his brain. He took it chill for a while after 6 months of taking it easy and medication he was back on his feet he describe the experience as a setback but in life you have obstacles you have to overcome and this was one of them. He returned to his bike and the bike scene still wasn't what it used to be so he found to have a hard time getting motivated so he then proceeded to pack up his belongings and move to California after two weeks he moved back he just couldn't find his mojo he knew it was just an obstacle in life and had to find the will not to give up on his dream. ("Dave Mirra Biography - Life, Children, Parents, Name, History, School, Mother, Old, Information, Born, College")

Tim Mirra dave's brother moved to Greenville North Carolina to attend college and it just so happened there was a skate park right across the street Dave would go over there every so often to visit until he decided to move in with his brother. While living there Dave's brother Tim actually tried to motivate dave to ride. Dave finally got back on his bike after roughly 15 months off of it Tim told his brother I want you to be on the top of your game and that was the motivation that Dave needed he then signed back with Haro in 1994 he was paid $30,000 to ride for one year doing contests. Haro didn't stop there they were aware of how long Dave was off his bike they helped him build a mini park in his backyard then eventually a training facility called the warehouse and it's supposedly one of the best facilities around. ("Dave Mirra Biography - Life, Children, Parents, Name, History, School, Mother, Old, Information, Born, College")

Something new appeared in the BMX world it was a new type of contest called the x games and dave was honored to host the very first one. Dave competed that year took home a silver medal. The X game's purpose was to bring the country together to have all the riders band together to bring the sport back to life. Dave dominated the vert section on became the champion one year and also the following year the street champion he dominated the x games and signing with reebok and when he did that his popularity spiked and he became the face of BMX. The year of 2000 was crazy for dave his face was on cereal boxes he had his own bubble gum line and not to mention he had two video games made that starred him. The man was a media icon for BMX his media exposure was worth about 2.5 million dollars which are crazy. ("Dave Mirra Biography - Life, Children, Parents, Name, History, School, Mother, Old, Information, Born, College")

The year of 2006 dave married his wife Lauren Blackwell Mirra and had two daughters. He also proceeded to create his own BMX company called Mirra bike co. He was an athlete and through his sponsorship to Subaru Dave took up racing as a side hobby and really enjoyed it. While he managed his company he recruited some riders to Mirra bike co and Haro. ("BMX Legend Dave Mirra Impresses In Rally Racing Debut | SpecialStage")

Dave's rally racing debut was for the rally of the pines in 2007. He didn't finish too badly for his first time actually racing a cozy 22nd. He described his experience in a rally race as an adrenalin pumping experience. He could've finished in the top 15 if he didn't crash into a ditch but he still was pumped to finish it. If it wasn't for a fellow racer to pull me out I would've never been able to experience the rush I received. His one and only goal were to finish but the conditions of the road didn't make it easy for him the roads were snowy and treacherous he was rounding a corner and was greeted by a couple tire punctures which led to him ending up in a ditch then being towed out eventually. ("BMX Legend Dave Mirra Impresses In Rally Racing Debut | SpecialStage")

Dave really enjoyed his time rallying and with the help of his Canadian co-pilot Alan Ockwell, he improved very fast over that one course. Alan described that Dave drove very safely never changed his safety margin and went on to call him a very talented driver behind the wheel and would most definitely do it again. Ken Block was Dave's teammate during the race but was also his sponsor and friend Ken was leader of stage two of the event in his Subaru Impreza but on the 3rd stage of the race Ken slid off the road and was thought to be out of the race up until Dave came out and pulled his teammate out of the ditch but Ken was in the ditch for too long and lost so much time he was forced to retire from the race. Ken went on to describe what went wrong he explained that he went slightly over the line and there wasn't enough snow in the back to keep his car from going in it was a simple mistake that resulted in me losing way too much time and by the time I was pulled out there was no time to continue. Surprisingly four days prior to this race Mirra had four days of training at the Team O’Neil Rally school in new Hampshire. While he spent his four days he had time to practice in one of Ken Block's Subaru Impreza's than to add on to that Vermont sports cars provided a two-day private training with a rally legend John Buffman. Those two days he honed his brand new skills he had just acquired while gather more from the legend himself. ("BMX Legend Dave Mirra Impresses In Rally Racing Debut | SpecialStage")

Dave retired from BMX in 2013 due to too many injuries and the fact he didn't see much of a point in riding anymore if there was no way for him to progress he later told reporters he could have continued BMXing and pushed on but he said it wasn't his style and he needed to move on with his life bmx was a big impact on him and he's grateful for all he's achieved and it made him the man he is today. He had 24 medals in the x games 23 in bmx and one in rally racing but he was soon surpassed by Bob Burnquist Dave to this day is the second most medal earning athlete just a little behind Shaun White who has 15 by Daves 14. He won park consecutively 5 times and vert 4. Times. ("Dave Mirra's Official X Games Athlete Biography")

Sadly on February 5th, 2016 Dave Mirra committed suicide experts believe it was due to depression it was a sad day in history the BMX world took it very hard a legend had left the earth to shred in another life media icons such as Tony Hawk said it was a tragic loss and he will be deeply missed.

Many other celebrities sent their condolences to the family. The BMX world had launched a campaign gold for Mirra because he was well known for his gold plated bike so kids all around the country and world began to paint their bikes or bike parts gold as a piece to remember him and all he's done for BMX. The influence Dave gave to the world of biking is tremendous creating and influencing the riders of today and showing people the sky isn't the limit so push it you're full of potential it's up to you if you'll achieve what you're capable of. We all thank Dave and the many others who made BMX a mainstream sport and help in the design of the x games which brought our country together for one massive BMX event. All of the achievements that Dave acquired in his time here in this world are unheard of he was simply a prodigy and dedicated to what he believed in from his young age to his death he was passionate about many things and pursued them and made sure he reached for the stars and pushed till he passed them but he wouldn't stop there he would keep on going until there was no more room to excel and at that point he knew it was time for him to let go for awhile and call it quits because he didn't enjoy riding if he couldn't excel. He will be missed by many his name will live on in the name of BMX and be known as the icon of BMX a loving father,husband,teammate and prodigy of BMX rest easy Dave Mirra. ("Dave Mirra's Official X Games Athlete

Biography")