Pete Loncarevich


Peter Loncarevich is a former Bicycle Motocross racer. Loncarevich was an "Old School" professional BMX racer whose prime competitive years were from 1980 to 1994.
Nickname: "Pistol Pete" Loncarevich. He received the moniker the way many racers did with the announcer choosing one for him. In 1984 at an American Bicycle Association national, Merl Mennenga, the founder and then President of the ABA, who often also announced "play by play" for the audience at ABA nationals called him "The Pistol" for his penchant in getting the "holeshot" out of the starting gate like a bullet out of a gun. It was also a simultaneous allusion to Loncarevich's similar-sounding name to former professional National Basketball Association Guard Pete Maravich who had the moniker of "Pistol Pete".

BMX racing career milestones

Note: Professional first are at the national level until otherwise indicated.
MilestoneEvent Details
Started racing:Early 1977 Age 11 at Elk's BMX Lodge in Santa Ana, California.
Sanctioning body:National Bicycle Association.
Home sanctioning body district:American Bicycle Association California 3 ;
First race bike:Schwinn Sting-Ray
First race result:Second in 11 Novice.
First win :Probably in 11 Novice on April 17, 1977 at the Santa Ana Elks in Santa Ana, California. Records are spotty.
First sponsor:Cook Brothers 1977
First national win:1978 NBA Corona National 12 Expert.
Turned Professional:December 1982 at age 17.
First Professional race result:He raced in two local races without winning the mains. In his first pro race on the national level he got a second place in "A" pro on December 29 at the 1982 Jag World Championship. He won US$500, the equivalent to US$1,074.09 in 2007 dollars. Immediately after the pro main a representative from Diamondback told Loncarevich that his contract with Diamondback was terminated for him turning pro.
First Professional win:In "B" Pro at the National Bicycle League War of the Stars National in Northridge, California on May 14, 1983. He won US$300, the equivalent to US$624.40 in 2007
First Junior Men/Pro* race result:See "First professional race result".
First Junior Men/Pro win:See "First Professional win"
First Senior Pro** race result:Third place in "AA" pro at the ABA Spring Nationals in Fremont, California on May 30, 1983. He won US$300 or US$624.40 in 2007 dollars.
First Senior Pro win:In "AA" Pro at the 1983 ABA Wheaties Gold Cup in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 9, 1983. He won US$280, the equivalent of US$582.77 in 2007
Height and weight at height of his career:Ht:6'1" Wt:~180-195 lbs. He underwent a substantial weight gain when he put on muscle during the 1985 and 1986 seasons
Retired from Senior pro * circuit:Unofficially in 1994, but like a lot of pros, they really retired only from the front line AA/A pro points chase circuit for the National no. 1 title. Racing never left his system. He came back to BMX by winning the ABA Masters class, the precursor to the Veteran Pro class, at the 1995 ABA Grand Nationals. He resumed 20" BMX racing on a competitive level in 2000 competing in the ABA's Masters/Veteran Pro class and in "A" pro. This was in addition to and simultaneous with his Mountain Bike racing career where he won a Masters World Championship as well as multiple World Cup events. After another hiatus from racing, he competed in the 41-Over Expert class on March 26, 2010.

*In the NBL it was/is "B" Pro/Super Class/"A" Pro/Junior Men, all depending on the era; in the ABA it has been and is "A" Pro regardless of the era.
**In the NBL it is "A" Pro/All Pros/"AA" Pro/Elite Men, all depending on the era; in the ABA it has been and is "AA" Pro regardless of the era.

Career factory and major bicycle shop sponsors

Note: This listing only denotes the racer's primary sponsors. At any given time a racer could have numerous co-sponsors. Primary sponsorships can be verified by BMX press coverage and sponsor's advertisements at the time in question. When possible exact dates are given.

Amateur

Side Note: "CW" never stood for "Coast Wheels" as it is widely thought. Coast Wheels was a bike shop that Roger Worsham owned. Custom Works was a completely different and independent company. This is in contrast with JMC which did start out as a bicycle shop and then began manufacturing its own BMX components including entire bicycles.
Note: Listed are District, State/Provincial/Department, Regional, National, and International titles in italics. "Defunct" refers to the fact of that sanctioning body in question no longer existing at the start of the racer's career or at that stage of his/her career. Depending on point totals of individual racers, winners of Grand Nationals do not necessarily win National titles. Series and one off Championships are also listed in block.

Amateur

National Bicycle Association
Bicycle Motocross League
National Bicycle League
United Bicycle Racers
American Bicycle Association
†Shared with 13 Expert Kelly McDougall
International Bicycle Motocross Federation
United States Cycling Federation *
NBL rules and nomenclature were followed generally, however, no points were awarded and applied to the NBL or any other recognized BMX governing body. The NBL ceased sanctioning the Jag World Championships because by this time it was the US affiliate of the IBMXF which was holding its own World Championships. Renny Roker, the promoter of the Jag World Championship races refused to rename this race. Consequently, the NBL pulled its sanction for the 1981 race and future Jag "World Championship" races.
*The USCF is now USA Cycling.

Professional

National Bicycle Association
Bicycle Motocross League
National Bicycle League
United Bicycle Racers
American Bicycle Association
*The King of Los Angeles was a pro series of seven races held at ABA tracks in the Southern California/Los Angeles area hastily put together on the same weekend to counter the debut and emergence of a new and as it turned out short live sanctioning body called the International Cycling Association which was holding its first event, the Cowboy National in Dallas, Texas during that same weekend. The ABA paid some top pro racers including Pete Loncarevich to participate along with putting up a US$7,000 pro purse. Terry Tenette was the only elite top pro to attend the inaugural ICA national.

United States Bicycle Motocross Association
International Bicycle Motocross Federation
*The Vision Street Wear World Cup was the direct descendant of the Murry World Cup. Murray stopped sponsoring the World Cup after the fifth 1986 edition due to the failure of Murray of Ohio bicycle company and the NBL to come to an agreement about the sponsorship fee Murray would have had to pay the NBL. If Murray continued its sponsor ship, the 1987 addition would have been the sixth in the series.
Pro Series Championships and Invitationals
The 1986 Paris Yoplait BMX Challenge was an invitational race sponsored and promoted by the Yoplait Yogurt company in which American and English pros as well as French pros were brought together to compete in a single race. As is typical in Europe, the public had greater enthusiasm for BMX than the American public, in part because bicycle racing of any type was and is much more popular in Europe than in the United States. As with the 1985 addition, which Tommy Brackens won, it was a hit in France with tickets sold out two months in advance.

BMX related product lines

Music

During his amateur BMX career he was a member of a Rockabilly band singing and playing guitar in Orange County, California. Due to racing commitments he had to leave it but he still played during his leisure time. By most accounts he was very good.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

In his early twenties he began studying Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and other martial arts. He is now a 3rd degree black belt in BJJ under Joe Moreira. He has won a couple of titles including coming in first in the Black Belt Senior 1 Male Lightweight class at the 2006 Pan American Championship held by the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation under the Brazilian Confederation. Pete Loncarevich now teaches BJJ out of the Lotus Club in Medford, Oregon.

BMX magazine covers

Bicycle Motocross News:
Minicycle/BMX Action & Super BMX:
Bicycle Motocross Action & Go:
BMX Plus!:
Total BMX:
Bicycles and Dirt:
Snap BMX Magazine & Transworld BMX:
NBA World & NBmxA World :
Bicycles Today & BMX Today :
ABA Action, American BMXer, BMXer :
USBA Racer :
*After the ABA acquired the USBA the ABA printed USBA Racer within American BMXer beginning with the May 1986 issue.
USBA Racer :

BMX and general media interviews and articles

After BMX, Pete went on to have a major career in mountain biking, and after that, he, for a short time, was the team manager for the west coast Razor Scooter pro team, touring the world for such events as the Panasonic Core Tour, and various promotional demos.

Mountain Bike (MTB) career

Like many of his fellow BMX top amateurs and pros, Pete Loncarevich tried his hand at mountain bike racing late in his BMX career. In 1994 Loncarevich moved on in such a manner to MTB after essentially winning everything there was to win in BMX and getting bored as this 1998 Dirtrag.com interview excerpt illustrates:

Fraser: So how come you decided to switch to downhill mountain biking from BMX?
Pete: Ah, because I'd accomplished all the goals that I'd accomplished more than three times. So I was, like, you know, wasn't really accomplishing anything that I hadn't already accomplished so I wanted to move, you know? I didn't want to be just a BMX racer my whole life. So that's where I switched to downhill Mountain biking. It was new to me; it was like BMX when I first started.
Fraser: So you were basically bored riding BMX?
Pete: Exactly! ----dirtrag.com 1998

He went on to have a career almost as successful racing mountain bikes as he did racing BMX, earning several titles starting in 1992. His main MTB discipline is in the Downhill category.
Started Racing: 1994
Sub Discipline: Downhill
First race result:
Sanctioning Body:
Retired:

Career MTB Sponsors

Note: This listing only denotes the racer's primary sponsors. At any given time a racer could have numerous co-sponsors. Primary sponsorships can be verified by MTB press coverage and sponsor's advertisements at the time in question. When possible exact dates are given.

Amateur

No amateur status

Professional

Note: Listed are Regional, National, and International titles.

Amateur

;Union Cycliste Internationale

MTB magazine covers

Mountain Bike Action:

MTB and general media interviews and articles