Blue Springs BMX

Night 1 of 3 in the books! Check out these incredible images from Chuck Williams Photography tips and donations are always welcome if you find some you would like to keep let’s show him some love! -mizell-2

👀 Look at these awards for tonight and tomorrow! Sunday will be a surprise 😏

Remember to save the schedule for this weekend. When you go to pre-sign you can pre-sign all three days at once!

Pre-Signs are OPEN! The track is ready. The schedule is ready. The insane awards are ready. WE ARE READY to see you this weekend at the Missouri State Championship Final at Blue Springs BMX !

TUESDAY PRACTICE > PRE‑SIGNS ARE OPEN! Scroll down for practice info.
Skip the line and pre-sign 🔗 : https://www.usabmx.com/tracks/0844/events/schedule
Practice Schedule:
⏰ 5:30 PM - 6:30 PM: Open Practice
⏰ 6:30 PM - 6:45 PM: Strider Practice
⏰ 6:45 PM - 8:00 PM: Open Practice
Balance Bikes:
• No practice fee
• Must have a $40 annual membership
• Must register for each event
• Balance track open 5:30–8:00
• Big track time: 6:30–6:45
🔗 Registration Link: https://www.usabmx.com/tracks/0844/events/schedule
Need help registering online? Tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nMXwDBikKE
🍌 Food:
Concessions + grill will be open!
📌 Membership:
A current USA BMX membership is required. Renew here: https://www.usabmx.com/
Try BMX for FREE:
First‑time riders can use a one‑day trial membership.
Sign up for the free trial here: https://www.usabmx.com/trial
👖 What to Wear:
Long sleeves, long pants, closed‑toe shoes, and a helmet.
We have limited loaner bikes and helmets available.
We’re excited to see everyone at the track! Let us know if you need anything

This Sunday before our State Championship final we will have Church at the track! We hope to see you there!

(VERY long winded) Message from the Track Operator and the President of the Board:

Greetings BMX Family!

Kelly and I started this BMX journey back in the fall of 2013 when our two big kids were little. We were trying to find something for our kids to get into, and I think we ended up finding something for our ENTIRE family. We knew it was a volunteer sport, and immediately jumped in to volunteer. Night one I was standing in turn 2, and within a couple events Kelly was helping in Sign-ups. We would return off and on in 2014, and then hit it heavy in 2015 and 2016...travelling to every "away" weekend double and triple point race that we could with our brand new lifelong BMX friends. When back at the home track, I spent those years in the tower dropping gates...getting to know the top of everyone's heads, and Kelly was in Signups and Scoring. Before long, Nana was helping in Concessions. We had definitely found our place in this world. We homeschool our kids, and thought it was a great environment for our kids to meet new friends, in a smaller space.

By the end of 2016, I was working closely with the Track Operator, and he was interested in stepping away, and handing the track off to us. We consulted with new lifelong BMX travelling friends about jumping on the bus to run a BMX track, and they agreed to go on the journey with us. Everyone had a different seat on the bus, but we were all going the same direction...to make the track great! We hadn't been in the sport very long, and I was actually told that we would fail because of that, so we reached out to some older BMXers to join us on our journey. Collectively we built a Board of Directors, created Bylaws on how the track was going to operate, and tried to add more structure to the track. Our new adventure started in 2017.

In the past our little track had been a high class track, it ebbs and flows, and the track that we took over was by far an above average BMX track. But we all wanted to make it better! I still remember the first thing I said at the very first Board meeting..."We're gonna do the right things for the right reasons, and good things will happen". Good things happened when a great group of people came together. To be completely transparent, and for everyone to appreciate what this group of Board members and volunteers have done... There are about 300 to 315 USABMX tracks...that also ebbs and flows... but at the end of 2016, our little track was 84th in North America. Pretty good! By the end of 2017 we were 15th. In 2018, a couple of the Board members started working with Donny Robinson to start doing his newly created BMX Racing League program at our track, and from there we have averaged top 6 overall in track points and averaged top 3 in Average Rider Count per event of all 300+ United States and Canada tracks for the last 8 years. To be running for overall points or ARC points with legendary Central tracks and the "good weather" year round running East & West Coast tracks has been incredible. Together, we have increased the track membership from 143 unique riders in 2016 to the high of 483 riders in 2024. Blue Springs BMX Friday events have been the largest consistent week to week event in the city, second only to high school football in the Fall. Man, we have been so fortunate.

That first Board meeting was 10 years ago. We now have big kids that are buying houses, and getting married, and another set of little kids that...thank God they weren't actually physically born at the track, but they were pretty much born and raised there. We did the best we could to schedule the birth of those two kids around the track events, but our last kid came on a Friday night...the first race we would ever miss. But what do you know, it was rained out...so instead our BMX family flooded the hospital for the chance to hold our first girl! The littles have grown up as track rats and at this point, they are kind of done with the track. We got into this sport because of our kids, and we now believe that we should step away because of our kids. It is with mixed feelings that Kelly and I announce that this will be our last year involved with running the track. This little track has forever and completely changed our lives. We have made some amazing life-long friendships, our kids have learned so many valuable lessons that we could have never taught them at home, and we have done our best to make a positive difference to the kids, the families and the community of Blue Springs.

We would love to thank everyone individually that has helped us in this journey, but there are too many people to list. We'll go by groups, to keep it...well, less long...

To the past Track Operators... For all the hard work and sacrifices that you and your families made for the betterment of the sport, we now understand what you have done and we thank you for your efforts. And not just OUR past Track Operators, but TO's and volunteers from other tracks. There were multiple conversations with TO's and track volunteers from all around our region that were a huge help in us getting started and staying focused.

To the Board members over the last 10 years that we have been so fortunate to work beside...thank you for trusting us to guide the direction of the track. You all have been right beside us through the thick and thin, and you are all incredible! You have made so much of a difference in the success of the track and the impact on the riders and their families. Many BMX families have no idea how much time and effort that you guys and gals have put into our little track, to make it so amazing. Most of you have broke bread at our house too many times to count, as we work through the monthly Board meeting agenda. It has been mentioned many times that our Board meetings are so long! It's because you never wanted to stop improving the track and the rider experience, and that lead to more ideas and discussions. I've always said, if we got together and had nothing to discuss...that would be a problem.

To the huge list of track work and event volunteers. Like they say, the race won't run without you! Thanks for signing up, jumping in or showing up to help us. I hope all the riders and parents appreciate what you all do to help get the track dialed in, keep the facility top notch, and help in running the events. We have been so fortunate to have the volunteers that we have had. Riders and Parents...Thank a Volunteer! ...or better yet, volunteer!

Speaking of Parents... Thanks for bringing your kids out, and thank you for always embracing the new parents and keeping the atmosphere positive. Kids usually want to come ride their bikes...but they/we rely on you to bring them. If you're excited to hang out with us, your kids get a ride to the track! We always thought it was important for our track to be family friendly and a place that you want to hang out at. And it's no different for kids... over the years, we have seen many groups of kids/teenagers just hanging out to support a rider that was a friend. That was not lost on me. Where else, what else could they be doing on a Friday night.? They chose to come hang out with their BMX friend...where several hundred parents were keeping an eye on them!

Riders ready! ...oh, sorry...I'll hear that in my head the rest of my life. Riders. For the last 10 years we haven't given you the most technical track, the most challenging track, the track that helps prepare the select few of you for Worlds competition...but hopefully we have given you a fun, flowy track, that is just a joy to ride. We realized early on that we weren't going to build a track for a few crazy driven, extremely talented, super BMX rider stars....we were gonna try to build it for...well, everyone. We wanted a 4 year old that could barely ride to just get around the track and enjoy it...wanna do it again.. for the old guy to come out and show that he can still manual, and still go to work the next day, and we wanted the elements to just be spaced enough to test the younger less experienced teens, and still enough of a challenge where the more experienced rider could clear it and feel good. It was by design, and hopefully in the ballpark. You can't always please everyone, but you can try to please most!

Please remember that the people that run your local track are just volunteers. Have grace on them them if they do something wrong. They also have full time jobs, families, obligations, and lives that they are trying to juggle as they help run a BMX track. But they do it for the love of the sport, and the love of their kids, and your kid...because you're kids are their kids. Kelly will joke with people that we had 4 kids, but are helping raise 604 kids. Thank you ALL for the support and friendship that you have given us and our little track. Please surround the remaining Board members and other track volunteers with your love and kindness as they take our little track to new heights. They might be looking for new people in the near future to continue to improve the experience.

As we think back over the last 10 years, and all the people close to us that have helped improve the track and facility, we have went from ditches of standing water to complete drainage, dirt corners to asphalt, dirt track to glue and then to our shade tree chemist surface, flat air gate to electric safety barrel gate, small hill to slightly less small hill, gravel to concrete and asphalt, paper motos to online motos, teenager on an iPad with Facebook live to a camera system streaming YouTube and Facebook live, a kid of ours that went from racing as an 8 year old to announcing at the track AND Grands, from stop watch to 30' line timer to full track transponders, and enough gear, helmets and bikes to never turn a rider away. In the past 10 years, everything inside the fence has changed except the shape of the Concessions building, and the bleachers. This includes the fence!...although that was thanks to Parks & Rec. Never stop improving!

We now also have big kids hosting BMX friends for "guys" Sunday morning coffee chats, taking them to church, inviting them to our basement for late night UFC fights, and even introducing them to long term investing. Couldn't be more proud of the men that they have become. We blame some of that "serving others" on BMX too.

Kelly and I will always be grateful for our time at Blue Springs BMX. The friendships that we and our kids have created will forever impact our lives. Hopefully our kids will still want to ride occasionally, or I can work dirt or we can lend hand during a big race. We love the sport of BMX, we love Blue Springs BMX, and we love ALL of our BMX kids.

Sincerely,

Ben, Kelly & the kids, and of course...Nana in Concessions. Never has a Nana been blessed with so many grandchildren!

Photo by Chuck Williams Photography