Bobby Encinas

• Pedaler's West Bike Shop: Mid 1973-July 31, 1974.
• Kawasaki Motors: August 1, 1974[13]-Late 1974. Apparently left Kawasaki under poor circumstances—.[10] There seemed to be a hint of friction between Kawsaki and its team if this quote is to be any guide:

  "Anonymous rumor: Kawasaki, you'd better bridge the communications gap with your team or...[14] ----reported by Bob Osborn in the September 1976 "The California BMX Rider"

• Rick's Bike Shop: Late 1974-1975
• Shimano Sales Corporation: 1975-December 1981. He was their very first sponsored racer.[10] He would turn pro with this sponsor.

• Shimano Sales Corporation: 1975-December 1981. He was also the team Captain[15]
• Scorpion BMX: February 1982-December 1983
• Larry Wilcox Actionline: January 1983- . Strictly speaking this was not a sponsorship as much as being an employee. Encinas became a teaching pro and spokesman with this BMX apparel company that Larry Wilcox, the former co-star of the 1977–1983 American television show "CHiPs" (Wilcox left the show in 1982) fame owned. He continued his touring BMX teaching clinic that he had conducted for the previous five years under the Wilcox name.

National Bicycle Association (NBA)

• 1975 National No.2. It was a controversial finish since Bobby won two nationals and came in eighth in a third while David Clinton came in with a second, an eighth and a first. In spite of the record David Clinton received the no.1 plate, even after Encinas was declared winner of it originally.[10]
• 1976 Sidehack Western States Champion with partner John George.
• 1976, 1978 Southern California District No.1 and California State Champion.

National Bicycle League (NBL)

• 1980 29 & Under Cruiser Grandnational Champion*

American Bicycle Association (ABA)

• None

United Bicycle Racers (UBR)

• None

United States Bicycle Motocross Association (USBA)

• None

International Bicycle Motocross Federation (IBMXF)

• None

National Bicycle Association (NBA)

• 1979 Southern California District No.1

National Bicycle League (NBL)

• None

American Bicycle Association (ABA)

• None

United Bicycle Racers (UBR)

• None

United States Bicycle Motocross Association (USBA)

• None

International Bicycle Motocross Federation (IBMXF)

• None

Pro Series Championships

• He had once owned the very first BMX Products/Mongoose racing frame. Unfortunately he lost it after it fell off the back of a truck.[16]
• With Thom Lund, he won the very first Sidehack class at the very first NBA National on March 29, 1975 in Phoenix, Arizona[8]
• Received the Sportsmanship Trophy in 1975 after Scot Breithaupt accidentally knocked him into a mud hole during the NBA Tri-State Championship in Tucson, Arizona on March 30, 1975 (the second day of the very first nationals ever held), almost drowning in the process.
• Bobby had the original idea of not only becoming an active spokesman for BMX while sponsored by a major BMX component maker, as was Scot Breithaupt previously, but to become one at the grass roots level. Shimano Sales Corporation sent him to bicycle trade shows on Public Relations tours around the nation. While doing so, he hit upon the idea of helping directly introducing children to the world of BMX directly since he was one of the first pioneers of BMX, there was no one to help him when he was a beginner. He promoted the sport of BMX at schools and BMX tracks across the country feeling that nationals were for the "bigger and wealthier kids" and the sport need to remember the "little guys". His Bobby Encinas Tour in 1980 was the first major coordinated swing around the country making 30 stops at schools and BMX tracks traveling 22,000 miles.[17] It was his idea to tutor up and coming racers in the sport he loved. Donny Atherton was one of his first and most famous disciples in 1977.[18] The culmination of his Tours was the international 1981 Bobby Encinas World BMX Tour and Pro Racing School in which he held training schools in several nations including Sweden, Australia and New Zealand as well as making time for a United States summer tour leg before going to Japan and back to Europe.[17]
• Encinas was the very first winner of Bicycle Motocross Action's Number One Rider Award (NORA) in 1978* He won a Bell RT open faced helmet that was custom painted by Mike Vils plus US$150 cash prize from the magazine itself. No voter totals or breakdown provided.[19]
• He was one of the founding members of the Professional Racing Organization (PRO) racers guild in 1977.[20]
• He is a 1987 ABA BMX Hall of Fame Inductee.

• Two broken wrists in 1976. The first while trail riding his Yamaha YZ-125 motorcycle. Someone cut him off and he grabbed his front brake too hard, reacting as racing a bicycle. The second happened on a bicycle track in approximately September. He raced the last months of the 1976 season in a cast.[10][21]

• 1977 Mongoose "Bobby Encinas Replica" BMX frame and fork set (shown as a complete bicycle).

Product Evaluation:

• He never won a National Bicycle Association (NBA) national during his career on the 20-inch bicycle. He did win several sidehack races at nationals with his partner John George. He also did win the Cruiser Class at the 1980 NBA Grand National on the 26 incher but he never won on the twenty on the national level with the NBA. He did win a $3,000 purse at a 1980 National Bicycle League (NBL) National in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on the 20-inch bicycle, earning him an interview on the evening national news magazine program P.M. Magazine.[18] He never felt that he had missed something never winning a title and only a few individual races on the national level. He once said:

"I've never won an NBA National, but I've won plenty of championships. You don't have to be a National champ to be a winner." --Super BMX April 1981[18]