Who invented skimming through the whoops?

I think Reed was the first I ever saw really blitz the tops. Maybe McGrath skimmed them too but reedy could blitz them.

Bob Hannah

I believe it was Bayle.

Desert racers have been skimming whoops since the 70s. At 40-90 mph. For miles at a time. Convince me I’m wrong..

Some crazy throttle jockey in the deserts of S. CA about 50 years ago. We will never know his name.

I think at some point they started building the whoops closer together so you couldn't jump them

Well, I'm just a normal joe nothing special rider and I was skimming the whoops between Robber's Roost and Bird Springs out by Jawbone in the California desert in the early 70's on a short travel CZ, and that is like 10 miles, and for sure guys had been doing that for years and years before I got there.

I also remember vividly some guy racing at Hopetown in the early 70's on a stripped down rigid rear Harley 74 (just like what they rode in the dez in the 30's, 40' and 50's) and he was skimming the whoop section there. It wasn't pretty but he was skimming for sure. I remember because I was so amazed that huge thing would do that, at least until it dawned on me that there is only one fast way through whoops, and guys racing dirt in the 40's (like my dad) found the fast way through, too.

Supercross is unique and some stuff, like the jumping techniques, no one ever did back in the day, but whoops are whoops. Meaning no disrespect here, at least that part of riding a bike fast on dirt didn't just get invented last year. FWIW.

I watched Magoo skim some natural whoops that were roughly 3 feet high, 5 feet or so apart, on a stretch about 50 yards long. Rounded? Yes. Nothing like the stadium shit we see on Saturday nights now, but a very impressive sight for a 7 year old kid watching a Maico, wound very tight, just touching the tops of all of them straight as an arrow. Danny was a legit Badass.....

Watching supercross races from the past, 87 was a huge jump up in whoop speeds. Before that it seemed like they jumped or bucked their way through them. The air time seemed to jump way up in 87 also.

Better question, when did they start building whoops where the intention wasn't to necessarily jump through them, but meant to be "skimmed"?

Damon Bradshaw used to do it I thought in the early 90's

I don't know before, but for me the artificial whoops started to be skimmed from 85 or 86. I am in if anyone can find an earlier video.

Here is a quick search, (maybe the first full set to be skimmed was at Bercy in novembre 86, the best being Bailey and Johnson)



Then for the pleasure to see an old video with today's quality standard, that is worth watching (notice the camera crew missed a lot of the action lol)



Then for me Bayle in 90 or 91 also improved the technique and speed by coming in 1 or 2 gears higher.

https://youtu.be/dRYPg0wz4r0 Mcgrath

Not sure who invented it but Magoo sure took it to another level. He might have also invented "cartwheeling through the whoops"... and I should add equally as fast. 😎😒👀

I don't know who is actually did it first, but he was def French

I seem to remember the two guys who got the most attention for perfecting the technique of skimming the whoops were Kieth Bowen and Ron Lechien. Both Yamaha riders at the time. 1983-1984 period.

I remember Keith Bowen as the first to do it. There was a story printed about it somewhere and though it made him the man to beat the day he first showcased the skill, he either crashed or suffered a mechanical. By the next time whoops were included there were other top guys who'd seen it and learned the technique themselves.

Those desert racers no doubt were doing wacky high speed shit over miles & miles of whooped out sand long, long ago.

I recall interviewing somebody in the 1990’s and they stated it was JMB at Pontiac, Michigan. - The side story was that - allegedly, the team manager was pissed at JMB for telling a competitor that he was shifting into third gear before the whoops and skimming thru. JMB responded that it was no big deal, ‘cause he was actually taking them in fourth (gear)! .....

That's who I've generally seen credited with starting the trend with skimming whoops. He'd developed a technique of dragging the rear brake through them is what I remember hearing. There's probably plenty of footage to track of him racing in the early '90s to see who all was doing it around him. The whoops also started getting significantly bigger through that time frame.

Gary Bailey was teaching us the technique back in 82, so it's been around for quite awhile.

Barry Carsten in Bayville NJ's never ending sand whoops.

"Possibly the most contrarian motocross obstacle is the whoopty-doo"



Jump to 4:30 in the video above... Look how young Dave Despain is!

Skimming whoops had been around forever. Skimming rollers like out in the desert even longer.
The rider who really brought it to the fore front with indoor whoops was JMB. Him getting on top of the taller more uniform whoops not only changed the way rider approached them but also helped set up a standard size an style of whoops that we use indoors today since it was both hard to do and entertaining to watch.

I remember that also, and I think it was ricky johnson talking about it.

Mike "too tall" Bell in 1980. The only strange thing iz that he had no idea he doing it any differently. It happened just due to his height.

Chuck Norris.

Skimming the whoops was a big deal in the late 80's/early 90's with rj, Stanton, bayle, etc. I remember the announcers talking about it regularly. May have been earlier, that's just when I started watching

Could you imagine going over the bars in the concrete whoops?