It was both the first true sanctioning body and the first nation-spanning one (as opposed to the regional ones that emerged), although at first it was concentrated in the west coast of the United States, where it was founded.
Mr. Alexander was a former racer that promoted races at the famous Indian Dunes, built and managed by Walt James, where many movies and TV shows were filmed.
It had more in common with today's Mountain Biking courses than a modern, well-groomed and safer (some say too safe) BMX tracks.
The national would be held in the sanctioning body's one non-Californian track in Phoenix, Arizona (the Kartland Track located at 3610 West Indian School Road[2]) and its members could race in a sanctioned event based in Arizona if they wished to come.
This was in addition to many other first including the first BMX National number one Amateur racing title holder which was David Clinton.
However, the first mention of a professional class by the NBA was in the October 1974 issue of Bicycle Motocross News at the Valley Youth Center track in Van Nuys, California: "A new professional class for 14 and over experts is in effect"[3] This beats a previous claim of a proto-Pro class that was created in 1975 was when a pro race promoted by Scot Breithaupt at the Saddleback Park track in Irvine, California, with a US$200 purse.
"[4] ---Tom Lund, February 24, 2003 FatBMX.comThe NBA for the first six years of its existence it ruled the BMX world with these innovations despite the rise of other sanctioning bodies.
However, it closed its doors as an independent BMX governing body nine years after its founding due to falling membership and local tracks changing their affiliations to either the National Bicycle League (NBL) or American Bicycle Association (ABA) (see below).
It was said that partly responsible for the low turnout for the Grands was the fact that it was scheduled two weeks before Christmas when family and individual budgets were stretched and/or saving up for the upcoming Jag World Championships.
Whatever the reasons, for the Grand Nationals, the premier event of the year for any sanctioning body, to have so low an attendance figure was almost disastrous.
In contrast the 1980 NBA Grand Nationals which were also held in Long Beach had 1,0400 sign ups in 200 motos.
[5] The ABA in contrast provided a list of its top ten purse winners; The NBL Bicycle Motocross Action magazine reported, did not yet have a pro class.
The publisher and editor of BMX Action, Robert Osborn, summed it up: "(Heavy Sigh) Sometimes it's tough to understand the internal workings of the NBA".
The cumulative effects of these missteps were that by the end of 1979 the NBA was no longer the largest sanctioning body.
The most public aspect of this reorganization was the resignation of the founder and President Ernie Alexander in January 1981.
According to reports the new investors where approached by Ernie Alexander for management help in September 1980 The board of directors elected DeRaffaele as CEO and went to the NBmxA's Newhall, California headquarters to assist.
Mr. Alexander promised to produce them after the 1980 racer year end points were tabulated and distributed.
[7] After moving the headquarters from Newhall to Fresno, California, it took approximately until April to reconstruct the mailing list, revising the rule book, getting the NBmxA publication NBmxA World restarted, sending out apologies for the delays to the membership and reestablishing relations with BMX industry heads.
After the 1981 season, the NBmxA stopped sanctioning its own races and went into partnership with the National Bicycle League (NBL).
In February 1981, while the NBmxA was undergoing reorganization, Mr. Alexander formed a new sanctioning body, the World Wide Bicycle Motocross Association (WWBMXA) out of Chatsworth, California.
The most prestigious race it was involved with was the Knott's Berry Farm Pepsi Cola Mongoose Grand Championships which was primarily sanctioned by the NBL and co-sanctioned by the WWBMXA and the United Bicycle Racers (UBR).
**The NBA did have a separate professional division beginning in 1976, but until 1979 the National No.1 plate was all around for every class, pro or amateur.