Dennis has two brothers Steve and Jerry.
Dennis: I was riding for years on my K-Mart bike, before I started BMX racing, jumping curbs and riding wheelies up the street. We'd put a cinder block down with a board and get hauling down the street and have distance contests and stuff. We'd also practice wheelies out on the sidewalk. There was a bump on the sidewalk, and we used to hit that and pull up the wheelie. I still remember the day I beat my big brother's record. That's when he got out of bikes. I'm serious! He'd always rub it in my face. Try and play it off like: "My little brother, who's better than me, and I was the lamest in the family" or whatever. I kept practicing, and one day I just blew his wheelie record out. Within a week he never rode his bike again. That ended his career. He could have become a freestyler, too.
Dennis McCoy, Ride BMX US february 2006: Twelve years old, summer of '79. Some friends and I rode a few miles from home to investigate a rumor about some rival trails in the woods. We ran into several high schoolaged kids on bikes much shinier than ours riding jumps bigger than ours while AC/DC cranked out of their portable stereo. In an effort to fit in, I name-dropped Tim Biondo, an older local who had convinced us he was the man. After they repeated Biondo's name and burst into laughter, a skinny guy with glasses called "Stover" did a huge one-footed table to "TNT" and my life changed forever.
Dennis McCoy started out as a BMX racer. His first race was in 1980 when he rode on a track that used a rubber-band start.
Dennis: I got the holesot in my first moto and slid out in the first turn. I got run over by everybody and think some people turned around and ran over me again.
Dennis: I remember watching TV, PM Magazine, back in 1980 at Christmas time with a friend of mine, Sean Dixon. We saw some guys riding at a nearby skatepark. They were doing rockwalks and stuff like that. We freaked out and spent the next few days trying to learn some of the tricks we saw on that show. From then on, we freestyled while we raced. We progressed at such a slow rate, but back then it seemed normal. If you learned one trick in a year it was progression.
Dennis: I got serious about freestyle before I quit racing. I'd say. I had a Potts mod on my bike long before I quit racing. When we first saw the advertisement on locking levers, we couldn't get hold of them yet, so John Hensley and I made our own. So I would say I became serious sometime in '84.
Dennis: My first freestyle bike was a Haro. I used to freestyle on my race bikes, though -P.K. Ripper- until I got out of racing. That's when I won a Haro in a photo contest; I put it together and have used it ever since. I've always ridden a Haro.
Dennis: The first ramp I ever rode was one we bought from a guy who built it. He rode bikes and skateboards, and he built a ramp out of some jungle gym. It was a giant jungle gym, and he heated the pipes and bent them. It was seven -and-a-half feet tall with, say, two feet of vert. It had a five-or six foot transition. Back then we didn't really know how to ride vert. So the second we hit vertical, or maybe a little bit before, we'd take off on our aerial and kind of drift to the top. If we could get our back wheel out of the top of the ramp and were actually taking off two or three feet below the top, we'd be getting more air than it looked like, because we weren't using the vertical except to land on. After a while there were designs for ramps in the magazines. Usually for six-foot-tall ramps. but we wanted one eight feet tall. There was a five-foot-tall ramp we rode for a while and some halfpipes in the area that skaters owned. But our first serious ramp was from plans that were in the magazines. They had the old stud pattern using three different boards going up instead of a smooth transition. We enlarged the dimensions to an eightfoot ramp. We went by their plans except for sizing. That was in about '83.
Back in '82 there weren't any bikes made just for freestyle, so Dennis McCoy rode his Hutch race bike on ramps instead. Not too bad for a 15-year-old.
Dennis McCoy, Ride BMX US february 2006: In March of 1984, my friend John Hensley was tall and skinny with long hair and a perm that made him resemble an overgrown poodle. He was also a damn good photographer who shot my first photo to run in a magazine. BMXAction held a photo contest and we placed second with this photo of a hip hanger on my Hutch Expert. Ironically, the price was a Haro frameset, and Bob Haro offered me a sponsorship deal before it arrived.
Dennis McCoy, Ride BMX US february 2006: Seventeen years old, march of '84. St. Patrick's Day in Kansas City is a big deal. Typically the televised parade consists of themed floats and marching bands, but somehow my friend's dad managed to get the BMX Brigade approved as a participant. That all changed when 30-plus loudmouth kids showed up in their black and white Brigade shirts looking completely unorganized. Parade officials pulled our permit. A few blocks from the TV cameras we invited ourselves back into the parade and our impromptu flatland session for the viewing audience balled the whole parade up. Motorcycle cops could be seen on screen chasing us off camera. The Brigade grew that day when Brian Belcher and his crew witnessed it all on TV and rode downtown to join our posse.
Dennis quit racing in september 1984.
Dennis: I wanted to devote myself to freestyle. My last race was my best race ever. I won the trophy dash and even beat the guy who won the pro class.
First freestyle contest.
Dennis: My first freestyle contest was an AFA Masters in NorCal in 1984.
Dennis: The first thing that really got me noticed was footwork, wich I stole from Ron Wilkerson.
Dennis McCoy, Ride BMX US february 2006: November 1984 -I had just signed to ride for Haro.
3rd place ramps and 1st place overall 17&over experts @ 1985 AFA Masters round 2, California, march 1985.
Super BMX and Freestyle july 1985: Dennis McCoy (Hard) traveled from Kansas City to Northern California to participate in this contest, and to many peoples surprise demonstrated exceptional talent. Dennis took a third on the ramp in his 17 and over expert class which was good enough to give him the overall win in his age group.
1st place flatland and 1st place overall 17&over experts @ 1985 AFA Masters round 4, Huntington beach.
Mike Carruth, BMX Plus! december 1985: My prediction for the next hot pro (when he turns) is Missouri's Dennis McCoy. Dennis' routine was one of the most entertaining of the day. He claims he's not ready to make the jump just yet, but when he does, he'll be a serious threat to all pro freestylers.
Dennis graduated from high school third in his class and got a perfect 4.0 average in college his freshman year before leaving to pursue a pro freestyle career.
Dennis: It was just a matter of getting most of my work done at school, totally using my time efficiently while at school, instead of slacking off and talking to people. I hurried and tried to get everthing done while I was there. Usually, I wouldn't have any homework, and if I did, I'd do it at the end of the night. School really wasn't that big of a deal. In college it was a little bit different. I had to set aside more time for homework. Usually. there were days when I'd have an early class at nine or ten in the morning and my second class would be at three or four in the afternoon. So I'd go to the library for almost all day to take care of all my homework. I had the rest of the time to ride. I guess it would be the same as having a job and riding, which is what a lot of people do.
AFA Masters round 4.
Dennis McCoy, Ride BMX US february 2006: I turned pro in March of 1986 when Bob Haro and Jim Ford suggested it. I won the AFA Flatland and Overall titles in 17 & Over Expert the year before, so there was nothing left to prove as an amateur, but it was all just riding to me and I hadn't given much thought to turning pro. Haro thought I was good enough and asked me to move up a few days before the first comp of the year. I ended up winning the Overall and placing second in Flatland at that comp, and I went on to win the Overall and Flatland titles my rookie year.
McCoy took on every top pro there is to capture the overall win in the pro class at the AFA Masters round 1, march 22-23, 1986, in California at the Velodrome.
101 Freestyle Tricks video.
1st place pro flat and 7th pro ramp @ AFA Masters round 4, NYC.
1st place pro flat @ AFA Masters round 5, Dothan, Alabama, november 1986.
1st place pro flat and 3rd pro vert @ 1986 AFA Masters finals, Dominguez Hills Velodrome, CA.
Dennis McCoy did a lot of boomerang variations in his runs, also used plenty of his patented footwork and his routine was virtually flawless. Dennis: I only touched two times, which is great for a five-minute routine. I messed up on a triple ankle-buster but went back and pulled it off. The other time I hooked my foot in my Gyro cable, so it was beyond my control.
In pro ramp, DMC had all kinds of new variations. Opposite one-hander one-footer, one-footed invert, fakie airbails on the fakie. Moving into the last part of his routine now, he hit the Skyway ramp and whiped off a fully extended cancan, a lookback, a no-footer. Flew out onto the top of the Haro ramp, doing frontwheel hops in a circle and dropped-in backward ! X-up one-footer fully clicked and to finish up his run; a 540 air about two feet out! That was awesome!
1st place Pro Flatland, 5th place pro ramp and 1st place Pro Overall @ AFA Masters Series Championships.
Dennis: I was the Number One Pro in 1986 and I made a whopping $100 a month.
1986 AFA Masters finals
Dennis started with a 180 rollout, went into a smoothie and then into a reverse top gun. When he dropped his feet back down to his front wheel, he went right into some high-speed footwork, then into a backwards wheelie in a circle, into a sweeper, into a side glide, into a G-string (a rolling tail whip while doing a G-turn) and from there into a mega-spin (a bionic rearwheel spinner), into a double boomerang. Do you get the picture? He was insane! That was only the start of his routine. Everything was a-mile-a-minute and interconnected. Before he was done, he also included a Miami hopper, a triple boomerang, a double tail whip, a fire hydrant into a side squeak, an over-andout, and for his grand finale, his own incredible hyperspastic fork spins. He touched cement maybe three or four times in five minutes, which is incredibly little considering the number and difficulty of his tricks. It was going to be a tough routine to beat. McCoy's riding style has changed the face of freestyle.
McCoy was still recovering from the injuries he received in a bad crash off the Dan'up quarterpipe four days earlier and didn't enter round 2 of AFA Masters in march 1987.
Dennis is on the march 1987 cover of BMX Plus!
Martin Aparijo's quickspin and the real McCoy's cancan on the cover of Freestyle Spectacular april 1987.
Covers: Bicross Magazine mai 1987
Freestylin may 1987
BMX Plus! september 1987
Dennis McCoy recorded a Rap Record for A&M.
Dan'up tour with Eddie Fiola, Matt Hoffman, Rick Moliterno, Franck Scura and Bob Haro, may 1987.
Interview in Freestylin june 1987.
Dennis has signed a deal to endorse Dia-Compe brakes. It's always nice to get paid handsomely for using a product that you've been using all along.
4th place pro @ 1987 2Hip KOV round 3, Colorado Springs, Colorado, august 8, 1987.
Dennis McCoy rode his first-ever halfpipe contest with catlike style and high inverts, opposite-side one-handed one-footers, a 360 flyout that almost knocked Dominguez off the deck, X-up one-footers, a front-wheel abubaca (that Dennis says he, not Ron, invented) and a lookback alley oop. He ended his final run with a 540 about four feet out. Unfortunately, he hung up so badly that he caught his chain on the coping! Dennis flailed to a slam at the bottom of the ramp, but he wasn't hurt.
2nd place pro flat and 2nd pro vert @ 1987 AFA Masters round 4, Colombus, Ohio, september 5-6, 1987.
On ramps, Dennis started out by launching an abubaca from the deck of the quarter, and then a high air, a no-footed fakie, a shortramp Miami hopper, a 360 flyout to 270 drop-in on the quarter, a turndown, a lookdown, an alley oop fakie, a high X-up, a front-wheel 360 on the short ramp, a high fakie cross-up and, after trying to get into it twice, a drop-in from a cherry picker! No way.
2nd place pro flat and 3rd pro vert @ 1987 AFA Masters round 5, Wayne, New Jersey, october 3-4, 1987.
Dennis rode out onto the floor with his trademark high-speed, ultra-difficult routine of incredible tricks, including a triple hang glider and hyper-spastic front.and backyards, linked together with squeakers, fork wheelies, boomerangs and tail whips. Dennis squeezed far more tricks into his run than anybody else in the class but also made too many mistakes, touching the ground six times, three of which included having both feet on the floor at the same time.
Dennis McCoy, Ride BMX US february 2006: 20 years old, fall of '87. I've always loved traveling to NYC. My friends and I from KC visited regularly and brought home endless stories for those that didn't make the journey. Rick Thorne's first trip with me was over Halloween in 1987. We would street ride all night and spend the afternoons riding flatland at some basketball courts in the village. The locals would come and go quite a bit and seemed to be pretty fond of Chinese food, One day I overheard Derek from the Bronx say "Yo LB, it's dinner time," and a few riders rolled around the corner off Houston Street, Rick and I sensed something was up so we followed at a distance and witnessed one of the cruelest and funniest things I've ever seen. Derek was screaming something about a two-block headstart as they sprinted after some poor soul delivering Chinese food on a Pee Wee Herman-style bike. The lead rider snatched the bag of food from the basket and Derek gave the guy's wheel a little nudge causing him to eat shit into the curb. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but I was certainly amused. Once we were onto their little scam, they no longer hid it from us. It progressed into pizza deliveries, and there was even a contest to see who could nab the order with the biggest receipt. They justified it all by claiming yuppies were placing the orders.
1st place pro flat @ ABA freestyle nationals, Reno, Nevada, october 24-25, 1987
3rd place pro flat and 6th pro vert @ 1987 AFA Masters finals, Velodrome, Los Angeles, California, november 22, 1987.
Things immediately started going wrong for flatland. The music man cued up the wrong song on the tape player, and Dennis stopped his run to set things straight. It took about ten minutes to get the music cued right, after which Dennis finally started. Dennis knew this run would determine the Flatland title for the year, and it looked as though the pressure had gotten to him. He rode okay, but it wasn't anything close to what he's capable of. He had purposely cut down on the difficulty of this routine so he could win easily, but he choked. He touched down five or six times, including two or three full step-offs.
1st place Pro Overall @ AFA Masters Series Championships.
Dennis: I rode the ramp in the Florida contest, and the following weekend there were some shows in Kansas City, Missouri, put on by a local team. My girlfriend runs the team, and I was there practicing the day before. I got real psyched because I'd learned a new trick, and I wanted to ride in the show. So I talked to her, and she let me ride in the show under another name. It was the best I'd ever ridden ramps in my life. It felt great because I was in a show situation where I had the motivation to go for it for the crowd, but I didn't have to worry about falling like in a contest. During a contest I'd be going: "Yeah! It'd be great if I could go for a four-foot fakie. but if I fall they're going to count off points?' At the show I could just get going full speed and try it, because it really didn't matter.
The readers of BMX Plus! have voted Dennis the freestyle rider of the year in 1987.
AFA masters 1987 round 5
AFA masters 1987 round 5
Dennis: It's hard to say, the hyperspastic fork spin, G-string, squeaker whip, reverse whiplash, spinning decade. The backwards whiplash is my newest. I'm really stoked on learning that. I actually learned it three or four days before I left for the ABA Freestyle Nationals round 1 contest; I can't remember for sure. I worked really hard to dial it in for this contest, 'cause having a new trick changes my whole attitude about a contest. It makes me feel as though I've got something to lean on. If I don't hit my routine as planned, at least I'm going to impress people with a new trick. That's usually what they remember; people go home talking about who did new tricks, not, "Well, so and so didn't touch?' I think that's why Kevin Jones is so popular. Every contest I see, the main thing I remember is the new stuff he had at the contest.
3rd place pro flat and 2nd pro vert @ AFA Masters round 1, Palmetto, FL, january 9-10, 1988.
It had been rumored for quite some time that '87 would be his last year on the Haro team and Dennis McCoy was in Adidas clothes instead of a Haro uniform.
Dennis is being sponsored by Adidas, Chrysler and Dia-Compe but is still looking for a bike deal.
3rd place pro flat and 5th pro ramp @ ABA freestyle nationals round 1, Corripton, California.
3rd place pro ramp @ 1988 KOV round 1, Vista, California, march 6, 1988.
1st place pro flat and 3rd pro vert @ AFA Masters round 2, Portland, Oregon, march 19-20, 1988.
Dennis McCoy pulled quintuple whiplashes many times.
1st place pro flat and 2nd pro vert @ AFA Masters round 3, Austin, Texas, april 30, 1988.
McCoy has been really hot this year, winning Pro Flatland almost every time he enters it and doing almost as well in Pro Ramps. He shredded here. On flatland, his run was a showpiece of high-speed rolling moves. He'd circle around behind the ramps to get going as fast as he could, then pull off electrifying multiple whiplashes as he ripped across the floor. His confidence level must be incredibly high. One of his hottest combos was a double backwards whiplash into a funky chicken. He whipped, spun and danced on his tires. He jammed. On ramps, he came out firing with a high nine-plus air and returned with a nofooted candybar, a topside no-footed cancan, and a one-hand no-footed cancan. Dennis was ripping! Not only was he hitting some of the toughest variations possible, he was doing them all high, high like Blyther high! He tossed in a rock-walk drop-in (the coolest lip trick of the season) and ended with a really high lookdown fakie. Except for falling on a backwards drop-in, this was one hot routine.
Interview in American Freestyler may 1988
Dennis: Basically, my whole day is devoted to freestyle in some way except for eating or sleeping. that type of stuff. I usually get up. grab something to eat and get ready as quickly as I can to go out and ride. Sometimes I lag and it takes me a couple of hours before I even get out of the house. I'd say that a couple of nights on the weekends we practice for eight or nine hours straight. But on the average lately it's been between four and five hours on flatland. As soon as the weather gets better, I'll ride the ramp for a couple hours a day. I practice with Rick Thorne basically every night. He keeps the same schedule I do 'cause he has a job he works part-time. We go down to an underground parking lot and practice every day of the week. Sunday through Thursday we go to a specific parking lot and practice for hours at night. Then on the weekend there's a different parking lot we all practice at. We go there to meet. and there are 20 or 30 kids there flatlanding. I don't have to call anybody. I used to have to motivate people to ride on the weekends, but now the scene's real cool and everybody's up there showing off their tricks. It motivates me and Rick a little more to learn something new. We don't have to set some far-off goal: "Hey. I want to get this trick dialed in for this contest that's coming up in two months:' We'll be like: "Yeah, if I get this down, I can't wait to show everybody this weekend?' It's like having jam circles at the contests, only it's local talent rather than talent from all around the country. Jam circles and riding by yourself are two totally different types of riding. Riding by yourself is a time when you think up new tricks to dial in. It's like concentrated riding where you try to dial in the tricks you have. But jam circles are pretty much the payoff for all the work you put into tricks. It's your chance to show everybody and pull it off when it counts. It's fun to hit a trick, but it's a lot more fun to hit it in front of a group of people.
5th place pro ramp @ 1988 KOV round 2, Flint, Michigan, may 28, 1988.
Dennis McCoy goes HIGH! Very high! He also learns tricks quite fast. In Flint he saw Blyther do a 360 flyout to a manual; he learned it and did it -that day! He went on to do a flyout to a hang-five on the platform and then roll right in again.
Dennis McCoy interview in Freestylin july 1988.
Flatland pro worldchampion and 2nd place pro vert @ 1988 Worlds, UK, july 1988.
Dennis McCoy, who was leading both the Pro Ramp and Pro Flatland divisions of the AFA and ABA in the United States, proved that he is more than just a hot American rider by winning the Pro Flatland and Overall Pro world titles, along with a record $4500 in prize money. He did 4 whiplash, G-turn into double whiplash fakie into pinky squeaks into locomotive, hang 5 into whiplash into hang 5.
Interview in FAT #6.
Aggroman video.
1st place pro flat and 5th pro vert @ AFA Masters round 5, Wayne, New Jersey.
3rd place pro ramp @ 1988 KOV round 5, Washington, DC. october 15, 1988.
Dennis McCoy revealed a new trick which resembled a rock walk abubaca. His airs weren't what you could call in the low zone, either. 8 to 10 and getting higher all the time with variations to match.
1st place pro flat and 6th pro vert @ AFA Masters round 6, Colombus, Ohio
Dumptruck, deathtruck, macaroni, rolling over-and-outs, rolling over-andins, and other such exciting executed exotica on flatland. On vert, Dennis was definitely not having an on day. A hard bail during an attempted grasshopper drop-in (he flies out and lands on the deck facing away from the transition, then hops back hard and lands his front wheel next to coping and does a backwards drop-in) in practice seemed to detune him a bit. He did, however, pull the dropin during his run.
1st place pro flat and 3rd pro vert @ AFA Masters round 7, Carson, California.
2nd place pro flat and 1st pro vert @ AFA Masters finals, Wichita, Kansas, november 1988.
Dennis McCoy wins the Freestylin' NORA cup.
AFA Masters finals. Mat Hoffman's mother took this photo.
AFA Masters finals.
Interview in BMX Plus march 1989.
Dennis rode a Pro Freestyle Tour for a while when he was between the Haro and Mongoose sponsorships.
1st place pro flat @ AFA Masters round 2, Bristol, Pennsylvania, june 1989.
3rd place pro flat @ AFA Masters round 5, Tarpon Springs, Florida.
DMC is now riding for Mongoose. He negociated whith McGoo immediately following his first place at the AFA Masters Finals and is now their one-man team.
AFA Masters finals.
Dennis McCoy pulling air at the Dominguez ramp on the cover of Go may 1990.
1st place great @ 2Hip Meet The Street round 1, NYC.
Since landing his sponsorship with Mongoose, Dennis McCoy has been on a tear, and this contest was no exception; he won his third straight major street contest. Besides riding smooth as vanilla yogurt, pulling nose manuals over everything, and being the only rider to wear full safety gear (including a full-face helmet), Dennis threw the crowd into a frenzy with the trick of the day, a perfectly executed 720.
2nd place pro @ 2-Hip KOV, Indianapolis, july 1990.
Dennis: I was pretty anxious to try a 900. I just did what Matt Hoffman told me -I turned my head and held it there. It wasn't like I could tell what was going on. I might as well have had my eyes closed. I pulled fully hard and couldn't see anything. I just held on for dear life and before I knew it, it was over. It seems like total luck because I didn't really know where I was at -it seems like I would have spun a little too far or a little too short, but it worked. That contest was the first time I tried it and I pulled it.
4th place great @ 2Hip Meet The Street round 2, Palm Springs, CA. october 20, 1990.
The spine was just flat-out WORKED by Dennis McCoy -all day long he was hitting dialed stuff on it like 540 tail taps, 360 tail taps to nosepicks, tail taps to nosepicks to fakie, and other ruling and fully controlled lip trick combos. DMC did up the triangle stonehenge with flavored 360's (one-footers, can-cans, lookbacks) and 720 attempts.
3rd place pro ramp @ KOV finals, Glendale, Arizona
Veteran pro Dennis McCoy (Mongoose) is always a force to be reckoned with in any aspect of freestyle. On halfpipes he's got the latest moves and he executes them with almost inhuman consistency. Tricks pulled: cancan 540s, 540s manuals, no-footed cancans, nose wheelies to nose plants, peg grinds, rockwalk drop-ins. Trick attempted: one crazy 900.
2Hip contest, april 19-21, 1991.
5th place @ King Of Dirt contest at the Mission Trails in San Diego
Dennis McCoy went twirling through the air quite a few times-once while trying a 360, once when trying a 720, and once while half-way attempting a back flip.
2nd place great @ Meet The Street round 1 in La Jolla.
Sixth place stuntmen flat was Dennis McCoy's, who used to rip the flatland class in 1987. Riding all classes and keeping up with all the latest tricks is hard, even for the real McCoy. Dennis had his best score on the Miniramp, second behind Jay Miron. 270 jumps over the hip, framestand nose picks and manuals were the crowd pleasers.
3rd place stuntmen vert and 2nd place stuntmen mini @ 1992 BS round 2, Thrasherland Skatepark, Arizona, march 28-29, 1992.
4th place stuntmen flat, 4th place stuntmen vert and 3rd place stuntmen mini @ 1992 BS round 3, Lake Owen Freestyle Camp, Wisconsin, 1992.
2nd place pro vert @ Backyard jam, UK, may 23-24, 1992.
Tricks invented
Dennis: I've got a lot of new mini-ramp tricks, like decade abubacas, G-turns to rockwalks and 900 manuals. New vert tricks like half-barspin 540s, half-barspins to no-footers and barspins to x-up.
2nd place stuntmen vert and 2nd place stuntmen street @ 1992 BS round 4, San Jose, CA. july 25-26, 1992.
Dennis hasn't been the same since his concussion in Dallas, and he seems convinced that backflips are the way to go out. Dennis backflipped the jump and nearly pulled a flip twist. Dennis' Big Trick came in his last run. He cleared off the vert deck and tried a 450 transfer to the spine of the mini ramp. Dennis looked like he was just spinning out of control aiming for the spine. On vert, DMC kept up the pressure on Matt with tailtap barspins, nose wheelies, toothpicks, but bailed hard on a 900 attempt.
BMX Worlds, Budapest, Hungary, august 1992.
Mat Hoffman, The Ride of my Life, 2002: It was in Budapest, Hungary that Dennis McCoy took the worst slam I've ever seen anyone suffer. He slammed a flair and his body bounced at least one foot off the flatbottom after the impact. I joked with him later that it looked like he was trying to do a loop on the halfpipe and reenter down the opposite transition. He somehow got up under his own power, but later at the hospital it was discovered he'd broken his back.
Ride On video
Dennis: To me, "Ride On" is the best video ever. The riding, camera work and production set new standards, but more importantly, the video captured the mood of that era perfectly. The industry was at an all-time low, but the scene couldn't have been better. We were a small tight knit group that pushed riding to new levels.
2nd place stuntmen flat, 3rd place stuntmen vert and 3rd place stuntmen street @ 1992 BS round 5, Daytona, FL, september 5-6, 1992.
Half barspin to no footer on vert.
4th place stuntmen flat, 1st place stuntmen vert and 1st place stuntmen mini @ 1992 BS round 6, SCRAP, Chicago, IL., november 21-22, 1992.
On flat, Dennis McCoy rolled out and took the two worst flatland bails most people had ever seen. He may not have the newest tricks, but still has the speed and the footwork. Fourth place and the Stuntmen year end title for DMC. On vert, Dennis was still riding off his jazz from the night before, so come Sunday he was pumped. He clocked an abundance of lip tricks with bar spins thrown in for good measure. Dennis also pulled a half-bar-spin 540 before careening off the side of the ramp, straight into a pile of bikes. He managed to get up and spin a 900 that almost succeeded, but he unfortunately washed out on landing. When DMC is on, he is on. On mini he pulled 360 manuals to 360 barspins, 900 manuals, framestand nosepicks, and the trick of the mini ramp contest: he twisted up two backflips over the spine to fakie. Both times, he landed 50/50 on the spine and simply foot-planted in like it was no big deal. Respect goes out to Dennis on that one. First place for the comp.
Overall stuntman @ 1992 BS year end standings
Dennis McCoy, no footed nosepick during 1992 BS round 2. Photo by Karlos/BMX Plus!
Backyard Jam.
No footed loop and a big 360 barspin on dirt. Barspin 540 and 900 attempt on vert. Sprocket cruncher on the wooden railing, flip, 900 tailtap, ... on mini.
Interview and poster: Ride BMX US #4 april may 1993
4th place stuntmen flat, 4th place stuntmen vert and 4th place stuntmen mini street @ 1993 BS round 2, Shimerville, Pennsylvania, april 17-18, 1993.
Interview: BMX Plus! may 1993
1st place stuntmen vert and 3rd place stuntmen mini street @ 1993 BS round 3, Hoffman Bike Park, Oklahoma City, september 24-25, 1993.
Tailwhip to tailtap.
1st place stuntmen vert, 3rd place stuntmen mini and 2nd place stuntmen street @ 1993 BS round 4, SCRAP Chicago, IL. november 19-21, 1993.
Street: tailwhip to 360 manual over the hip, backflip over the spine, flip twist attempt over the box, 360 with a 540 barspin thrown in. Vert: One and a half barspin in the middle of a burly 540 five feet out.
Overall stuntman @ 1993 BS year end standings
High 5.
Dennis McCoy interview in 20inch video magazine issue #1.
2nd place stuntmen vert and 2nd place stuntmen street @ 1994 BS round 2, Overland Park, Ft.Riley, KanSas, may 14-15, 1994.
Double barspins, 900 and a 540 with a one and a half barspin on vert. 360's with a one and a half barspin thrown in, cancan flips, a 720 and a flip twist attempt over the box on street.
3rd place stuntmen vert, and 2nd place stuntmen mini/street @ 1994 BS round 3, Hoffman Bikepark, Oklahoma City, OK, sptember 3-4, 1994.
On street Dennis McCoy tried a 180 flip over the box jump, did cancan flip, double truckdriver and no foot flip to photographer slam. He also pulled a good 540 lookback on vert.
Turndown in OKC on the cover of Props #4 october 1994.
5th place stuntmen vert, 3rd place stuntmen street and 2nd place stuntmen mini @ 1994 BS round 4, SCRAP Chicago, Illinois, november 18-19 1994.
Lookdown to half barspin on vert.
Overall stuntman @ 1994 BS year end standings
Props #4, BS round 3 OKC.
Turndown to half barspin on vert and damn good tricks like tailwhip to tailtap on the mini ramp.
4th place pro vert @ 1995 Extreme Games, Newport Rhode Island.
Dennis McCoy was incredible on vert with huge airs and a 900 in his last run. DMC was definitely one of the most popular riders with the crowd, and plenty of booing was heard when they announced he had only received 4th place.
5th place stuntmen vert and 2nd place stuntmen street @ BS round 2, Hampton, Virginia, july 8-9, 1995
900 tailtap, nose wheelie to icepick to nosepick, 180 busdriver over the spine, flip twist attempts and a truckdriver over the hip both to crashes gave DMC the second spot in street. On vert, Dennis did two and a half busdriver, busdriver 540 and a flair attempt that sent him to the hospital.
1st place pro street, 2nd place mini-ramp, 2nd place pro vert and King of Concrete title @ King Of Concrete, Southsea, UK, august 26-27, 1995.
2nd place stuntmen vert and 7th place stuntmen street @ BS round 3, Hoffman Bike Park, Oklahoma City, OK. september 1-3, 1995.
7th went to the good old Dennis McCoy. 540 truckdrivers, flair attempts.
1st place stuntman street @ BS round 4, S. Daytona, FL. november 1995.
DMC almost pulled a 360 flip on the box and won the pro overall belt for 1995.
Dennis, www.bmxfreestyler.com, july 2004: My last flatland comp was the 1995 BS finals in Daytona Beach. I won my 10th consecutive Overall title that weekend in large part because I had refocused on flatland and pulled a dialed run with new tricks. Shortly thereafter I had a long overdue wrist surgery that was a disaster. To repair a torn ligament, three bones were fused together damaging my carpal tunnel nerve during the process. It took 14 weeks before I could tie my shoe. The range of motion in that wrist is severely limited, and with flatland requiring so much support of your body weight it's the most painful discipline for me to ride. However, flatland is in my blood so I can't help but ride it on occasion and I continue to incorporate flatland tricks into street, park, mini and vert.
Overall stuntman @ 1995 BS year end standings
6th place stuntmen vert @ 1996 BS round 1, South Padre Island, march 18-21, 1996.
Dennis McCoy was riding well, but his broken hand seemed to keep him down in sixth.
Dennis McCoy is riding for Hammer.
2nd place stuntmen vert and 3rd place stuntmen street @ 1996 BS round 2, Seal Beach, Los Angeles, CA. july 19-21, 1996.
Highroller 5 video.
Dennis McCoy interview in Ride BMX UK august 1996.
3rd place stuntmen vert and 2nd place stuntmen street @ 1996 BS finals, San Diego, CA. september 6-8, 1996.
Old dogs can learn new tricks. Dennis McCoy rode really well in vert, and debuted a new trick.., an alley-oop 270 tailwhip to smith. Third place to DMC. On street, besides breaking his cranks, Dennis did huge flips, tailwhip taps, truckdrivers and 720s to earn second place.
2nd place stuntmen vert and 2nd place stuntmen street @ 1997 BS round 1, Providence, RI. march 26-28, 1997.
Dennis McCoy was back up to top form. He kept the tricks flowing during his vert run and even went for a huge flip fakie at the end of his run.
3rd place stuntmen vert and 5th place stuntmen street @ 1997 BS round 2, Disney sports complex, Orlando, FL. may 1997
Interview in Ride BMX US june 1997.
2nd place pro street and 2nd place pro vert @ 1997 X-Games, San Diego, CA. june 1997
Dennis McCoy is now pulling flairs with ease. He unveiled an amazing no-footed cancan backflip for his last trick on street.
1st place stuntmen vert and 2nd place stuntmen street @ 1997 BS finals, Seal Beach, CA. august 29-31, 1997
First place stuntmen vert went to a quite stoked DMC. Dennis was on. Huge flairs, barspin to barspin back, 540s, crazy lip tricks... On street, Dennis flipped, truckdrove, 540 nosewheelied, flaired and in general, smacked the course around like a red-headed step-child.
DMC is no longer riding for Mongoose and has switched teams to ride for new entry into the BMX fray; K2 Bikes.
BMX Plus! january 1997.
3rd place stuntmen vert @ 1998 BS round 2, Virginia Beach, Virginia, may 8-10, 1998
3rd place pro street, 2nd place pro vert and 1st place vert double (with Mirra) @ X-Games 1998, San Diego, CA.
Dennis McCoy pulled a perfect 900.
Interviews in BMX Plus! october 1998 and Ride BMX US october 1998.
2nd place stuntmen vert @ 1999 BS round 1, Louisville, KY. 22-25 avril 1999.
4th place pro vert @ 1999 X-Games, SF, CA. july 4th, 1999.
Dennis is organizing the bike part of the first Gravity Games.
Dennis McCoy, www.bmxtrix.com, 1999: It's essentially NBC's version of the X-Games. You know, their not hiding the fact that ESPN has done it already and they are coming in and doing their version of it. I guess the plus for the riders is that they are going to have a bigger street course for the riders so we can do even more. They are also going to have a larger pro purse than the X-Games. So hopefully that will have a sort of trickle down effect and the X-Games will raise their's next year.
Dennis McCoy, Ride BMX US february 2006: I ran a few comps back in the '80s and found the experience rewarding, but in recent years I took on an organizer role out of necessity. In 1999, I got a phone call from Wade Martin regarding a new event called the Gravity Games that was to air on NBC. Wade was hoping I could suggest a good organizer since Mat was working with ESPN at the time. The role called for someone that had experience with events, a rapport with the riders, enough knowledge of BMX to make the right suggestions, and the stubbornness to see them through. This described the exact role I was serving as the athlete rep for BMX at the X Games. I didn't want to see BMX misrepresented, so I decided to take on the role myself. Paridy [Dennis' wife] and I started a production company and have been running events ever since.
5th place pro vert and 6th place pro street @ 1999 Gravity Games, Providence, RI. july 15-23, 1999.
On street, DMC 360'd off the sub to the wedge and pulled all sorts of stuff on the giant sub: barspin tailtap, fufanu, 540 tailtap, Canadian nosepick, and a 270 revert to headslap rollback. On vert, he cut his eye crashing a 900 in his second run, but got back on to end his run with a flair.
4th place stuntmen vert and 18th stuntmen park @ 2000 BS round 2, Louisville, KY, april 14-16, 2000
Dennis pulled two clean flairs. DMC also busted an alleyoop 540 and came really close to pulling a 900. He got 4th.
5th place stuntmen vert and 4th stuntmen park @ 2000 BS round 3, St Petersburg, Florida, may 19-21, 2000.
2nd place stuntmen vert and 6th stuntmen park @ 2000 BS round 4, Nashville, TeNnessee, june 15-18, 2000.
Dennis McCoy tore his ACL and was unable to ride street or vert at the Gravity Games, july 2000.
7th place pro vert @ 2000 X-Games, SF, CA. august 2000
Dennis McCoy (K2) shouldn't have been riding this weekend according to his doctor but hey, it's the X-Games and if you're qualified you should climb on top of that ramp and at least drop in. It didn't show that Dennis was having any problems. At age 33 he busted a high table, huge 540, turndown, barspin, called a time out to switch bikes and take a little breather and continued with a barspin to barspin back. DMC finished his run with a flair that he crashed.
Dennis runs the bike part of the Gravity Games with his wife Paridy.
Dennis, www.fatbmx.com, september 2000: Working on the Gravity Games is pretty much year around. As soon as the event ends, you take a week off and then both NBC and Octagon, the people who hire us, want feedback on the event so you provide them with detailed feedback from both us and the riders. We keep them in the loop and tell them what needs to be changed. We need to come up with some criteria on how people qualify for the next year and then my wife's web site; bikesrule.com, that's the web site for the gravity games. She maintains that site which she built from scratch so she is constantly updating that with stuff about the event. As the year goes on, people qualify for the event and it is our job to send them entry forms and update bios with photographs for the press etc. A lot of it goes into it. It would be impossible to do without Paridy, she does a lot of the work.
Interview for www.fatbmx.com september 2000.
I've got a signature bike with K2 and I'm pretty particular about what it's spec-ed with and the geometry of the bike, the graphics and everything so it's a constant job just changing or updating or making sure it's done the way it needs to be done. Same goes for Airwalk, I've got my signature shoe with them. One thing I think I'm a little bit more involved in than other riders is trying to get myself involved in some of the ad campaigns.
5th place stuntmen vert and 21st stuntmen park @ 2001 BS round 1, Edison Field, Anaheim, CA march 23-25, 2001.
There was something different about Dennis McCoy at this event, he wasn't wearing a chest protector but he was blasting like he was invincible. He was doing lookback and barspin 540s, flairs, and barspin to barspin back.
4th place stuntmen vert and 3rd stuntmen park @ 2001 BS round 2, Louisville, KY. april 20-22, 2001.
Third place stuntmen park went to K2's Dennis McCoy who was going off; abubacaing the big sub, flairing the quarterpipe, 180ed the subrail then he tried to 180 flip the street spine.
4th place stuntmen vert and 15th stuntmen park @ 2001 BS round 3, Grand Prairie, TX. may 18-20, 2001.
Dennis McCoy is riding super good. Big flairs, barspin 540's, high variations and a sense of humor that'll leave you on the floor in stitches.
2nd place pro vert and 7th pro street @ Vans Triple Crown round 1, Salt Lake City, Utah. june 14-16, 2001.
3rd place pro vert and 6th pro street @ Vans Triple Crown round 2, Louisville, KY. july 27-29, 2001.
13th place pro park and 6th pro vert @ 2001 X-Games, Philadelphia, PA. august 2001
Dennis McCoy busted a lookback, x-up and barspin 540. He also did a straight up and down flair and big airs. On his last trick he went for a x-up flair but barely missed the landing and fell pretty hard. But it was still good for 6th.
Ride BMX US Turbulence video.
Dennis McCoy part with his backwheel spins with or without fullface helmet. Dennis is still one of the best allround riders and at the age of 34 he is wise enough to protect his head.
5th place pro vert and 7th pro street @ 2001 Gravity Games, Providence, RI. september 2001.
Long time bike vert star Dennis McCoy showed that he wasn't willing to settle for anything but a medal by attempting his own 900 but came up short on the rotation and smacked his shoulder so hard that he lay prone on the ramp and sent shivers through the crowd and his competitors.
1st place pro street, 2nd place pro bowl and 3rd place pro vert @ Vans Triple Crown round 3, Oceanside, CA. october 3-7, 2001.
Dennis McCoy was going off for someone who hasn't ridden vert in a few months. DMC got third with high variations, old school flairs, and an x-up 540 to alley oop 540 over the channel.
10th place stuntmen park @ 2002 BS round 1, Grand Prairie, TX. april 26-28, 2002.
Transit 07 video.
9th place pro vert @ 2002 X-Games, Philadelphia, PA. august 2002.
Barspin to barspin, 540 barspin attempt, flair.
4th place pro vert @ 2002 Gravity Games, Cleveland Ohio, july 2002.
100 hours with Dennis McCoy in Transworld BMX september 2002.
2nd place pro bowl, 12th place pro vert and 17th place pro street @ Vans Triple Crown round 3, Oceanside, CA. october 3-6, 2002.
The Brazilian crowd loved Dennis McCoy and they went nuts for his straight up-and-down flairs and alley-oop 540 on vert. Dennis also nearly pulled a flair over the spine.
7th place pro vert @ 2003 X-Games, Los Angeles, CA. august 2003.
7th place pro vert @ 2003 Gravity Games, Cleveland Ohio, september 2003.
2nd place pro vert @ Vans Triple Crown round 3, Oceanside, CA. september 28, 2003.
25th place pro street @ Vans Triple Crown round 1, Salt Lake City, Utah, may 14-16, 2004.
11th place pro street @ Vans Triple Crown round 2, Denver, CO. june 27, 2004.
Dennis, www.bmxfreestyler.com, july 2004: I never stopped riding and never will. The last couple of months have been non-stop starting with a bad slam at the Woodward West CFB. A week later I won X-Games Gold in Vert in Rio, then traveled to the SLC Vans Triple Crown where I knocked myself out cold on a flip 180 over the spine. I was back in KC for a big demo at the Kansas Speedway before heading to Denver for Props Road Fools 13. Ten straight days of non-stop riding with a kick ass crew ended at my friend Tom's park (Ramp Riders) in St. Louis. Then it was back to Denver for Stop 2 of the Vans Triple Crown and now back home riding Josh's backyard every day.
5th place pro vert @ 2004 X-Games, Los Angeles, CA. august 2004.
26th place pro street @ Vans Triple Crown round 3, Huntington Beach, september 26, 2004.
Pro Q&A with Dennis McCoy in Ride BMX US june 2005.
Steve Emig, freestylebmxtales.blogspot.com, august 2010: I cannot freakin' believe that Dennis McCoy is still competing on vert. Actually, after all his falls, I can't believe Dennis even remembers his own name, let alone how to ride a bike. Way to go DMC! In addition to doing color commentary, Dennis pulled a 900 in one run, and Steve Swope commented that he was there when Dennis pulled his first 900. I, too, was there in Indianapolis in late July 1990 when Dennis pulled his first 900. I realized that Dennis McCoy has pulled 900 airs on a bike over a 20 year period. That's pretty freakin' amazing.