Birthplace: San Diego, California, USA.
Santee, California, 1984.
Dave Voelker invents the lookdown.
Dave: I was riding a quarterpipe trying to invent an air where I would go straight up in the air, hesitate until I was coming down backwards, and then turn around and go back into the ramp. When I was coming back down I would twist my body to where it came into a lookdown position.
Dave Voelker, BMX Plus! october 1991: The whole year I was doing shows with Brian Scura. Brian is actually the one who got me co-sponsored by Dyno. He called BMX Plus! and former editor John Ker who recommended me.
Dave Voelker comes with tailwhip nosepicks.
Dave: In 1986, I was trying to learn nosepicks on a boulder and then I thought of trying a nosepick tailwhip. I learned it in one day. After a while I did it on mini ramps and spines.
Dyno moved ramp star Dave Voelker to full-factory status after Dave's win at the 1987 AFA Masters round 1 at West Palm Beach in february.
KOV FLINT.
1st place expert @ KOV 1987 round 2, Flint, Michigan.
Dave Voelker, who's not normally known for his halfpipe radness, backed up his number one qualifier standing with a firstplace finish. Full use of the ramp, an outstanding bag of tricks to draw from and good showmanship tipped the judges favor in his direction. Of course, the crowd's favorite tricks were his no-handers, and his ever-famous bike-grabbing flyout. Do we remember 540s at very respectable heights? Yes, could be.
FREESTYLIN COVER.
Turndown on the cover of Freestylin july 1987.
AMERICAN FREESTYLER COVER.
Cover of American Freestyler august 1987.
Bicross International de Paris Bercy 4, november 1987.
BMX Plus! october 1991: I did a show in front of 20,000 people with Rick Moliterno. Because of the spotlights, I couldn't see the crowd but they were yelling so loud -it was just like pressure on my head. I'd just have to wave my arms and the crowd would go crazy. We had such a good time. I've never experienced anything like that before in my life.
GT DEMO TAPE.
Video GT Demo Tape.
1st place 19 and over experts ramp @ AFA Masters year end results.
KOV round 2
Paris Bercy IV
AMERICAN FREESTYLER COVER.
Takin a ride in freestyle's fast lane with Dave Voelker! -the new freestyler of the year in American Freestyler march 1988.
2nd place expert @ KOV round 1, Vista, CA., march 1988.
2nd place expert @ Megafree #1 Paris Bercy (KOV round 2) Dave Voelker rentre No footer cancan, No footer one hand, No hand suivi de No footer, le Footplant qui l'a rendu célèbre et des 540° qui nous laissent penser que c'est de l'escroquerie un type pareil en expert !
INTERVIEW.
Freestylin #38 july 1988.
URBAN ASSAULT.
1988 Dyno tour, Urban assault, with Dino DeLuca, Dave Voelker and Brett Hernandez, june 11-august 20.
In the car
Megafree #1
Video Aggroman.
Within minutes of the video, you have 'Lord' Voelker blasting HUGE airs on dirt.
Dyno World Tour '89
1st place great class @ 2hip Meet The Street finals
Dave broke his wrist on GT/Dyno's Summer Tour.
A day in the life of Dave: Go #11 september 1990.
Interview in BMX Plus! october 1991.
Wallride on the cover of Go january 1992.
1992 BS TEXAS.
7th place @ BS round 1, Texas, january 1992.
INVERT COVER.
Wallride on the cover of Invert magazine march 1992.
FAT COVER.
No hander on the cover of FAT zine #24 summer 1992.
BMX PLUS! INTERVIEW.
Interview in BMX Plus! july 1992.
Sponsors ? GT/Dyno
Bike ? Dyno Slammer.
Tricks invented ? Lookdown, nosepick tailwhip, 360 lookdown.
Video Ride On.
GT Freestyle Team interview in Props #2 may june 1994.
Video GT Code 4130.
4th place stuntmen vert @ BS Seal Beach, CA.
2nd place stuntmen street @ BS round 2, Orlando, FL, may 1997.
Dave Voelker had no pegs and went big, really big. He spun perfect 720s, did man-sized wall rides, giant airs over the hip and then nearly killed himself trying to jump on the top of the new 20 feet wall.
Video Highroller 6, Journey.
Video GT, Dead Sailor.
1997 X-GAMES.
3rd place street @ 1997 X-Games.
Dave Voelker returned to competition, after a 7-year hiatus, and pulled backflip after backflip, including a no hander, to take bronze medal.
BMX PLUS! COVER.
No handed flip before splashdown in Santee, CA. on the cover of BMX Plus! september 1997.
Xgames 97 BMX street Dave Voelker prelims run from benbmx.
Dave Voelker did a sick backflip attempt off an elevated launch ramp.
20th place pro street @ Gravity Games.
Foot plant at the 1999 Gravity Games on the cover of BMX Plus! february 2000.
BS LAKE HAVASU.
13th place stuntmen street @ BS/B3 round 1, Lake Havasu, AZ, march 2000.
RIDE BMX US COVER.
Abubaca at Mission Trails on the cover of Ride BMX US july 2000.
INDUSTRY.
Video Ride BMX US, Industry.
2000 X-GAMES.
When Dave Voelker (GT) felt he wasn't going to make it to the final he decided to go out with a big stunt (Voelker style). He pedalled as hard as he could but nobody knew where he was heading. Jimmy Levan might have gotten in trouble for a similar stunt but when Voelker jumped over a fence out of the park on the FMX track, all cameras had the slo-mo going in no-time.
LORD VOELKER VIDEO.
Eddie Roman made this biography of the legend that is Dave Voelker. (bmxmdb.com/films/519-Lord-Voelker)
Jason a. Davis: Sometimes it seems most videos that come out are cut from the same pattern. You have your flavor of the month punk. You have your crash section. You have lots of feebles and manuals. Lots of times I have to check the empty tape box to see what is in the VCR. There have been a few videos that have gone against the grain lately like Dorkin' 10 and Lord Voelker. As a former film major I am stoked to see documentary video-making coming to BMX. Documentaries done badly=boring. Documentaries done well= intriguing. the "Lord Voelker" video finds a perfect mixture of riding and story telling. If Dave Voelker had a drug problem and a sex scandal this could have been a VH1 Behind the Music. I really liked seeing the old footage. There were the locales I had only seen in FREESTYLIN' magazine. There were the contests with out scrolling banners for extreme tacos. There was the re-enforcement of my not liking Brian Scura. There was the matching leathers and jerseys. This video reminded me of the purity that is often overlooked these days. This video also made me notice how stagnant street riding has become. These days you see lots of gaps, feebles and manuals but you don't see moves like Vic Murphy's 540 Wall fastplant and fast plant wall ride ninja drop (for lack of a better name). You don't see moves like riding a bar hop down stairs in videos today. The newer footage is just as amazing. Dave and the abubaca on the boulder from the Ride cover. Dave and incredibly high wall rides. Dave and the 45mph manual downhill in traffic. I also have to give an equal amount of props to Eddie Roman. Not only for his ground breaking riding but for the way this video is put together. Everything "works" in this video, to the shooting to the editing to the music to the narrative element of the documentary. Older cats should own this video because in a way it documents part of our collective experience. New School cats should check it out to understand part of where were come from. Together with Dorkin' 10 this is the second must own video this year...ERRRRRRR I mean last 20 years.
Ride BMX US #57 february 2001.
METAL ISSUE.
GT pro model 2001: Dave Voelker Metal Issue
