There’s a certain intensity that washes across the face of every 8-year-old who slips on a brightly colored polyester jersey and sits behind the handlebars of a sleek aluminum motocross bike. You can see it in the steely squint of their eyes, and in the serious, no-nonsense expression that hides any hint of a smile. Imagine Steve McQueen as a third grader, then imagine about 500 of them, barreling along a hilly dirt track like a squadron of half-pint Hilts hopping barbed wire in The Great Escape.

That’s roughly the image that greets the uninitiated upon walking through the gates at the Black Mountain BMX racetrack on the outskirts of north Phoenix to take in the weekend-long Winter Nationals races. It can be a confidence-shaking experience for any reasonably self-assured adult to descend on a village of little people who are unquestionably cooler than you. Add to the effect that nearly every parent and older sibling at the event is pretty much relegated to the role of pit crew and posse for the clearly in-charge kids. “You ready, Boss?” a dad asks his knee-high son as he hands Junior a helmet and watches him stoically take his spot on the starting hill.

While the whole experience can be a bit dizzying, the scene this morning at the finish line of Black Mountain’s twisting track is oddly reassuring. Somehow at this heavily sponsored national event, a pair of PR reps for Sharkies organic fruit snacks have pitched camp at the end of the track and are handing out samples to every kid the second they cross the finish line. Read Full Story...