friendofsandys

Thanks Brother. This helps whith the connection to Sandy. Bless you!

I have felt sick about not seeing Sandy for the last 4 years. My ex-partner sent me to this site. It has been very theraputic for me to write about my friend. Even more so to hear you guys talk about people and things I had forgotten about for years. Also, it has been comforting for me to know that Sandy was surrounded by people that understood who and what he really was. I know that Sandy is diggin this doo doo as wespeak. You guys rock! Thanks, J R

Guys, I'm really the new guy around here. Still trying to get how this thing works. i found out about the site from an ex partner that emailed me with the news of Sandy's passing. I started looking around the site to try to connect somehow with my memories of Sandy. And some of you have brouthg up things I haven't thought of for25 years. Thats pretty cool for me. Thanks! I have posted a few shouts under the "Sandy's Service, BMX Heaven" thread. Please read them. I want everyone to know what Sandy really was. A friend to the sport, to the industry and most of all to all of us that knew him. I met Sandy in '71 or '72. BMX was a few converted Schwinn stingrays at the time. Sandy was right in the middle of the birth on a sport and industry. The sport would have evolved on it's own at it's own pace. Sandy just forced it to evolve faster just to try to catch up with what he was doing.

Sandys sister is pretty sharp, so I hope she has things well in hand. But I hadn't seen Sandy since he closed down his shop, so I don't really know. Does anyone know if all of his "old racers" have been notified? I think that is important!

Not really. I moved to seattle 15 years ago. I had seen Sandy 3 or 4 times every year up untill his shop closed. An ex-partner emailed about his passing so I called him. We didn't talk long, but he had talked to Sandy's sister and it sounded like she was attending to matters fairly well. Sandy's Dad died while I was still in San Diego and I believe his mom is still living. When his store closed I lost track of him (maybe for the last 4 years). For all of his "old racers" out there, I know he loved you guy like sons or little brothers. He talked about you all the time. The man had passion for everything he did. Business, racing or friends he always gave you everything he had at the time. His impact on the sport and the industry may never be understood. He forced other companies and teams to change tokeep up with what he was doing. Kind of like the first time some freestlye rider does a trick that was thought to be impossible. Soon everyone else is doing it too. Well that's how the sport and the bike biz reacted to Sandy Finkelman.

I was buds with Sandy as well as having him as a client. I used to sit in his office and listed to him talk about "his boys'. I watched as the King Bros grew up. He used to talk about how well he expected everyone to do in an upcoming race. Some of the racers, I know were made into stars as a result of his knowledge and connections. He was great at getting his racers and sponsers national attention by going to the right races. He would take his team to race at Rancho because of NBA and Ernie, while the other local teams were goin to the local assoiciations races. His guys got known to a broader market. If we all could know what each of the other guys knows about Sandy, we would realize that he was a greater genius that any of us ever thought.

I just heard about Sandy. I met him when I was 17, I just turned 49. That's a long time! I was the rep for WSI when Diamond Back was unheard of. His racing team management skills and product development made DB into the hottest thing in the market. I know all of you guys Edy, Mike, Harry and others that I am too old to recall are looking back on some pretty awesome life experiences right now. Several of you have called him a legend, and you're right! Please add to that pioneer, visionary and for me most of all, Friend.