Jürgen Beneke's Barracuda

Matze010":1nl0ga00 said:

Jürgen Benecke:

"I've raced bikes since I was twelve years old. Starting with road and Cyclocross where I was a member of the German national team. In 1992 I discovered the mountain bike & a year later I won the first ever Downhill World Cup. It was a great time, I had sponsors that paid me enough so that I could quit my job as a toolmaker & in the next eight years won four World Cup races, finished 2nd in the World Cup in 94' & 97', won 3 German Championships, placed 2nd in the European championship 96', won a gold in the 98' winter X-Games and the Norba National Championship in 99'.
My first sponsor was Manitou, the bike didn't really work at all but it was super light so I could accelerate faster then most other racers. The second sponsor was Barracuda in 95' and it was a complete disaster. The bike was the biggest hunk of sh….ever... The third sponsor was Schwinn. Mert Lawwill was working with them and designed the straight six & straight eight which to this point were still my favorite bikes. In 97' I signed a contract with IMG, one of the biggest sports agencies in the US. They promised me out of industry sponsors and they would negotiate all my contracts for something like a 10% cut. They screwed up the deal with Schwinn and lost me my ride on a bike that I was able to win on. 1999 & 2000 on team Giant were the last two years of my professional racing career. The bike was pretty average. But I had a bigger problem with the strict rules of the team. I had no control over my schedule or what races to concentrate on. I had to do them all. My wife Stacy was not allowed to travel with me in Europe. Basically I had no fun and became very depressed, which also meant I didn't produce any results. That made me lose my ride and I was unable to get any kind of sponsorship the following year that would pay me enough to make a living. I sold all my DH bikes. That was the end.

I started working at my friends construction company for a while before I started my own remodeling business. Some of the local friends I had were really big into hare scramble races (motorcycles) so I got into it too. Joe Concra who I knew from playing ice hockey needed some help doing plasterwork on a friend's house. I am always interested in learning a new skill so agreed to pitch in. I loved it so much I started "Old World Plaster" one year later. With my desire to succeed and Joe's knowledge of plaster it is a good combination and we have done very well. In 2006 I got a phone call from the guy that owned the house were I first plastered, Tom. He is a very successful cameraman and he was shooting an Amex commercial and needed a mountain biker to jump of some rocks. He remembered Joe telling him about my former bike racing days and figured I was a good match for the job. (take that IMG) Only one problem, I didn't have a bike that would work for something like that. Thank god for Juli Furtado a racing legend herself who is working at Santa Cruz bicycles. I called her up and she sent me a bike to use the next day. When the bike arrived I took it on a little spin and was amazed on the changes in suspension in the last six year. It felt like my old schwinn but better and lighter. After the commercial was done I called Juli up again and told her "I have to get a downhill bike". The only problem was I had to pay for it. So thanks to the commercial I could afford to spend the money and Santa Cruz gave me a really good deal on it. I decided to go the World Cup in Canada without any training and finished 39th. Well I am thinking about a comeback but it will be under my terms. Never will I race for a team again, I am going to be my own team. I don't have sponsors; only friends that help me get to the races with the best equipment possible."

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