The dark side of Harry Leary
Why the BMX community shunned the Hall-of-Famer ten months before his death
One year ago, at what USA BMX calls the ‘greatest race on earth,’ legendary BMX racer, hall-of-famer and BMX icon Harry Leary triggered the ultimate demise of his BMX career. At the Grand Nationals in Tulsa, OK he raced across the finish line and immediately threw an elbow into the back of fourth-place finisher Charlie Williams. The action ricocheted throughout the BMX community. Riders from around the world chimed in on their experiences with Harry Leary.
The ‘incident’
Rehash it however you want, what happened is Charlie Williams got a little squirrely in the 56-and-over expert main. His wobble took out the rider behind him, who ended up with a broken leg. Leary, immediatley saw red, charging after Williams and not stopping till he could throw an elbow directly into Williams back after the finish line. Leary endangered many of the kids in the finishing corrale and immediately after delivering the blow, rode off. As hall-of-famer Eric Carter said later in his Dirty Knobs podcast about the ‘incident:’
“I don’t think it was right and I think it was absolutely chicken shit to do it at the finish line. I’m not surprised because that is how Harry always does his stuff. He does them in a chicken shit way. So that didn’t surprise me. And he always rides off. He doesn’t stand up, doesn’t address the issue, he just drills somebody and then runs off.”
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=369805878847716
The consequences
For Leary the consequences were swift. His main sponsor Daylight dropped him almost immediately. While Daylight knew of Leary’s hot-headed past, they stuck with him until this point. They dropped him becausey they knew something like this was more than likely to happen again. They clearly didn’t want any part of it. USA BMX gave him a 90-day suspension. Leary tried to apologize immediately afterwards via social media, but then retracted that apology.
The history
What this incident brought to light was a decades-long pattern of bad behaviour by Leary. Leary was known for being intense with a fiery temper. At one point he was known as “Scary Harry Leary.” After being caught on video, other racers came forward. They recalled his ‘hot-headedness,’ and few riders stuck up for him. Eric Carter had examples from the ’70s of Leary acting in a way that would clearly be labelled as bullying in today’s culture. BMX punk rock king Chris Moeller had numerous run-ins with Leary (see the video below complete with audience booing Leary when he shoves Moeller after the finish line–to be fair Moeller’s pass was pretty aggresive).
Legendary rider and another Hall-of-Famer Hollywood Mike Miranda added to the converstaion,
“Patty Mac said it was tough for her when Harry would have a bad weekend. He’d come home and take it out on her and the kids. Then somebody said his mother was recently dating Harry. And the same thing, Harry was physical with not only his mother but with her kids. So it’s an intensity problem. It goes beyond the track. I have a friend who had a huge run in with Harry that was uncalled for. He was threatened with violence and with with firearms. It was pretty gnarly.”
RIP
With many in the BMX community hoping Leary could–and would–get help for his anger management issues, the end came too soon. Leary passed away from heat exhaustion in September of 2023. He was 65-years-old. The BMX media was quick to forget the controversy he caused in late 2023, with many paying tribute to his legendary achievements in the sport. And while there’s no denying Leary’s iconic place within BMX, his dark side should also be remembered.
