Match Sprint: Mark Whitehead vs. Steve Hegg

In 1982, after recently graduating from college and moving back to Los Angeles,  I went to the Encino Velodrome to watch some track racing.  The Southern California bike racing scene was very unfamiliar.

One race was particularly memorably;  not the event itself, but rather, the personalities.

Steve Hegg was introduced as a young talent from Dana Point.  I don’t remember from where the announcer said Whitehead originated; they were just a couple of young punk bike racers.  The details of the race are vague, except that Whitehead beat Hegg and to add insult to injury, he spit on Hegg after they crossed the sprint line.  Whitehead was DQ’d.

That was my introduction to the name Whitehead and the bad boy antics of one of cycling’s rising stars.

The next year I discovered El Dorado Park (Tuesday & Thursday nites).  Back then the park was ruled by the old guard. They initiated the start, controlled the pace and made sure everyone understood the rules; follow the wheel in front, take your pull, get out of the way, don’t fuck with the rhythm.  My first pull set my lungs on fire.  After a short stint at the front (and I mean short), I was struggling to get back in.  I watched every wheel to see if I could squeeze in for some recovery.  A big hand caught me on the hip and, without hesitation,  aggressively pushed me out of the way grumbling something in a thick Scottish brogue; it was Pete Whitehead, Mark’s father.  It was a shock and exciting all in the same moment.  Peloton protocol was new to me.  I’d never seen someone take their hands off the bars to physically shove another rider.  This was pretty cool stuff.

I grew up in the boxing world where personality was king and  I had discovered a parallel universe.  Mark was a colorful personality in the cycling world. He could go hard, all the way to the edge, and then take it beyond the extreme; he had the gift that makes champions.

We’ll miss the antics and the serious contributions of Mr. Mark Whitehead.  The world of cycling has lost an important member of its tribe.  Steve Hegg and Mark Whitehead became close friends.

According to VeloNews:

Whitehead held 20 national championship titles, including the team pursuit in 1984, which contributed to his selection to the U.S. team for 1984 Los Angeles Games. Whitehead had a reputation as a cagey, but often volatile, track strategist who had, on several occasions, been sanctioned for both on- and off-track outbursts. Whitehead’s reputation as a temperamental rider led fellow competitors to label him with the friendly moniker “Meat Head.”

The L.A. Times has an article about Mark Whitehead (I think they should have covered Mark’s life from a different vantage).  Click HERE to read the article.