Mike Pliska

 The younger half of the Pliska brothers, Mike Pliska began racing in the late 1970s and soon became a front runner in his class.  He also excelled in photography and began shooting photos at BMX events throughout the West Coast, selling photos to riders and parents.  Mike had one of the original SE Racing BD-III aluminum bikes (later renamed a Mini Ripper) in Oregon and had the lightest bike of that time for a full sized rider.

While racing all over the Northwest, Mike was able to record a photo history of BMX (in fact, many of the Hall of Fame photos are from his archives) and contributed regularly to the original BMX Northwest Magazine from 1981-1984.  Mike rode for The Bike Gallery and retired from BMX racing in 1984.

When he was only 15 years old, Mike took out his AMX Drag car, faked a driver's license number on a racing application, and began bracket racing drag cars.  By 1985, he was winning regularly on the local circuit and began racing up and down the West Coast.  He went on to win several Division Championships and race Super Gas and Super Comp cars.

These days Mike works for the parent company of Hyster as a design engineer.  He lives in Portland, Oregon with his wife and daughter.

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