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Disclaimer- These are the thoughts of AntDog. They reflect my opinions and experience.

First I have nothing against clips, and I am working on using them again for the first time in 5 years. But while at the Quaker state national in Pottstown this year, something happened in staging that has been on my mind. A younger racer looked at me and said where are your clips? I told him I do not use them. His reply- “I thought once you were inter you had to run clips.” I explained to him that you have the option it is not mandatory. This got me to thinking, is this message that BMX racing is sending or did he misread the rulebook? Now do not get me wrong, if you want clips fine, if not cool. It is your choice. But the impression that I have been left with is this. The current “trend” is you need clips to win. While some may argue yes, there are riders who run flats and do well. Our own Al Cayne, flats and tuff wheels!!!!!!!!!! He makes mains at the nationals and does his media thing. Then there is Gary Laurent. Who won 46x on flats and a Hoffman Condor.
These are two prime examples that you can do well on flats. Once again I am not bashing clips; I am in the middle of trying to find the right ones for me. But the thing that troubled me was the incident that occurred. Is the current BMX racing generation being programmed that you have to have clips? Based on this incident, some would think so. But at the same time you have parents that are also clipping the kids in as soon as they are able to, and some lack the basic skills. I think you have to have the basic skills before you start to use them. Due to a physical issue I have been unable to use them since 2009. But after some medical help and soul searching I decided to give them another shot.
My final thought. Overall there is nothing wrong with wanting to use clips, but has the BMX society become too dependent on them. It is obvious you can win on flats, but has the BMX racer of today been programmed to believe you can’t win without them. I am basing this on my experience at the Quaker National
Anthony AntDog Brown