P116
CN
III FRIENDLY FIRE
BY STEVE BAUER
B
rad Zimmerman
passed away last
Sunday at his home
in Oceanside, California.
He was just 61 years old.
He took his dog, Zoey, for
a walk in the morning, then,
later that day, he was sitting
in front of his computer, just
as I am now. No one else
was there at the time, but
the findings are that he had
a massive heart attack and
died instantly. A "singular
event," they called it, or
something to that effect. It
came out of nowhere and in
the grand scheme of things
it's probably not a bad way
to leave this world. If it's time
to leave.
Brad was an amazing man
of many talents, a true Renais-
sance man and one of the icon/
pioneers of dirt bike racing. He
held editorial positions at Cycle
Scene, Popular Cycling, Mod-
ern Cycle, Motorcyclist and I'm
guessing others, as well. He
preferred to work just below the
surface and behind the curtain,
and did so for just about every-
body in the biz at one time or an-
other. You may not recognize his
name, but I guarantee that if you
are reading this, then at some
point in your life you have read
something written by Brad and
you probably laughed your ass
off. The man was a wordsmith.
I had met Brad a few times
during the '70's when I was rac-
ing, but had never really spo-
ken to him much, other than to
answer a question or two after
a race. In the mid-'90s, the late
Steve "TFS" Bruhn reintroduced
me to him. After having been
away from the sport for over 10
years after I quit racing, I wanted
to reestablish some credibility
and Brad was a huge help, even
hiring me to be a spotter at the
US Open at the MGM Grand.
He knew just about everyone
in the industry and wasn't weird
about sharing his contacts with
a washed-up old pro, or anyone
else.
Being an expert typist (106
wpm), journalist and usually the
smartest person in the room, it
is easy to see why Brad was an
early adopter of personal com-
puters and more specifically,
the internet. He told me stories
of how he hooked up with some
heavy hitters in the hacker world
and had been part of the Ar-
panet, which later became the
internet. Brad was an absolute
computer wizard and that came
in real handy back then. It is
easy to forget how sketchy the
early PCs were. Brad not only
knew DOS, Brad knew code!
For at least the past 20 years,
Brad has built and maintained
websites for nearly everybody.
See for yourself at www.bradzim-
REMEMBERING BRAD ZIMMERMAN
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
SCOTT
COX/RESMARKET.COM
