I’m looking for a list of the top male triathletes in the world in 1985. An offical list would be great, but your top picks may work. A friend met a guy named Dale that was to have been ranked in the top 5 and we are trying to come up with his last name.
my guess would be Dale Basescu (sp.) I heard stories about him from Marc Suprenant, another top pro back then. Apparantly Dale had his appartment fumagated and didnt realize he shouldnt have been in there for a few days and it really messed up his lungs and curtailed his career.
That’s impossible, I’ve met all 15 of the top 5 triathletes in 1985 at my gym this year 
Hawaii that year went :
- Scott Tinley 2. Chris Hinshaw 3. Carl Kupfershmid 4. Hannes Blaschke 5. Tom Charles
No Dale in the top 15.
How did they rank triathletes in '85?
Ther were 5 of them back then? ;p
Thanks guys, Paul pegged him right on the money.
Dale Basescu, currently in Atlanta living a dream.
What’s this with tri guys and music?
I thought Molina was unbeaten in 1985 winning all those USTS races. He’s got to be the top from 1985. I can go to my basement and dig up the “Year in Review” edition of Triathlon Magazine (predecessor to Triathlete after merger with Tri-Athlete). Slowman’s training buddy Mark Montgomery was pretty studly back then too.
that would have been Dale Basecu. That was at a time when the major triathlon thing was the Bud Light series and Dale was a regular on that, consistantly placing in the top 5 at every race. I think he even led the series one year for a while. He traveled the circuit in his van with his guitar. I met and raced him a few times after he moved to Atlanta and had toned down his racing a bit. Super nice guy.
How did they rank triathletes in '85?
Those were the good 'ol days…Way before ITU pro racing.
The Bud Light USTS circuit was a huge thing then. There were the USTS athletes and Coke ranking system, and then the Ironman set. Some could do both like Allen, Tinley, Molina, Paula Newby-Fraser, Erin Baker, Puntous twins. Others like Pigg, Basescu (glad most people remember him!), Linda Buchanan, Joy Hansen, Colleen Cannon focused on the USTS.
Those races were huge in crowds, participants and excitement.
I miss those early days. The whole ITU draft-legal thing ( Olympics or not) never set well with me. Except for a handful of elites I don’t think the Olympics has improved the sport.
I agree re Olympics, but in those days there was genuine concern whether the sport of triathlon would ever be taken seriously, and the Olympics was an avenue to garner the respectability of an international organization. IM was an afterthought for most–$200.00 got you in & the distances seemed daunting. I did the USTS thing–as long as you were top 10 you were earning enough to get to the next race, and the post-race parties were great as the atmosphere was much different–the beer truck just pulled up & the taps were available to all. I don’t know anyone who even follows ITU, and the draft style is so far from what most of us participate in that it seems like a totally different sport.
FWIW, my top 5 back then (85-86) would be
Scott Molina–just decimated everything short course thru 1/2 IM, and was a threat in LC–notably Nice.
Mark Allen–I forget the year, but it was 86 or 87 when he was undefeated at all distances. He owned Nice for like 7 years, and had the run speed to catch almost everyone on the bike.
Mike Pigg–I might be a year or two off here, but this is when he really started coming on. His bike was impressive–usually 2-3 minutes faster than anyone else in a 40k.
Dave Scott–he would win the only USTS event he would enter, nobody would hear from him until October, and then he would decimate Hawaii–all while training alone in Davis. Training solo & winning the IM year after year–truly impressive, especially as everyone was gunning for him & Tinley/Molina/Allen had each other to beat up on during training.
I guess I would put Tinley as #5, but I don’t remember him ever winning the big ones when the others were around. His Hawaii win was against the weakest pro field, as everyone went to Nice that year for a $100k payday, but he always was in the top 3 in the USTS circuit & did race quite a bit.
You guys are bringing tears to my eyes. . .halcyon days, man, halcyon! Those were the days when I had to drive at least 3 states to get to 2 of the 3 races that were anywhere near me, at anytime of the year. Most folks in Illinois couldn’t even spell triathlon, and Ironman was a comic book character. Oh to have been old enough to have partaken of the requisite post-race beer festivals! Anyway. . .Molina had to be at the top of the list. . .
I wish I had been around for those races. Post race events suck now. I have to come home and meet up with my non-racer friends to get some beers. Everyone at races eats bagels, bananas, powerbars and endurox after races. I’ve always thought beer was just fine, but nowadays people look at you like you have the plague if you start drinking after the race. When I did Memphis in '02 there was a seriously lonely beer truck, it was sad.
We did get some serious drinking on when I went to Duathlon Worlds’ in Austria though. Shots with the race director and everyone on the team, that was a blast.
i loved the usts races, being under 21 for most of them it was the only place i could walk from the finish line to the beer truck.
those were the good ol’ days of racing.
met dale one at a race in SC nicest guy and it should have been the big 5 for a few years.
You guys are bringing tears to my eyes. . .halcyon days, man, halcyon! Those were the days when I had to drive at least 3 states to get to 2 of the 3 races that were anywhere near me, at anytime of the year . . .
As Bill Clinton might say, it all depends on what you mean by “top 5”. As noted in several replies, there were numerous lists from which to choose. I’ve listed a few I could find on the top male triathletes of 1985. Thanks for the incentive to look at old mags and remember the good old days!
Triathlon Magazine’s 1985 Readers Poll
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Scott Molina 2. Scott Tinley 3. Mark Allen 4. Dave Scott 5. Dale Basescu (bingo!)
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Chris Hinshaw 7. Mark Surprenant 8. Ken Glah 9. Rob Barel 10. Grant Boswell
1985 Bud Light USTS National Championship (1.5k/40k/10k)
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Scott Molina 2. Djan Madruga 3. Mark Allen 4. Scott tinley 5. Harold Robinson
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Chris Hinshaw 7. Mark Montgomery 8. Dirk Aschmoneit 9. Dale Basescu 10. Jim Riccitello
I could not find Final 1985 USTS rankings.
1985 Association of Professional Triathletes (APT) Rankings (as of October, 1985)
APT Overall
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Scott Molina 2. Scott Tinley 3. Grant Boswell 4. Mark Allen 5. Barry Makarewicz
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Rick Crawford 7. Dave Scott 8. Gary Peterson 9. Dean Harper 10. Thomas A. Gallagher
APT Long Distance
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Scott Tinley 2. John Devere 3. Mark Allen 4. Rick Crawford 5. Dean Harper
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Gary Peterson 7. Paul Huddle 8. Charlie Graves 9. Michael Garcia 10. Ken Glah
APT Sprint
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Scott Molina 2. Scott Tinley 3. John Devere 4. Grant Boswell 5. Mark Montgomery
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Gary Peterson 7. Barry Makarewicz 8. Paul Huddle 9. Dale Basescu 10. Charlie Graves
APT Ultra
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Scott Molina 2. Grant Boswell 3. Barry Makarewicz 4. Dean Harper 5. Rick Crawford
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Mark Allen 7. Dave Scott 8. Mike Pigg 9. Hannes Blaschke 10. Scott Tinley
I could not find final 1985 APT rankings.
From Dec 1985 Triathlon Mag:
$10,000 Coca Cola Bonus pool - 1985 AT&T Pro rankins for Bud Light USTS Series
Scott Molina 1009 pts
Dale Basescu 1005
Scott Tinley 991
Marc Dragan 769
Michael Garcia 704
Women: Juli Brening/Joanne Ernst/Dian Girard-Rives/Beth Mitchell/Carlina Heins
On the same page is a pic/article of Dick and Ricky Hoyt competing in the RI race of the New England tri series. In the Christmas gift guide were the “too cool for words” Oakley Factory Pilots ($50).
It was certainly a different feel back then - the mid 80’s. The sport had just really started up in Canada a few years prior to this. I had done my first tri in 1981 on a lark and a borrowed bike from my next door neighbour. Races were low key affairs, but I still remember it being very competitive. We had know idea how to train - we did everything hard, long and fast! It was definately a closer knit group, collectivly than it is today. I recall going to IMH in 1989 and it still had the feel of a small race where everyone knew everyone else. I think that’s when it really started to take off. I have many fond and vivid memories from this time period.
1985 = no coaches, no lactate testing, no HRM’s, no aerobars, no race wheels, no clipless pedals, no designer coaching programs. Just suck it up, train hard and long all week and race every weekend. The pros figured that you had to train like a world class swimmer, bike like a world class biker and run like a Kenyan to be fast at tris. Thus Molina was doing those crazy 25 mile swim -1000 mile bike - 100 mile run weeks. The rest of us age groupers just looked at what the pros did, and tried to do the same till we dropped, took 4 days off, recovered, and started the train till you drop cycle again. I guess it helped to be 20 years old and full of energy and testosterone !
Yes Mr. Fleck, tris back then were simple but it was for the hard core. It was go hard or go home everyday of the week every month until the end of the season. It was not as “all inclusive” as it is today. I might sound elitest, but I liked it when everyone had that approach. Guys like Gordo are a perfect throwback to the 80’s mentality. Of course, it is no coincidence that he trains with Molina. Those guys are studs !
You’re not alone… It was, IMO, in its glory days with respect to the purity of the athletes, races, and training. In '89 I was working as a beach lifeguard in Hawaii and training close to 6 hours a day in addition to working full time . My mileage was huge, and everything was so stinking simple… Bring your “A-Game” or don’t even bother showing up because there were 50 others who were just waiting to trample over you on their way to the finish line.
Sorry to go off topic from the thread, but some of the posts just brought back some good times!
Oreo