As one of the sport’s first champions and recognizable stars, Breithaupt helped turn BMX racing into an international action sport that, as The Associated Press noted, “later took on some of the same high-flying freestyle features as skateboarding, (and) now draws crowds of thousands, fueled by energy-drink company sponsors and featured on ESPN’s X Games.”
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Indio police Sgt. Dan Marshall confirmed Breithaupt’s identity, adding in a news release that Breithaupt, who lived in La Quinta, had been dead for an undetermined amount of time before someone noticed his body and called police. The cause of his death is under investigation by the Riverside County coroner. Police say there were no obvious signs of foul play.
The National BMX Hall of Fame described Breithaupt in a Facebook post as “The Godfather of BMX”:
Breithaupt was always passionate about the sport, according to Craig Barrette, chief communications officer for USA BMX/The American Bicycle Association, and was featured in a 2005 documentary, “Joe Kid on a Stingray,” about the birth of BMX.
Yet Barrette told the Desert Sun that Breithaupt had experienced legal trouble and struggled with addiction, but he always returned to riding BMX. Still, Barrette described Breithaupt as energetic and a go-getter: “He was always going about 100 miles an hour.”
