I’m not sure of the year on this one, but that’s not really important. We’ll say several years back. Anyways, Stew Johnson and Props were still producing the Passport video series, and Stew had arranged for a roadtrip through Japan, featuring American and Japanese riders, including George Dossantos and Edwin Delarosa.
So George and Edwin boarded a plane in NYC and made the 12+ hour trip to Narita Airport in Tokyo, Japan. But when they arrived, there were problems. I think Edwin hadn’t fully sorted out his passport or something like that. But regardless, the duo were not allowed through Customs. In fact, they had to pay an exorbitant amount of money to stay in a guarded hotel room that night, and were then put back on a plane and sent home the following morning. The entire time, Stew was waiting just on the other side of Customs, wondering what the heck was happening.
So George and Edwin arrive back in the U.S., and word spreads throughout the BMX world of their unfortunate travel luck. At the time, George was riding for FBM, so Crandall put two and two together, and made one of the funniest FBM ads most of us had ever seen (featured above.) Notice how the font from the ad even looks like something from a Godzilla poster?
I’ve been asking Crandall for a while now if he had a lo-res copy of the ad, and he finally came through with it today. So enjoy this funny little walk down memory lane courtesy of FBM and George Dossantos, and be sure to sort out your passport documents before you fly…
