Bruce Edward DeLong

Bruce Edward DeLong passed away on Monday, May 20, 2024 of natural causes, at 58 years of age. Bruce was born February 20, 1966 in Fargo, North Dakota to Wanda Goode, whom due to life circumstances had to place him up for adoption, later adopted within a month by Al and Carmella DeLong.

Bruce had a vibrant and happy childhood. He briefly lived in Germany for a short time from the age of 5 years old while his dad was stationed there in the airforce. After they came back to the United States, the family settled in Cottage Grove, Oregon where Bruce attended school until he graduated from Cottage Grove High School in 1984.

Bruce had begun racing Bmx in the early 1980's and went on to have a fantastic racing career until the late 80's after which he retired. He was well respected in the bmx racing community, having been the first local pro to sign up and come out of the Eugene, Oregon area, and one of the first factory riders in the area, being picked up and racing for Factory Bandito. Him and his parents also started up and ran the original Cottage Grove bmx track for a number of years. He competed nationally for years and opened his own bike shop in Cottage Grove called "Bruce DeLong's Bike Alley", which also hosted a team with riders he sponsored. Upon his retirement from BMX Racing in the late 80's, he finished his final year ranked #9 in the Nation in the Pro Cruiser class.

He went on to meet and eventually marry Wendy DeLong in 1989 to which they started a family of their own soon after.

In 2013 he once again became involved in bmx, doing 3 races and and managing the west coast portion of the Hyper BodyArmor team until 2022 after which he brought back and restarted his prior Bike Alley team he ran in the 80's.

In 2019 Bruce had the discovery of a lifetime when his daughter Ashley matched on an ancestry site with whom turned out to be Bruce's birth mom, Wanda Goode. Wanda came out to Oregon and visited later that year and her and Bruce got to know each other over the next remaining years of his life, a memory both would forever cherish.

Bruce's favorite hobbies were cooking, playing the bass guitar (in his younger years) and electric guitar and riding motorcycles. He loved riding his Aprilia and Yamaha motorcycles and going on rides with his friends and his wife Wendy accompanying him on the back of his bike.

Bruce is survived by his wife Wendy DeLong, son Damian DeLong, daughter Ashley DeLong, his mom Carmella DeLong and birthmom Wanda Goode. His youngest son Ross DeLong proceeded him in death February 3rd, 2024.

Bruce will be missed very much for years to come but his memory will live on in his family and friends and those in the bmx racing community.