Posts
2334
Joined
7/31/2010
Location
Merritt Island, FL
US
Edited Date/Time
3/4/2013 6:51pm
...OK, I'm an "old school" fart. But when I was racing from 1980-1984, the local A/Pro classes were always mostly full.
I see videos today with 4 A/Pro riders. What has happened?
In my day, Damon Bradshaw was racing 80's, Rodney Barr and Tyson Hadsell were battling in the 125 and 250 A classes and the gates were full.
Heck, I was "C" class back then and we had over 40 riders and sometimes needed qualifiers.
Even when I moved up to "B" there were 30 riders or more.
Why has it fallen off? We seldom combined classes because there were too many riders.
I read more often about the old school days and the posts about riders and races. What will happen 10 years from now? How many local races will be discussed then like we discuss the 80's today?
Just some food for thought...
I see videos today with 4 A/Pro riders. What has happened?
In my day, Damon Bradshaw was racing 80's, Rodney Barr and Tyson Hadsell were battling in the 125 and 250 A classes and the gates were full.
Heck, I was "C" class back then and we had over 40 riders and sometimes needed qualifiers.
Even when I moved up to "B" there were 30 riders or more.
Why has it fallen off? We seldom combined classes because there were too many riders.
I read more often about the old school days and the posts about riders and races. What will happen 10 years from now? How many local races will be discussed then like we discuss the 80's today?
Just some food for thought...
2. Lack of available land which is out of range from the noise of 4 strokes.
3. $8500 dirtbikes
Anyone care to add to the list?
Fewer 2nd, 3rd mortgages to fund the toyhauler and bikes.
I posted about 2 strokes and was almost tared and feathered.
Is this really a contributor?
If so, what are we going to do about it?
The Shop
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Can you contribute with some substance?
When did you last race locally?
How many A/Pro racers attended?
Give us some details please....
What have you contibuted in the debate to further the sport?
Simply giving in to the OEMs is not a contribution.
I agree 100%!
I would come home from school and ride my bike until sundown!
There is no where close for me to take my boys to do that!
If they can't have fun trail riding, they have no interests in potentially racing.
This is where I am today with my 3 sons.
Because it is such a hassle to go riding, they say let's go fishing instead...
Great input, thanks...
Back then, the Sunday races ran 5 laps , except for the "money"class which ran 8-10 laps per moto. Practice nights yielded on aveage (4) 20 min. practice sessions per night, with some tracks having open practice all night to get in as much time as you wanted on the track. Lots of track time for the money spent
Currently, my budget is still $200, and at times its a struggle to have that. A practice night now costs me $25 to ride, $20 for gas, $8 for a pint of premix,$10 for a quart of trans lube, and between $40 for fuel for my truck to drive to the track. At that rate, I can only afford to ride 2 times per week. Unfortunately, now if my bike breaks, it has to sit a week or 2 to save the $$ to buy parts. The last time I raced( last summer) I spent close to $200 in one day, between gate fee's for me and my family, my entry fee's, and food/drinks for the weekend. I dont trave to the races in a big fancy hauler either. I have an enclosed trailer, that I have had for over 15yrs, but it usually gets left at home, since my fuel economy is about a 5mpg difference between taking it or not.
When the cost of fuel went up, everything else went up as well. Unfortunately, like alot of people, my wages earned didnt increase at the same rate as inflation, and suddenly my expendable income was no more.I live well within my means, and am extremely smart with my money.
Simply put, the amount of money I make, didnt increase at the same rate as everything else getting more expensive, and now its just to damn expensive to ride alot.
If not, just use the search feature (top right) to find every topic you start has been covered, probably many times.
If you'll see, there are some great replies.
Simply because you don't like my topics (or me), does not mean other feel the same.
If you are so opposed to my topics, simply choose not to reply.
This topic is about why our local A/Pro classes have declined. Where has this been posted before?
Come to FL, stay with me and see how low the local race scene has become! I'll provide the beer, room and travel to FL races... It's on me... When would you like to visit?
Thanks,
Shaun
I the 70s, the first time I got top 3 in Novice class, I went to Intermediate. I won the first Intermediate race I entered, so I went to Expert. That's how most people did it back then, but I never knew a Novice with much of a sponsorship - most sponsorships were for Experts. And of course there was no Loretta's to worry about.
All the OEMs should read your input!
Thanks for the time you took to reply....
But why aren't there A riders in the local races? There is (was) money to be made showing up.
We use to have $1000 purse per class. Not to bad for a local race.
Why aren't they there today?
I love showing up at Bithlo or Pax and watching the races, but there arn't any fast local pros like there use to be..
So sad...
I would imagine the cost of insurance and the lack of participation has put a damper on the $1000 purse as well.
Pit Row
ive heard of local clubs getting 600-700 riders for a race. If you want 40 people on a gate, this equals 16-17 classes.
last i heard, they had 28 gate drops (twice), thats around 23 people on the gate.
If you get to the track for 7-8am, and you are still waiting at 6pm to get your last (probably shortened moto).
all the club memberships, track memberships, AMA memberships and district cards dont help either...i would like to race a few times a year but i cant be dealing with all those extra costs.
Why or why not?
When I was racing in NC back in 1980-1983, it wasn't uncommon for us to be there all day until dusk because of all the classes.
We seldom combined classes because each class was full. Not every class, but most.
It made for a long day, but it was great to watch each class race with a lot of riders compared to two or more classes combined and you never knew who was leading what race...
There have been a few exceptions (Aztec in Co Springs had 2 tracks with classes split between the tracks and morning/afternoon, Burleson in Tx where you're always out by noon or 1), but they are few and far between. Just too long of a day for such little return.
When I moved to FL in 1995 and as a spectator at the local races, I was saddened by how few racers there were! FL was "the place" and the races had very few participants.
Today, you have RC (retired), CR, DW and many others making FL home for training, but it doesn't show at the local races.
If the grass roots die, so does our sport.
I want to see local guys fighting it out, 20-30 riders going for the money each weekend.
If we don't get back to that, say goodby to the MXoN today and in the future.
I simply want to see the local sport grow in support of the pro level...
Report back next week how many A/Pros attended your local races and the pay outs.
I'm guessing it will be a very poor showing, but I hope I'm wrong.
Maybe it is just FL that is falling short?
It is the local pros that move up to race the nationals and SX. If there aren't any, what does that say for our sport?
Shaun
I know 5 or 6 solid A riders with broken 4 strokes that can't afford to fix them. Add in the price of gas and the general indifference to local racing and you get to where we are now.
Remember the days when you were a good local A/pro the dealers used to give you a bike or two along with a parts allowance? Now the manufactures cut the dealers out and pay these amateur teams big money to go racing.
Young adults and older teenagers that make up most of the A classes cannot afford this sport any longer.
Would your local A/Pros race the 250 class on 250 2 strokes? Are they sitting out in the 450 class?
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