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I recall when I was racing in NC back from 1980-1984 that we all raced AMA events. District 29 was very good about publishing a schedule and the tracks did not compete against each other. There were a few "outlaw" tracks, but most of us raced the District 29 races each week. This resulted in good turn outs for us...
Could it be that today's A /B/C riders do not race as much but do more practice days?
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In all fairness this subject has been beat to death and sadly it will probably turn into a 2stroke vs. 4 stroke thread which will surely turn to shit pretty quickly.
This is not the same sport it was 15 years ago just like everything else in the world some of us hate it but the ship has sailed. Time to move on.
The fact is, young adult income hasn't changed a whole lot yet the price of leisure activities has skyrocketed and it's not just MX.
What is the end Goal?
When I was younger there used to be over a hundred pros that would show up at Unadilla and close to that for other nationals. Qualifiers took all day on Saturday.
Now its much harder to get your pro licence and they limited the number of entries they allow to enter a national. So as a young B rider that wants to move up or an A rider that isn't good enough to make the cut where is the draw. It used to be pros could show up and ride the qualifiers and enjoy a fun time at the nationals. Now you need to make the list and not everyone can.
Most Fast guys I know that raced and went A stopped racing once they couldn't ride at the nationals every year.
Again What is the end Gaol for riders that can't make the show.
So why move up if you can get tons of help for riding a few times a yr and not move up.
I agree with East's statements about the status of racing, I remember the local tracks by me running heats on a normal Friday nite to see who got in the 40 man gate. Now I see 3-4 classes being thrown into one drop.
Also When I was younger not many tracks had open practice like they do now. I think tracks have realized they can get more people on practice days and make more money more often. I know of 5 tracks by me that are only practice and get solid turnouts.
I know I race every weeekend and I love it. I know I am a old Vet rider but I have alot of fun and meet alot of good people. Rant over.
That is the other thing with all the money it takes to go to the races the idea of riding all day is more inviting to A class riders that enjoy riding and can't aford to go to the races. Our practice days used to be thin but now practice days are full. We also place most practice days on race weekends so Riders can get the most out of there weekend.
I also firmly believe that with the (seeminly) dramatic increase in deaths and life changing injuries (due mainly to ridiculous SX style obstacles on 'outdoor' tracks, IMO) that fewer and fewer parents are getting little Johnny involved to begin with, and in more and more cases parents are pulling their kids from the sport for other hobbies.
Fewer little Johnny's = fewer big Johnny's
I walked away from racing in 04. An injury, and then the theft of my bike forced it for the most part, but I was suffering from burnout heavily. When you are an "A" rider, you have to be extremely devoted to racing, riding alot, and training. When you are working your ass off, to support a family, and keep dinner on the table, it doesnt leave alot of time to ride, train or race. .
The burnout was really forced on me by showing up at the races and getting my ass kicked, due to me not being able to ride or train during the week. Add to that being forced onto a 4 stroke( only sponsorship available at the time), that blew up all the time, and I had the makings of being completely done with it. Just like in normal life, MX became a game of the haves, and have nots.
BTW a couple of the guys here have factored in thier food costs in the days racing. I can't see that as being valid unless they don't eat unless they're racing.
Pit Row
our local series has 22+ classes for less than 250 racers, the 250 number is a generous guess...
The lack of A Class gates has many sources. Not arranged in order of importance
1. Small purses
2. Focus on big events (not local races)
3. Economic conditions
4. Lack of open riding areas to get people interested
5. Government intervention in riding(land use,lead laws,safety etc)
6. Many kids today "specialize" in just one sport.
7. The focus on big events forces many to not move up so that they have wins on the resume.
8. The 4 stroke vs 2 stroke debate will carry on but it is more expensive to race a 4 stroke.
9. The dealers do not have the ability to support racing as they have in the past.
10. High entry fees.
So.....solutions are going to be hard to come by.
The promoters have a VERY difficult task making a living (allowing them to stay open for our enjoyment) so bigger purses are unlikely until sponsor $$ and attendence improves.
Opening more riding areas is at best unlikely. See item #5
The serious nature of so many traditional sports causes parents to "make" their kids focus on a specialty.
The price of new bikes and the cost to operate them is not going down.
New unit sales are likely to remain flat at best. MFG and dealer support is not going to change much for several years to come.
Solutions........
Support motocross in every way you can. Local events, Nationals, trail riding, your local dealer when practical, politcal backing that helps the off road vehicle agenda, introduce as many people as you can to the sport, rally behind a handful of events that you really enjoy...............do something.
In time the economy will rebound, sponsor dollars will come back, outside sponsors will be attracted to our sport, bike sales will increase and the gates at local races will be full. Until then stay involved if you can. Enjoy your time at the track.j
Think about this for a moment.....where would MX be in the absence of MxSports ??? There really is a small handful of folks that keep the bus rolling. Perfectly run....nope. Moving forward .....it seems so.
I hope this helps.
Racers that pay gate fees and class entry fees hardly make the track any money. The biggest chunk of the entry fees go right back out in payback for $$ paying classes, trophies, ambulance service, and event insurance. On top of that you have track prep time that includes labor time, fuel, and equipment costs. Therefore, the promoter is counting on a good spectactor turnout to offset costs.
At our local club in IL on a district event, we consider it succesful if we draw 100+ bikes and 100+ spectators. These are small numbers but not that abnormal for a local event. An event this size might profit our promoter a few thousand dollars maximum (often times its less than $1,000, which usually are put into savings for future event advertising and grounds upkeep.
Our short track (DTX) events are a different story. An average bike count for these events is usually between 125-200 which is normal. At our last event we had 175 bikes with 44 pro/expert entries and we probably had around 1,000 spectators @ $12 a piece. Pro/expert purse payback was $5000 to win, $2,000 to the winner. Entry fees were $25 and $40 for paying classes. The concession stand alone brought in a good chunk of profit. You do the math.
I did some dirt track (dirt cars like stock cars, modified, late models, etc) in the past. Coming from an mx racing background I was use to paying an entry fee to race. My first dirt race the entry fee was $40 (which i thought was high btw.) That first night of racing went horribly, broken shift linkage in practice and then clutch issues in heat races. I managed 3 laps around the track that night. The funny part was, the winner of the event took home around $1,000, and I got a $100 check for back for registering and only making 3 laps. I was shocked lol! I couldn't believe I actually made some money racing (minus the burnt up clutch.) Turns out dirt track racing pays pretty and can usually be profitable if you are a solid top finisher, but the initial investment is huge.
I guess what i'm getting is the dirt track event can afford a good payout and draw in a large amount of car entries because they have alot of spectators and can afford to pay money back. Again, it comes back to the spectators are who make the the promoter money. Without spectators, most promotors would go bust, or be lucky to break even. But the truth is, spectators dont want to sit in the hot weather for 10 hours watching 15+ different classes of mediocore riders. its boring for people who dont love mx. On the other hand, people love sitting and watching a race that might only last 4 hours and have alot of pro, or good A riders. This is why Supercross, Arenacross, and county fair races are so popular.
Just my 2 cents on why the sport is weak right now at local levels. I do agree bike/parts/gas/economy also play roles in everything.
A ) Some, not all Pro riders are lazy, they want to tell people/chicks they race Pro at Nationals and SX's, but don't want to put the time at local events to get fast enough to make it into the night program.
B ) Not a lot of Pros left.
C ) Riders get moved up or move themselves up too fast, it's no longer fun, it's hard work, it's expensive they leave the sport of MX, poof gone.
D) In CA there are so many races in one weekend within miles of each other it's hard to get all the pros in one place to race against each other.
When I started, Billy Liles and Keith Turpin were the team green riders that got this all going. I remember nice gates and everyone lining up to watch Billy on the big bikes and Keith on the minis. Half the fun was watching the other classes!
Back then, tracks did not open for practice days. I remember when I moved to NC that we talked our way into practicing at Devil's Ridge. Before that, we never practiced on a tack.
Now, many tracks are open for practice and few race because of it.
I don't blame them because they get more track time vs races. As mentioned, many practice days result in more revenue than races do for the overhead incurred.
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