Rich kids arent tough enough

dehner47
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dehner47 2/12/2013 9:56am
2/12/2013 9:56am
I think motocross racing is about to make the turn where the young kids coming threw the ranks have parents that are more finacially stable then what riders and racers were few years ago. Not trying to compare, but look at Nascar. Generations of hard working blue collar type racers, who have become successfull after their careers in racing have finished. Now the 2nd and 3rd gnerations are stepping up to race and they are coming from parents who have had a few extra dollars to spend. and thats how the generation cycle works. Or is suppose to work. The next generation reaps the benifits (if done right) of the generation before them. AND SO ON AND SO ON..

What does someone consider rich or poor. Being rich to one man (in alot of this thread, KIDS) is considered poor to another. And vise versa..
Suns_PSD
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Suns_PSD 2/12/2013 10:02am
2/12/2013 10:02am
Although I really enjoy the sport w/ the determination and fire of these Pro racers, I would never sell out my families financial future for the chance that Junior could make some decent money down the road as a Pro, or more likely shatter every bone in his body and make a Burger King manager's salary for five years. That's just incredibly bad math.

For what these families spend racing they could provide ALL of their kids (not just the MX one) w/ a paid for college education and a paid off home to begin life with. Anyone w/ that sort of start in life can easily become worth a million or two by retirement even at just an average college job putting them WAY ahead of the average Pro MXer.

Being fast on a dirt bike is great and all but it doesn't make you smart, or wise, or honest or a better person. It just means you can ride a dirt bike fast. Few things are more annoying to me when FANS attribute all of these amazing attributes to their favorite athlete/ star/ musician when frankly, we have no idea what they are inside.

The last thing I would add is that the AMA needs to require a HS diploma for anyone new entering a Pro race. The other choice would be requiring a GED and being at least 19 years old for those that just are unable to complete HS due to general retardness.

These young racers to be competitive now HAVE to drop out of school leaving them absolutely nothing to fall back on. Other sports encourage college educations before turning Pro.

I can imagine few things less responsible for a parent to do than removing their kids from school and spending every penny of their families money so one kid MIGHT make it Pro.
Sparkalounger
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Sparkalounger 2/12/2013 10:07am
2/12/2013 10:07am Edited Date/Time 2/12/2013 10:20am
web mx wrote:
One exception here " KINDA" !! Very Talented and rich just didnt want it bad enough but did win one championship.....Ron Lechein
MBBadgers wrote:
they were not rich, middle class family, that lived comfortably but not rich. heath voss' family was/are very wealthy and he won a title of some...
they were not rich, middle class family, that lived comfortably but not rich. heath voss' family was/are very wealthy and he won a title of some sorts.
By many standards the Voss family was not rich. By my standards they were. His old man worked his ass off and was a smart business man. He worked endlessly for his family, being on the job or building rigs to race out of and keeping the “dream alive”.

Did it help Heath? You bet your ass it did!
Was Heath the hardest working, most dedicated hard core mx'er in the area at that time? You bet your ass he was!

That guy worked it! He bled MX!

I was a wanna be pro. Heath would ask me at the races if I wanted to practice with him in the upcoming week, sure I would say. The first call from him was literally a “wake up call”. 6 am on a Tuesday morning he calls and says "I just finished my workout and will be riding at 7 if you want to join me".
What? I was still sound asleep!

Did I not "make it" be because I didn't have the financial backing that Heath did, or did I not have the drive?

I just wanted to make sure people know how hard Heath worked at it. It really aggravated me to hear people say, "Yeah, well if my old man had that money I could be where he is too.."
Yeah right...

middle class - rich ($150k + per year?) - Millionaire businessman - high paid multi-million $ athletes / celebrities - Mark Cuban type - Warren Buffet type - Rockefeller type (inflation adjusted).... what is "rich"?
MBBadgers
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MBBadgers 2/12/2013 10:39am
2/12/2013 10:39am
web mx wrote:
One exception here " KINDA" !! Very Talented and rich just didnt want it bad enough but did win one championship.....Ron Lechein
MBBadgers wrote:
they were not rich, middle class family, that lived comfortably but not rich. heath voss' family was/are very wealthy and he won a title of some...
they were not rich, middle class family, that lived comfortably but not rich. heath voss' family was/are very wealthy and he won a title of some sorts.
Sparkalounger wrote:
By many standards the Voss family was not rich. By my standards they were. His old man worked his ass off and was a smart business...
By many standards the Voss family was not rich. By my standards they were. His old man worked his ass off and was a smart business man. He worked endlessly for his family, being on the job or building rigs to race out of and keeping the “dream alive”.

Did it help Heath? You bet your ass it did!
Was Heath the hardest working, most dedicated hard core mx'er in the area at that time? You bet your ass he was!

That guy worked it! He bled MX!

I was a wanna be pro. Heath would ask me at the races if I wanted to practice with him in the upcoming week, sure I would say. The first call from him was literally a “wake up call”. 6 am on a Tuesday morning he calls and says "I just finished my workout and will be riding at 7 if you want to join me".
What? I was still sound asleep!

Did I not "make it" be because I didn't have the financial backing that Heath did, or did I not have the drive?

I just wanted to make sure people know how hard Heath worked at it. It really aggravated me to hear people say, "Yeah, well if my old man had that money I could be where he is too.."
Yeah right...

middle class - rich ($150k + per year?) - Millionaire businessman - high paid multi-million $ athletes / celebrities - Mark Cuban type - Warren Buffet type - Rockefeller type (inflation adjusted).... what is "rich"?
I guess my point being is that heath was a great mx'er regardless of the money and he got a title so the title of this post was wrong, i agree with you.

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Sparkalounger
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Sparkalounger 2/12/2013 10:55am
2/12/2013 10:55am
I was just making a point, it was not directed at you, i just qouted you because his name was mentioned...
derestricted 2/12/2013 11:04am
2/12/2013 11:04am
I guess you could call Tomac a rich kid and he is rough and tough like leather.
Titan1
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Titan1 2/12/2013 11:10am
2/12/2013 11:10am
So the key here, if vital is correct, is that a kid has to have rich parents (to get all the nice stuff and to the races), but the parents have to figure out a way to make the kid think they are poor. That is the magic equation to motocross stardom and success? Got it! Smile


Actually, in this sport...Jr. has to be willing and have the work ethic and drive to put in the time and effort on the bike...and mom and dad have to be willing and have the work ethic to sacrifice everything for their kid and work two jobs and long hours and otherwise do what it takes to make it happen. Seems if either of those aren't there...Jr. ain't going to place.
Wiley
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Wiley 2/12/2013 11:32am
2/12/2013 11:32am Edited Date/Time 2/12/2013 11:34am
Rich kids, poor kids, that status doesn't mean a thing. The parents deserve much more credit than they often get.

Villopoto, Carmichael, Stewart, McGrath, Reed, Dungey, and all of the other incredibly talented champions wouldn't have anything had their parents not supported them through their early years. Their parents are the true reason for their success. Had their parents not provided the support, none of them would be where they are today.

I have the utmost respect for every rider lining up at the gate, and even more so for their parents.
TDeath21
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TDeath21 2/12/2013 11:36am
2/12/2013 11:36am
TDeath21 wrote:
It really makes you stop and wonder about the families of the kid who didn't make it. For every Villopoto there are at least a hundred...
It really makes you stop and wonder about the families of the kid who didn't make it. For every Villopoto there are at least a hundred others who gave up everything and got nothing in return.
FreshTopEnd wrote:
Like a lot a generalizations, this one would probably break down for a couple of specific examples, but some thoughts. In almost every youth sport, you'll...
Like a lot a generalizations, this one would probably break down for a couple of specific examples, but some thoughts.

In almost every youth sport, you'll see an industry feeding and bleeding parents who believe their kid is the next Tiger, Messi, RG3, Jeter, LaBron, Federer.

The closest view I had was in soccer, where there are level 1 clubs and academies chock full of 300-500 kids paying $10K a year before travel gets in. (There are lower tiers where most kids play to have fun.). You could see three types of kids; kids who had talent but didn't enjoy it or take it as seriously as their parents did, kids who enjoyed it and wanted it badly but didn't have talent, and the very few kids who had both exceptional talent and drive. But almost all of their parents thought their kid were the latter (if only the kid would work harder!!!!). And those parents are spending a boatload of money hoping to get one of a handful of college scholarships that probably add up to less than what the parents paid to teams and coaches and hotels and tournament fees over the life of the youth sports career.

A lot of these parents are trying to do the best for their kids, and a lot are trying to have their kid be the proxy for them in achieving sport success. That's got to be a miserable experience for a kid who isn't that good or just wants to have fun or both. And the irony is that the people who really know a sport and the development of talent from youth to professional success are pretty good at spotting the potential candidates early and supporting them.

Does that mean there aren't outliers that bloom late? Or course not. But it's a winnowing process that starts early with slim odds to bet a family's fortune on. And while the industry built around that will gladly take your money to encourage a family to believe its kids is the exception, a wise family will take clues about the true talent their kid has by the support she gets because people want to pay to appropriate that talent for their own programs and campaigns. No doubt there are times when a family has a close call on betting the moon for their kid's sport future, but a lot of times those bets are being place on casino odds given a realistic read on the kid's prospects. At some point, if your kid isn't getting substantial support and no one seems to notice, there's a reason and maybe it's time to ratchet back and keep at it for fun and family time.

It sure looks like the same dynamic plays out in MX, and with pretty high stakes given the costs involved.
Our sport is definitely a high risk low reward type of deal. On top of that, the odds that you make it to get that low reward are extremely slim. It's much harder to get to the professional scene and make enough to retire comfortably than it is in football, basketball, or baseball. Plus, it's so much cheaper to do those sports.

The bench players in the NBA are probably making what a top MX guy does. Look at how many professional players are getting paid millions in those sports. That's a lot of spots open for a kid to make it to the pros. Compare that to MX where a guy like Hahn, who has consistently been a top 10 guy in the US, probably top 20 in the world most of his career, and he said on Inside the Outdoors he'll have to get a day job when he retires. One of the top 20 best guys at what he does in the entire world can't make enough money to retire on. Compare that with the 20th best player in the NFL.

Really this sport should be something people do for fun, and if you're really good at it and get recognized, awesome. Go ahead and pursue it. To give up everything like a lot of parents do though is like hitting on a 20 in Blackjack. Sure it's awesome when it pans out like it did for Villopoto, Weimer, and Stewart. We never hear about the stories of the kid who never made it big time though, and they're out there filling up the B and C practices week in and week out.

Ashley Grant said it perfectly on Inside the Outdoors. It's cheaper to buy a football, baseball, baseball glove, baseball bat, basketball, and a basektball hoop than it is to buy just MX gear, and then you have three sports your kid can play instead of just one, with much less risk involved too.
dirtbikemike 2/12/2013 11:38am
2/12/2013 11:38am
dirtbikemike wrote:
My son raced for 18 years, 6 as Pro before he decided that an education was more important. We aren't rich, but we managed to make...
My son raced for 18 years, 6 as Pro before he decided that an education was more important. We aren't rich, but we managed to make it to a few big races throughout those years including Lorettas and a few Supercross and Nationals. He graduated from the University of Alabama with a PhD in Biology in 2011. That degree didn't cost near what we spent on racing all those years, but both were worth it. At 36 he isn't a millionaire, but he will do fine.
WORCSRacer wrote:
It is far better to be a racing professional than a Professional Racer.
We drove a lot of miles and a lot of nails all those years. Brook is a Biology Professer at Alabama now and is thinking about getting a new bike and maybe going back to LLs in the +35 class. He got a 2nd at LLs in the B class in 1993. Best finish as a Pro was at Troy in 1997, 28-24 in the 250s. It never really leaves you once you taste it.
Rupert X
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Rupert X 2/12/2013 1:46pm
2/12/2013 1:46pm
Who is leading this 450 series ? Not tough enough >?
gilps164
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gilps164 2/12/2013 4:13pm
2/12/2013 4:13pm
dcg141 wrote:
Then why do the snottiest private schools in town always kick ass in football?
they recruit from the hoods and give scholarships and the best athletes in the area go there
wow123
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wow123 2/12/2013 6:45pm
2/12/2013 6:45pm
try racing this,



mx racing lives in poor/er countries.

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