Upgrade to enjoy this feature!
Vital MX fantasy is free to play, but Premium users receive great benefits. Premium benefits include:
- View and download rider stats
- Pick trends
- Create a private league
- And more!
Only $10 for all 2026 SX, MX, and SMX series.
The Shop
DeCal Works Huge Plastic Inventory of UFO and Polisport kits.
Free shipping: VITALMX
Luxon 4-Post Bar Mounts
$189.95 - $239.95
After that he said, do what it takes to get to the races, financially, first and foremost and haul ass. Did we watch the same clip??? It was pretty solid advice.
I agree with big James but I also think you can have one bike for practice and race! A 2nd fresh engine is a nice plus!
Problem is that the Stewart's can't give any real sound advice to today's up and comer because the Stewart's didn't come from much! If James had to start his career on four stroke? He would never have raced! Unaffordable for people who come from nothing. Long gone are the days when true champions emerge from the ashes! Like I've said before it was harder to make it back in the day when millions of bikes were sold and a young James Stewart was the best of that by gone era! Nowawdays the gates are empty and only the elite can afford a bike let alone race! And it's done wonders for the sport! This is the new age! Anyone that rides a two stroke is like a dinosaur that hasn't died yet! Motocross was not worthy of its name before these modern day bikes! It's not even the same sport! And yes James proved no matter the machine he was the best there ever was (given the opportunity)! Carmichael was better and MC was a joke! But at least when MC was king of the sport it was alive and healthy! It was just a bunch of hippies! crazies! They were not athletes! Listen to an interview with Ricky Johnson! He didn't train! There was no need! His competition was hippies on two strokes! Big James Telling a 250f kid he needs two bikes ? That could bankrupt a modern day family!
Fascinating. Please oh please tell us more.
People please don't listen to this ignoramus!!
If you have the desire and a family that supports you with what they can, there is always a will to succeed. Sure you may not hit every race and you might be riding on older equipment, but if you are fast enough you will succeed.
It doesn't take much to build a competitive machine ...it takes a lot of talent to ride one competitively!
On the mental side: Looking fast might get you to the first turn better but it won't get you to the finish line in front of talent.
Actually I think it is cheaper to make it pro than it used to be. Back in the 90s, you sort of had to have the latest equipment, max. 1 or 3 years old since the bikes were evolving more quickly.
Now you can have a few rebuilt engines from 85 KX or 85 YZ from 2005 for the season at a reasonable price. You can buy used bikes, and highly mod ones, then sell most of the spare parts you do not use, and you get 1 engine for like 300 or $500 and a lot of good spare parts. If you are or have a good mechanic, then you do not have to have many new bikes per season anymore.
That means it is possible to win a few loretta trophies until the kids are 13 or 14, like AC, then the best talents sign with a team and they never have to pay for a 250f.
In case you weren't, he was a Team Green rider with Pro Circuit help even when he was little. Also, this was a time when amateur support was rare.
So, to be accurate regarding their experience, you don't need the huge motorhomes, thirty sets of gear, riding facilities, etc.; you still need great bikes, time to ride and train, and the ability to hit the big races though.
Pit Row
Both RC and JS came up this way, the 4 stroke has driven the cost up. I know both
of the dads and rode with both of them when they were young.
,
Any Son Dad combo can race local and have a great time on a limited cost if they are smart.
You may call BS, but i have friends that ride - race 2000 model bikes, one has a garage full of
99-present yz 250 parts and they haul ass. You simply do not need a 10K bike and all that comes
with it at a local level. It is a reflection of great marketing that you do, but like everything else
in life, what you need, and what you want, are not the same.
That's four race bikes, not counting practice bikes. Big James did say that if he had money in his pocket, screw the rent, they were going racing, that takes balls, but look where it got them. Theres no telling how many bikes team green supplied him with each year, but I doubt the Stewarts ever paid for a motorcycle again after the pee wee years.
You can't rag a bike practicing hard 3 to 4 days a week, then race it on the weekends, and expect it to last, not at his level anyway.
Btw, the trickest bikes are usually in the beginner and C classes, C class guys can't win without A kit suspension.
BTW most people in America we look at as rich are just really in a lot of debt
Put into context what he is saying, all the 4stroke comments really don't apply. When you are coming up you don't ride a four stroke you ride mini bikes of all sizes that are 2 stroke. The reality is if you aren't successful on a two stroke you most likely won't move on to big 4 strokes. There are exceptions to any rule but that's a pretty solid bit of truth.
Don't have time to watch the video but 1) Big James knows more than a little about being a moto parent and 2) even the best advice is usually not a one size fits all for everyone. I agree that it is ideal to have two bikes the reality is it is a stretch for many parents to put ONE bike underneath their kid.
When I get out of the corporate world in 2006 and started Rock's Racing Services the next year it was a real eye opener. I spent more time at the track then than I did when I was racing and povided a window into how little money people had from one year to the next. 2007 the party was almost over but people still had money for Cytomax, muffler repacks etc but in 2008 people were TAPPED with the arrrival of the Great Recession. Stopped doing track side support six years ago so don't have a feel for racers and racing families are doing cash flow so won't make any assumptions.
I will never forget a Perris track worker telling me what a big deal the contigency money was to the mini bike parents and in some cases parent. There was an incident where some kids got DQd for ....... CRS what happened but they stopped the moto and were trying to figure out who got to restart and who didn't. There were a couple of mini bike moms doing the single parent thing taking their kid racing and the track worker informed me the DQ thing had more to do than just getting a trophy. He said whoever got DQd probably couldn't afford to race the next week over the loss of the contingency money.
BTW I just scrolled up to the previous post about the stock and mod classes. Never been a mini bike dad so don't have practical experience but from my outsider position I don't have the warm fuzzies that here are so many classes IE stock and mod. Just seems like a money grab by the promoter that requires parents to have more equipment but I don't have data to back up this impression so would like to ask the following question.
Are the plethora of classes in AMA amateur racing a positive or a negative for moto families?
REQUEST: Please don't tell me I just said all these classes are a negative because I didn't. I'm asking the question so people with real world experience can speak to the subject and provide factual information. It is amazing how much a person can learn by asking questions.
Granted, you may need a stock bike and a mod bike if you are chasing the multiple classes. But really that's not necessary until you are at the next level.
I spent a short time racing, but had a lot of strong finishes in the small window that I did race. Started off with a bone stock 450 in the bed of my dads pickup truck... Within 2 months I was able to pretty much be within the top 2-3 off of the gate and had no worse than a top 4 finish in the state championship series. Moved up to B class for one "post season" race and ran down everyone in the A class up to 3rd place. Next season moved to the A class and was on the gate against bikes that had 5-10k invested and the kids/guys would spend their days in the motorhomes. I was still in my dads pickup. Won a few races and always had strong finishes with a basement built motor on a bike that we maintained very well vs buying a 2nd bike. Once my old man and I could afford the suspension we got it upgraded. After that, I had about 13-15 months of constant injury and would only race between casts and concussions. Wasn't hard to hang it up when I did - we weighed the cost to race vs money won & happiness. Needless to say we hung it up. After winning a lot racing and riding went from something that was fun to something that would frustrate me when I would get a 2nd or 3rd and we didn't have the money invested like most people do. I couldn't imagine the pressure if my dad had $1000/month in payments on a race setup when the little bit of pressure I had on me to perform at such a low level.
My best friends little brother got into racing about 3-4 years ago and went from an avg c rider to being a upper B class at lorettas and then to the local a class with good results. They started in a motovan and at some point dumped a bunch of money on 5 bikes motor home enclosed trailer and always traveled. Payed 1,000s of dollars for him to spend winters at training camps in the south and the whole family would live like hobos to support him racing. After all of that, he felt pressured to push harder, get results, and I could tell that he was loosing the "fun" that initially got him on a bike. He had a few really bad crashes and can no longer ride because he hit his head so many times that the next concussion could cause brain damage.
I guess what I'm trying to get at or agree with big James is that all of the flash and such is unnecessary. It complicates things and for most of us we aren't gonna be a Rd or js. No sense in having this big burden when you can do just as well with a basic setup. (Most privateers I know that still do ax,sx and nationals have 1 250f and 1 450. They have one van that they travel in and are no doubt faster than 99% of the other guys out there)
Post a reply to: Solid advice for moto parents from Big James Stewart Sr.