Posts
6433
Joined
10/16/2014
Location
Buda, TX, USA
Edited Date/Time
6/26/2021 3:23pm
I'll never forget showing up at Rio Bravo and finding chain link fences all around the track. It has been a slow disease since then. The good old days involved waving a towel on the track's edge for your favorite rider's.
I bring this up because we held 2 events over the last few weekends at Spoaks Motopark that couldn't have been more different.
Torcs race has 5 times more turnout, and the crowd had 5 times more fun. There were UTV's and pit bikes everywhere, and no fences. Dozens of fans under the trees with coolers full of beer and music blasting up close to the action. It was a party in the full sun, someplace you wanted to be.
EMX race yesterday, everyone behind the fence (except during mini bike races when parents are allowed to chase kids all over the place) and I had to help enforce keeping perfectly safe well behaved fans and UTV's out of the infield. Way way less riders. No party scene at all and way less fun being had.
Everyone will point to insurance, but that was not an issue. Something elemental is missing from MX, on practice days it's different and people seem to roam freely. Something to consider at least for local racing.
I bring this up because we held 2 events over the last few weekends at Spoaks Motopark that couldn't have been more different.
Torcs race has 5 times more turnout, and the crowd had 5 times more fun. There were UTV's and pit bikes everywhere, and no fences. Dozens of fans under the trees with coolers full of beer and music blasting up close to the action. It was a party in the full sun, someplace you wanted to be.
EMX race yesterday, everyone behind the fence (except during mini bike races when parents are allowed to chase kids all over the place) and I had to help enforce keeping perfectly safe well behaved fans and UTV's out of the infield. Way way less riders. No party scene at all and way less fun being had.
Everyone will point to insurance, but that was not an issue. Something elemental is missing from MX, on practice days it's different and people seem to roam freely. Something to consider at least for local racing.
If I'm not mistaken that is the point the OP is trying to make.
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DeCal Works Huge Plastic Inventory of UFO and Polisport kits.
The empty infields at other rounds on tv look so boring
Insurance policies I’ve seen do not have the same requirements of fences for off-road races, seeing how it would be nearly impossible to fence 7 miles. Truth of the matter is a lot of tracks are foregoing insurance requirements and operating on a waiver system.
And I'd argue that standing in the woods near a off-road race is many times safer than standing on the edge of a mx track during a race. Fences give the illusion of safety in case a bike goes cartwheeling into the crowds. Being able to move behind a tree gives actual safety. Average speed of the crashes are probably lower as well.
Looking at your photos, it's not quite what I had imagined. In your instance I can't say I know the answer.
I love MX. But I hate 4 lap sprint races.
I raced WORCS Havasu for my first ever offroad event. I got 6 hours of track time over 3 days. More fun that weekend then ANY motorsport I’ve ever done in my life.
That weekend cost me no more than a MX weekend. Simple bang for my buck. Offroad is a better product for the consumer.
MX needs less classes & long motos imo. Look at the local GP events? MX track host, yet huge entries. The consumer is speaking with their wallets, MX event organizers aren’t listening.
A total off the cuff remark. Think again.
So I'm sure it wasn't an off the cuff remark.
Pit Row
I can understand why tracks would skip the insurance. Those bastards will spend whatever it takes to avoid paying out on a claim. So at some point track operatirs start asking, what’s the point? I cant say I blame them.
When you’re looking at challenging a waiver by suing a LLC that has no assets other than the management rights to a track, it’s a very risky bet for the probono ambulance chaser and a very expensive gamble for the injured party to sue out of pocket.
Deterence is the best way to avoid liability in my experience. Make it really expensive to sue and you’ll never see a day in civil court as a defendant. I trust that formula way more than any insurance protection.
The insurance companies are not gonna chase something they’re not responsible for.
That woman is a true moto-fan.
2004(ish) JG33 and Justin Keeney we’re going at it at Glen Helen, when an older woman did not anticipate the speed those boys were going and walked out into the middle of the track just before the tunnel jump….
The boys were alright; but the woman lost her leg if I am remembering the story right.
That is the reason there are fences in the infield at GH now.
I’m with you, 100%…….I hate what tracks have become in terms of rules, but I always looked at the fences to keep little little kids/unaware spectators from getting killed, not to keep guys like you and I out.
They cant even do that at NFL stadiums. Or at least, they didnt used to ban water.
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