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I think first and foremost is loss of introduction of young riders to riding from loss of "open riding" areas and people living/ moving to urban areas. Used to be considerably more local open areas where kids can ride around home to start kids out riding minibikes and play bikes without needing parents to haul bikes to ride somewhere. . As a kid when little Johnny got a mini bike and other kids see him riding they wanted a bike. This is key to getting parents and kids into riding that brings kids and family's into motorcycles and this bring interest to the sport. .I would guess lots of us older guys started out riding like this and then got hooked on moto. Today the the riding areas are so limited with development and sprawl and most kids are just not exposed to motorcycles at a young age...if you are exposed to cycles at young age chances are you will carry that interest throughout your life.
Second is society views and costs have changed considerably. Most people used to think motorcycles were fun, now it seems they think motorcycles are inherently dangerous and don't want to take risks. Again, most live in urban areas making it very hard to get kids started riding. Costs of bike continue to escalate with better technology/longevity compared to incomes. The commitment to race costs time adn money....used to be a good number of tracks were within 1-2 hour drive. Now there is a few close and rest are 3-5 hours away. ....most people are not willing to commit to cost or time.
As far as the lack of track time it's a catch 22 with moto classes and lack of track time. When I started racing in 70's in Midwest there were only 10+/- classes and gates were full in most classes. All were 1 day events with no age classes and long 30 minute moto's and after 2 of those it was more than enough riding even for a young guy. Sport was relatively new and there were not many guys over 30 that raced. As riders aged and still wanted to race against guys of similar age (myself included) the promoters added age classes to keep them as paying customers and resulted in lots of classes but cut laps to fit all the classes in, now many don't want to race because of lack of track time .There is no easy answer..
I grew up and lived thru the heyday of the "Motor Age" . Not sure what future will bring but as they say times are a changing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LXKZq0fYDw
My uncle has a country place
No one knows about
He says it used to be a farm
Before the "Motor Law"
-A two day event increases race insurance (paid by the day, not per event)
-A two day event requires duplicate cost for medic teams (paid per person per day, not per weekend)
-Quite often tracks and races are run by clubs with significant support from volunteer help and paid resources. A second day burns out people available to work events (don't we all love it when a unexperienced flagger is posted on a blind jump???)
Multi-day full schedule events can be great for promoters and racers (less travel per seat time) but splitting a single day event into two days is not feasible for a promoter.
Most tracks are making just enough money to survive, but are not getting rich. (I was the track treasure.)
Racers typically camp the night before the race, not after. The track does not benefit from running a long program. The numbers of classes grows so that riders have the option to race several classes without jumping in a class that they do not feel "safe" (55 YO vet rider typically does not want to bang bars in the 450 open class....)
Not trying to argue but most tracks are trying to make more people happy...not screw them over.... Happy racers come back and bring friends with them.
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That or maybe find other ways to be creative. If people don't want to be there all day and it's too expensive to run 2 days you can do a split program and do the same type of thing but in one day. Our Hare Scramble events are two days and we have kids Saturday morning, vintage and specialty classes Saturday afternoon. Old guys Sunday morning and regular displacement classes Sunday afternoon. Someone can come just for their kid Saturday morning and have the rest of the weekend for family.
Hare Scrambles series are killing it around the country, why not copy them?
My local track is Pax Trax, they may have 4 races per year, but the place seems to thrive. They have open practice Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. Tuesday and Wednesday they run a drop in school for a very reasonable price. Their latest venture is e-moto. So far this year a company called E jam has put on at least two races there which is catered to Staycyc, Sur-Ron, One Wheel and anything else electric. From what I've seen the attendance has been great. It can only grow from there and that Staycyc kid will be on a full sized bike eventually.
If I ran a mx track and had the extra land I'd hold some GP style races or contact the local Hare Scramble series and invite them to hold races on your land. If your area doesn't have a vintage racing club, why not help get some vintage racing going. If you have a "Intermediate track" why not try a UTV race?
Plenty of options to make money promoting races you just need to take the blinders off.
Hell, on a night when nothing is going on have Food Truck Wars. Invite 6 or so food trucks to set up shop and advertise as a family night with people bringing lawn chairs and set up a nice fire pit. Has nothing to do with racing but someone may walk around, and the kid asks daddy about dirt bikes. If anyone needs me to run their track hit me up. lol
Look at how many tracks go out of business. It is very difficult to make enough money to make it worth being open for many tracks. At some point, the 'love of the sport' is not worth it for a promoter to continue.
A racetrack is a business, it is like any other business. They all have challenges; they all have strong points. If you are doing it just for the love, you probably won't make it.
What suggestion that I gave you don't think will help?
I really hope you have a lot of ambulances on stand by...
At most of the tracks I ride/race, the Vet classes are among the largest. 27 on my gate in 50+ Int this weekend, which was the largest gate. 50+ Nov and 60+ Int were both over 20. Tonight at PIR the 40+ gates will be large.
Most of us have NO interest in trophies or recognition. Safety and going to work Monday in one piece are always #1. I will stop racing if I am forced to ride with guys 30 years younger, even if the same skill level. The mindset of a 30 year old and a 60 year old on the gate are entirely different.
Many MX tracks don't make enough profit to make it worthwhile to operate unless the promoter simply loves the sport. But at some point that wears thin and they decide to close down. Sure, some is bad management but not always.
They may be a bunch of yayhoos but their money don't jiggle jiggle, it folds.
Once a quarter mud bogging would be a big money maker.
Pit Row
Instead of being willing to ride with a full gate about his speed people want small gates catered to them.
It’s insane.
Stop being babies.
It’s Moto the hardest toughest manliest sport blah blah blah.
I'm 41, and if my speed puts me in the C class...I don't care if I'm racing another 41 year old, a 55 year old or a 17 year old, and I don't care if they are on 450's, 250's, 125's, two strokes or four strokes, if they are about my speed I'll have a blast racing them...
So why not run:
Open (run what ya brung) AA/Pro, A, B, C, D (if gates fill up split it 250/450)
85 A, B, C, D
65 A, B, C, D
Peewee A, B (ideally on a separate track)
big bikes AA/Pro 25 minute motos, 20 minute motos A, 15 minute motos B, 10 minute motos C, and 4 laps for D
Mini's, 10 minute motos A, and four lap motos for B, C, D
Maybe $100 entry AA/Pro (with a 100% pro pay back, and I'd be looking for local businesses to put up some additional money for a pro purse to attract fast guys), $75 entry per rider other big bikes, $55 minis, $35 peewee
I don't run a track though...so maybe it wouldn't work? I'm sure I'm missing something...
I'd be very interested in racing a class structure like this...even better if it was on an all natural terrain track, with some good elevation change, and let it get rough.
Jesus everyone has to be so damn correct about everything...WTF?
I want to race motocross.
Not time trial cross where you’re effectively out there alone because there’s 14 classes and less than 8 in each class generally.
So let me get this straight! You ( yourself actually know how someone 30 years younger than me thinks) and knows what his limit is verses someone who raced over 40 years? And isn't there sandbagging "to get this mythical trophy" everyone seems to be craving.
Please. By all means, carry on...
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