I was just listening to the #192 Privateer Island podcast and Mathes seems to allude (in my opinion) to that there where issues with the bike and perhaps payment. At 8:10 in he says "Your SGB Honda, I mean, just a disaster off the track, disaster on the track" in relation to A Ray's poor season.
Later at the 20 min mark Steve asks Alex about how much he is pulling in from his deals and A Rays says "Better than last year. That's for sure. Been waiting by the mailbox for a while now." I took it to mean a "check is in the mail" type situation but maybe I'm off base.
Perhaps I'm just misinterpreting their statements, A Ray did have a terrible season of injuries after all, but the way they said these things seemed to imply (to me) that there were some behind the scenes issues. I recall Mathes making some off hand remake about A Ray not getting paid in another recent podcast as well. I don't know the inner working of his contract, it may be as innocent as Mathes ribbing Alex that he does not get paid if he does not ride, I have no clue.
I don't always listen to the podcasts; is there something I missed? Am I reading too deep into this?
Yeah the guy doesn’t pay his riders has happened with other guys too
I’ve also heard Steve talking on PulpMX about Aray’s horrible financial status. How he is practically broke etc. Possibly due to not getting paid
I get that traveling the circuit is fun and he’s chasing his dream but like he peaked years ago. Get a job.
Is everyone going to let Jason slide because he is a nice guy and shit on Ping?
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That’s not something easy to come to terms with when you haven’t worked a “real” job your entire adult life and have tasted what it’s like to ride for a factory team.
I dont think people realize how much $ some of these privateers are actually making. When they say they "make no money" and all this shit, I would bet most of them are still making 60-75k after travel.
I talked to a dude who filled in as a mechanic for Starling last year and said he heard him say he is clearing $100k easily with his deals. Would think Aray, Karnow, the rest of those dudes are in the same region.
Hard to tell someone to stop doing what they are doing when they ride dirtbikes and make more $ than any "normal" job will pay them with a HS or homeschool education and no applicable skills or experience.
I’d say Starling and Chisholm are the top earning privateers along with Karnow. But for guys like Aray who is saying he hasn’t been paid means no money obviously. Most importantly 80% of privateers are in California which makes 75K a year seem like lunch money
How is that going to work out when he's 35, running out of options and has no practical experience to apply to the job market?
Thank you, I was wondering if it was a fairly well-known thing that I was out of the loop on.
Agreed, and then you get the bleeding heart Vitards who cry about the poor privateers not making any money and wanting to do GOfundme accounts etc. If you are racing the nationals or any other MX series or racing in general then you are not poor. Hell the Vitards whine about it more than the riders and when was the last time riders offered to help fans with their bills?.....................................Never
Well A Ray is personable, well-liked, and works with Swap at the moment. I'm sure he will land on his feet with an industry job, maybe with his long-time sponsor O'Neil.
I'm sure the other privateer guys who have been successful in marketing themselves, like Cade and Starling, will figure things out post racing as well.
Gotta feel for a guy like Alex, he's personable and tries hard, to get hooked up with a "team" and not get paid. Yes he had a horrible season in 2022, but he still traveled to the races and made appearances and tried to help the team even if he could not race. His wrists are basically fused dust at this point, I think most sane people would have packed it in.
When Swap was running the "Make a Main bounty" early in 2022 I had $100 in for Alex, I think one race the pot was up over $3K. Sadly he was not able to make it happen on the 3 nights Swap ran it. Hoping 2023 goes better for him.
Without actually having any facts behind my comment.
I think there would be contractual requirements. Like make x amount of mains. Or race x amount of races.
I would say aray wouldn't have made the minimum requirements. But is still expecting to be paid.
When they say they are not making any money, I am thinking compared to....
The top riders
the team owner
the promoters.
the guy selling un-licensed t-shirts
SBG stopped paying him, but he wasn’t very financially sound before that. This is his last year before he takes an industry job that has been offered to him. He’s already doing stuff on the side to set himself up for when he stops racing.
Stop it
I like Alex, he always comes across as a fairly humble guy, even if he seems to be banging his head against the wall professionally.
JUST an observation...it's difficult to claim financial problems when you are traveling to Hawaii immediately after the season is over.
I don't know his situation, obviously, but it's difficult to have compassion if you're spending money on travel when basic bills are being neglected. Maybe I'm WAY off base on this, just a simple observation and thought on what's publicly available information.
Theres a few of these guys doing just that. It's been mentioned before but there's maybe 5 guys paid to win races, another maybe 7-10 guys paid to get top 10's and I'd guess there's probably 10 or so other guys clearing 100K per year that are at the tail end of the running order regularly in main events. These Privateers (some) know and understand the business side of things and if you "get it" theres plenty of money to be made on social media, youtube etc. if your smart. Who the hell cares the guy isn't putting super great results in, he's figured out how to market and can make a living off dirtbikes. Seems like a cool ass gig to me! Kudos to him to be able to live the dream like that. I, as many of us on this forum, work our ass off for the reward to go out and ride dirtbikes on the weekends, if there's guys that can pay the bills riding, why retire!? I'd doit if I could!
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He is after this year. Why not do it one more time? He’s getting paid. It’s not like he’s going to quit and walk right into a 100k a year job.
A Ray was better off before he became a celebrity. Seems like the last 2 years his head bigger then his helmet.
A Ray and all these other privateers getting screwed over need to put these assholes on blast on in public.
Look at Karnow, he got screwed over but turned it into a positive. Tell the world about these clowns, then focus on succeeding instead of playing victim and the fans will rally around and support you.
You only live once. I would've loved to be able to race one season on the circuit. He's not the best obviously, but he does have a following. Not to mention the memories of doing what we all wish we could do. Hell he rode a Factory Yamaha for a while. I'm glad he's back at it and will never have to question himself "what if." He's a likeable dude and will be able to get a good job once he's done because of his fan base. Not to mention he would smoke everyone on this board in a race. He's living the dream. Plenty of time to do other things after he's done.
Maybe him & the guy begging for $ to repair his Mercedes can carpool👍
And? He’s asking for money, that doesn’t change if he’s one of the more paid privateers or not? However people spend the money they earn is up to them, I’m sure it costs a lot to have good bikes like he does but I think it’s easy to judge he’s a higher end privateer
But yet they still let teams back into the sport like MDK that has a history of not paying riders and team personnel....
If a rider is crying poor privateer and I don't see him racing for a $10K purse at Tampa MX on Thursday night before Daytona I don't want to hear crap from him.
JLaw making any money?? Trying to figure out what he could do besides ride?
Don't be so sure on the money he can walk into. Trust me, Alex will be ok after he stops racing. His dad and I have been friends for over 40 years and I watched Alex from a PW50 to making 450 mains.
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