Has Amateur MX become a rich family sport?

Just back at Moto track after 25 yr snooze (life) It's a pricey game but u can have fun and kick azz without going tits up. In Canada it's truly insane what parents pay for kids Hocket at Elite level. There are some many people with their hands in your pockets. 

LOL. Right? Its been this way ever since 2004 when everyone went 4 stroke. Prices for everything skyrocketed and so did engine mods. Just to be competitive.

Okay to me Loretta's is not typical amateur MX, it's the point of the spear.  You have to qualify and be one of the fastest dudes in the country in your class to even set foot there.  That's about as semi-pro as it gets no matter what class you're in.  That part of MX is super expensive yes, because it's highly competitive.  

The amateur MX where you show up at Chicken Licks Raceway and run your 2 or 4 motos for the fun of it is still pretty affordable to me.  I can take a stock bike of pretty much any year or displacement, pay my 35/40 bucks a class and go have a good day.  I can run janky grips, used tires, pump gas, and duck roost instead of buying tear-offs.  That still seems feels pretty accessible.  

4 strokes didn't help. also this stupid ass training facility/ rider coach culture doesn't help either. so stupid. 

Somewhat expensive yes. Kind of depends on some of the track you choose? Some tracks it seems the littlest bikes come out of the biggest trailers hooked to the biggest motorhomes. And other tracks you see the guy with the old open trailer, or bumper racks on his rear bumper. 

https://youtu.be/Gc11mJGre10

Damn....When I was younger, my old man had me convinced I was in training for competitive yard work and chores around the house.  Told me he had to save up for the factory rake he bought me, and a Works Connection broom head with an A-kit style handle.  Troy-Lee rubber knobby work gloves and gear.  Guess I wasn't too good at it, never went to any qualifiers. 

I do agree big money has ruined it some.  Not a lot at the races anymore out of just a truck.  I felt big time after 20 years when we finally got a trailer a few years ago.  Not many newer people do it like that.

Even racing locally is probably reserved for upper middle class status. National level, upperclass wealth or big sponsor money is a definite. I can say I dug a pretty big hole for myself to pay back from my racing days.

That is untrue. 

The BARE MININUM sign up fee for LL is $700.

You are required to buy a camping permit ($500) when you sign up for your first class. So it would be $200 plus your $500 camping permit. This is the minimum. Does not include transponder rental (also required if you dont own one), additional upgrades to camping, additional car pass, etc. 

I just don't get the obsession with Loretta's. Train all year for one race that means nothing in the grand scheme of things. If you're fast you will be noticed when your time comes. Plus why is everyone that is trying to "make it" training for an outdoor race when Supercross skills decide if you get a ride or not? Go have fun, race what you can afford (if that means you can attend Lorettas or other nationals good for you), but for those that can't just ride, smile with friends and family, and your skills will develop regardless of where you're racing. 

This piece appeared in MXP (the Canadian magazine) around the time Dean Wilson won his 250 title and was a testimonial to the hard work of both Dean and his family.  There's likely lots of rags-to-riches stories in the MX world, but none quite like that of the Wilson's.  (Sorry if its too long, but I couldn't find a link to it on the web):

"I was never a mini-Dad.  A soccer-Dad, a hockey-Dad, a racecar Dad maybe, but for some inexplicable reason, I was never a mini-Dad.  That’s too bad, as there's probably few who around here who would question my credentials as a world-class moto-nut.  If my boys had demonstrated even a fraction of my enthusiasm for the motocross sport, I would surely have jumped with both feet into the moto-Dad world.  Bikes, gear, trick parts, fancy haulers - there would have been no stopping me in my quest to lay smooth the road to stardom for my racer offspring.

It's not that I didn't plant a few seeds.  I bought the age-appropriate minibikes at the appropriate age for the boys to putt around the yard.  It seemed to work fine for Son #1, but was a bust for Son #2:  as soon as he ran into his first tree, there was no getting him back on that horse.  Eventually, with all my pent-up potential mini-Dad hopes riding on his shoulders, I ventured to the track with Son #1. He was fine on the bike, and demonstrated the right technique to do well.  There was only one problem:  he "hated all that dirt".

Despite my moto-nuttiness, I had always been determined to avoid the mistake of dragging my kids kicking and screaming into an activity simply because it was more convenient for me.  I knew the road to their happiness was much better paved with their own discovery of the particular things they liked to do and, if they were lucky, they would find a sport or activity that they enjoyed in the same way I love motocross.  Fortunately, that seems to have happened and, if to do so meant much more of my time away from motocross, the results for my sons have been well worth it.

Despite my failure as a moto-Dad, on any Sunday there are clearly many examples of both types of the moto-Dad genus populating the various MX tracks all around the country.  No doubt all of them (whether their kids are kickers and screamers or certifiable moto-heads) have their eye on the one thing which signifies to all that Junior has the right stuff:  ascendance to the Big Leagues. But as countless hockey-Dads, baseball-Dads and all the other Dads have found out - often the hard way - reaching that top wrung is an achievement few can claim, regardless of how much smoothing of the road Dad tries to do.  There are certain elements of the success puzzle which require more than the efforts of the support team.  The object of their attention must want that success even more than them.  In fact, from my experience I would suggest that in many cases, a youngster who reaches the pinnacle of his sport would have done so without much of that support, so strong is his will to compete and to succeed in that activity.  The opportunity to be the best means nothing if the competitor does not love the sport enough to want to be the best.

Imagine then, how improbable it must be to find a family where each and every member is as enthusiastic about the sport of motocross as the others and where one of those members possesses that spark of talent few can ever dreaming of experiencing, coupled with a love for the sport which sees him literally eating, thinking and dreaming of motocross.  Like gamblers compelled to risk it all on the one hand, he and his family felt compelled to test the strength of that spark by eschewing the normal hallmarks of Canadian suburban home life in favour of the motocross road life without a second thought.  Such is the story of the Wilsons.

For a hockey-Dad, a “big move” in aid of a son’s on-ice career might be to a different part of the city, or even to a regional school with a specialized program.  For a motocross family with their eye on the big picture as they shepherded the career of a son whose talents were so significant that they had never been fully measured, drastic actions represented the only viable course to follow.  In the world of the Wilson’s, Dean’s abilities were so impressive, even as a youngster, that success merely in Canada, or even elsewhere in the world, represented an abdication of the responsibility that his parents felt they owed to their talented son:  the Big Time in modern motocross is in the United States, and Dean seemed well-equipped to take it on.

Thus, although few would contemplate the drastic changes undertaken by the Wilson’s as even a remote option in furthering a youngster’s career development, the only place that seemed to offer the proper venue to tap Dean’s speed was Southern California.  Despite having emigrated from Scotland only a decade or so before, they were now contemplating pulling up roots once again and leaving their comfortable Alberta life to venture into the California motocross hotbed without a clue as to how they would survive.  What they did believe resolutely was that Dean had the potential to make the mounting sacrifices pay off. 

It didn’t take long for Dean’s performances at local SoCal and regional races to garner attention.  The first sign that there was a light at the end of the tunnel was signing a contract with Team Green, the impressive Kawasaki amateur support program which supplied bikes and contingency based on Dean’s performance.  Free equipment is a good thing, but the labour necessary to keep a Pro-level rider’s machines running at their peak can also be substantial.  Andy Wilson found himself working long days to pay the basic family bills, then spinning wrenches into the wee hours to make sure those bikes were running.

Then the light began to get brighter: Dean matured and showed that his mini speed was no fluke as he graduated to big wheel bikes, and Team Green pushed the lad “upstairs” to the next level, Team Green Extreme.  Focusing on those few riders who clearly exhibit the ability to ride with the best, this organization provided highly modified bikes, flights to major races, and, most importantly, a mechanic for all bike servicing.  It was in this context that Dean began to gain national and international attention.  In 2008 he won a class at Loretta Lynn’s, then cleaned up in 2009, ultimately taking home the AMA Horizon Award.  And he made a big splash back home in Canada, too.  He had already done well at Walton in ’08, then in the spring of 2009, thanks to the help of some private sponsors, the family made the trek home to allow Dean to ride the first three of the 250 CMRC Nationals where, like a certain Albertan rider did in the 80’s, Dean literally ran away from the pack.

Yet even with the attention that Canadian National success brings, the bottom line was that the Wilson’s were still running their own program, working out of their own motor home, and rushing off to Denny’s at the end of the race for a victory burger (or in Dean’s case, a victory salad).  Despite that attention, this was still a privateer operation of the first order.  Even at Loretta Lynn’s, the event which is clearly the Holy Grail of American amateur motocross, and where Dean’s success cemented his standing in a select group of past superstars which included such names as Villopoto, Carmichael and Stewart, Dean was still the amateur racer whose success was buoyed by and shared with his family.  There was still one giant step to be made.

In addition to representing the pinnacle of amateur success in American motocross, the Loretta Lynn’s event also provides the tipping point for countless of those amateur careers.  AMA rules are strict:  the classes where fast amateurs are graded are strictly controlled with age limits.  The road to success requires that a fast amateur prove his worth in the teen ranks or risk wallowing in the lower echelons of the professional MX world until the need for food and shelter forces him to take a job in construction.  Dean had the speed;  he had the results;  he had fulfilled his part of the bargain that moved his family from Airdrie, Alberta to SoCal, and he certainly wasn’t ready to move into construction.  So where was the big ticket offer from the factory teams?

If there is anything that Dean & Co. are good at, it is making their own luck.  Just showing up at a SoCal track with Bow Cycle stickers on your bike will not gain attention.  Putting that bike consistently at the front of all the local races will make the difference.  Imagine, then, the angst that must have been felt around the Wilson dinner table in that August of 2009 when, on the one hand, a string of giant trophies rested against the wall signifying the pinnacle of amateur success had been reached in the most competitive racing environment in the world, yet on the other hand the phone was quiet.  There were no calls inviting Dean under the factory tent. 

Unfortunately, as so often is the case, timing is everything, and this rider’s unprecedented success had come during one of the  worst economic downturns seen in decades.  The first dollar to dry up had been the recreational one:  no one was buying motorcycles, and no one who made motorcycles was spending money to support race teams, at least not to the degree that they had before.  The next chapter in the Wilson’s fairy tale motocross life was to have been an immediate jump to a factory team to finish off the ’09 outdoor series with a few top five finishes.  But to everyone’s shock and amazement, Dean found himself back home watching the balance of the US Nationals play out on cable TV.

So how was this good luck?  Frankly, it wasn’t.  But if anything, these circumstances provided a pretty good indication of why the mere abundance of talent alone is not sufficient to propel one to greatness.  Dean may be the fastest rider to come out of Canada in a long time (if not ever), but he is first and foremost a true motohead:  he loves the sport; he loves to ride; he has the posters on the wall; the autographs in a book and everything he thinks and does is somehow related to the MX experience.  He may have been disappointed and worried, but he dealt with it in the way he has dealt with each challenge he has faced in his short yet very long career:  he had worked hard, and now he worked harder.  Moto-Dad Andy may have helped a whole bunch in getting his son to this point, but the responsibility for making it all work rested with Dean.

Fortunately, there was one team in the MX world where hard work and dedication to the cause is not only respected and rewarded, it is also demanded.  The conduit provided by Dean’s long and successful participation the Team Green programs certainly helped, but stories reaching the ear of Mitch Payton and his Pro Circuit team about the teenager who repeatedly wore out machines after hundreds of full on practice sessions probably helped even more.  No doubt Payton had to see it for himself, but this was a kid who was not likely to blow a signing bonus on a new Lambo;  rather, this was a young man who had accumulated credits with Team Green to purchase one of their old race vans so that he could drive himself to the practice track – and then he could practice even more.  Pro Circuit is undoubtedly an organization built around winning.  But in the economic environment of that era, it also needed to show that its riders could win right.  I am sure that Mitch and the boys could see that Dean Wilson was a poster-child for that movement.

Thus in the Fall of ’09, a little bit of Canadian motocross history was made:  a homegrown progeny was signed to a full-on factory contract in the US.  Dean – and the Wilson family – had arrived.  And what followed after that were further pioneering efforts as Dean laid claim first, to AMA national race wins, and, ultimately, to a 250 National Championship.

I think it is safe to say that, over the ensuing decade, most Canadian (and Scottish) motocross fans have followed the Dean Wilson story with unprecedented interest.  From the cheers at Skydome to the private parties held in front of someone’s big screen TV, we have all wished Dean well as he made that climb to the top of the professional motocross world.  Glitches like broken bones, screwed up knees and the myriad of ailments that seem to haunt the professional motocrosser have undoubtedly added some flavour to that journey, but the steepest portion of the climb has been well and truly beaten.  Dean clearly demonstrated long ago that he belonged under the factory tent, and we hope to see him there for many years to come.  And, win or lose, no doubt the smiling faces of a Moto-Dad and his family will continue to greet him after each and every event.

In short, Yeah, it’s a rich family sport. Or it’s just an expensive sport. 

Loretta’s, bikes, etc isn’t more than it was before. I’m mean sure, each class at Loretta’s this year for my kid is $200, last time we went in 2020 was like $130 I think. But $130 back then is equivalent to $200 now basically.

sure, bikes were cheap in 1980. Compared to today, now that prices are normal again, I’m sure with inflation it’s the same cost.

what is different at the amateur level now than when I was a kid though, is the training/ compounds all these kids live at. I don’t think they existed in the 90’s and early 2000’s when I was a kid racing. Your rode on the weekend, maybe once during the week if you were luckily. That’s where these family’s are spending a shit load of money. 
 

my kid is racing 65’s at Loretta’s. He’s not going to win, but he’s going to beat a shit load of kids that train full time. We just ride a lot, I have money to blow and time to take him training if I wanted, no point though, no return or future in the sport. 

 

For me to justify the money I spend taking my kid riding, the Motovan, the bikes, etc, I hustle and flip stuff on the side (boats, rv’s, toy haulers, etc). Last time we went to LL I bought a motorhome just for the week, sold it a month after and made $10k. Picking up a toy hauler tomorrow for Loretta’s at the end of the month, will sell after.

What did I say that was untrue? You and I basically said the same thing. lol

I guess the way I read your post I thought you were implying it would cost you $200 minimum to sign up instead of 7. 

You mean the amature race where ex pros go to race? Yup. It's all about the money these days. Prep once a day. Let the track turn into a shitty slot car track, collect 100, you may go..

Lorettas was awesome 20 years ago.. now it's pretty sickening.. from the cost to the track.. track was fun back then.. 

I have a friend who's daughter is an Olympic level swimmer.  Her suits cost up to $600 each and are  good for only 7-8 meets. I have another buddy who's kids are playing travel hockey.  Both sound very similar to moto, with the traveling, nights in hotels, expensive gear,etc.    I think any sport that is played at a higher level than 'normal' rec league gets to be expensive. 

Some local areas are still affordable.

Ohio used to be a hot bed.. now it's so divided that everything has gone down hill.. gotta have this membership for here, this one for there, ama + over here.. merp (best bang for buck ran by dudes who care and actually ride plus no membership), CRA, OMA, viva, buckeye, ama plus another southern one.. 

If I race in Ohio it'll be select fun races, but most of my money is spent out of state to race to avoid local bs and ride tracks that don't get ruined by horrible prep (over watered n extra rutty like it's some hare scramble track..I blame Lorettas for this shit prep and that horrible mentality)

This is accurate.  EVERY sport, even stick and ball, is incredibly expensive when being done at a high level.  Competitive stick and ball, cheerleading, swimming etc have unreal high team fees, required hotels with jacked up fees, and coaching fees that are as much as living at a training facility for moto......but these are at a high level or sort of......in many cases like cheerleading you can just write the check and the gym will find a place for little Sally on a team. Local racing and rec league stick and ball are as affordable as ever, but does not mean it's "cheap".  

That is really smart. 👍

My wife and I both have professional Information Technology jobs.  I always assumed everyone at a motocross track had more disposable income than your average family.  The "rich family" phrase is relative.  How much defines rich?   We were fortunate to have a lot of vacation time, which helped immensely.  Josh's 8 year old year we did the entire AMA AX series, Lake Whitney, Mosier, Ponca, Loretta's, and the Arizona US Open.  Looking back, that was too much.  We never did that again, but we chased Loretta's hard every year.  It helped that Loretta's is 2 hours from our home.  Josh was always a weekend warrior going to school and doing school things during the week.   That kept the bikes in better shape and probably kept him healthier than most riders riding every day.  

Joey Cartwright

Yea without question it has been for sometime the family with money has always had an advantage goes for almost any sport now a days tho I did a resedential job for a guy that had his 9-10 year old kid set up on a full on simulator for kart racing he had the whole 9 yards so he could practice without even leaving the house parents these days make their kids specialize is a singular sport far too early in my opinion he was convinced his kid was the next Mario Andretti but hey maybe he is but maybe he ain’t the guy was very well off so I assume it wasn’t a big deal either way you should have seen the plumbing though it’s amazing what they are putting into these multi million dollar homes the craftsmanship isn’t what it was 20 or even ten years ago no pride in their work just get it done and get it done yesterday no way that would fly with my crews luckily I’m leaning heavily into commercial now 

Just the insurance alone would be a BIG number.

Are they making a lot of money?  Obviously?

Are they shelling out a lot and taking a quite a bit of risk to do it?  Obviously.

Glove and bat are the cheap part of Travel baseball/softball.  The cost to compete on a team that plays in all the high level showcases/tournaments is insane.   I payed $4k in just tuition.  That doesn’t include the fly away tournaments, FL-3x, Cali-1x and tournaments in NJ, PA etc that required 2-3 overnights per weekend.  For the amount of $ we spent on our daughter’s travel softball we could’ve paid for a yr or 2 of her college.   All Sports have become a rich family sport if you do it at the highest level.  Don’t get me started on my sons travel Hockey experience…

You know what has ruined kids sports these days?  All this travel crap.  I'm 41 and nobody did this stuff as kids.  Everyone played rec baseball and then went onto the next sport.  Now rec ball is practically dead in most cities.  Moto is kind of the same way with local racing suffering.  A lot of that is due to 45 classes on a race day and bikes being so high it prices new people out.

I can tell you as far as what the workers are paid at the event, they don't offer shit.  They made me an offer per day, and it was laughable....  The reason I was told was, "Its a labor of love".  No room, meals, etc....  this is it.  I stayed home.  I'm no rich man at all, but my services were to be utilized during the event, plus wherever else would be needed.  I can make more in a 1 hour service call than I was offered for an entire day.  Take that for what you will, they are making serious money at that place, or they wouldn't have gone back for decades.  This is FACT.

All motorsports are for the rich or those in crippling debt