Radios > Pitboards. It's time.

The same guys who wrote those antiquated rules will hop in their trucks after the race and barrel down the freeway at 85 while chatting with their wives and listening to pods. I’m convinced it has nothing to do with safety and something to do with grift.

Those effing pit boards are a waste of time. Most riders hardly read them things...

Radios are the way to go...

One way communication radios.

Communication from teams to riders can only be made during certain sectors such as start straights. 

And only race director can communicate to all riders when there’s an incident or something to report on track. 

There’s way to many good ideas that make sense in this post so the chances of any of it happening are zero

It absolutely needs to happen. Pit boards still have a place, especially in timed qualifying because it’s an easy relay for specific numbers the rider can read on cruise laps. 

However, during racing it’s SO hard to read the pit board. Having been the guy holding the pit board it definitely makes you feel way more engaged in the race than not having it at all. With that, worst nightmare is hitting a rider, especially not your rider, with the board. 

In the NFL the comms manager kills the radio to the QB once the play clock hits 20, I believe. A similar system could be developed, like mentioned above only able to communicate in the start straight (I’ll add the finish line and corner after to it as it’s the easiest obstacle on the track). Race control should be able to mass communicate red flags to riders etc. 

Right on par with only having 9 whoops…as much as in ear would be beneficial, pit boards are cool

Didn’t Jo get hurt during qualifying by a pit board? So we are not removing the problem at all…

If you watch back on the 450 main, at about the 16:35 left to go mark, it looks like one of the mechanics fumbles the pit board and drops it on the track. Just imagine if that hit a rider going by at full speed. Luckily he didn’t hit anyone, but Jett and Malcolm had just gone by

To be honest, I don't think it would be good for the sport.

We will start with "keep your position because the rider in front of you is......", a lot of math will happen in the pits and racing will be boring. Once you open this door, you'll never close it back.

I agree with the safety side but even if race director talk to all riders about a hazard or red flag, it will depend at what each rider is doing during this message (entering whoops is not the same as in the air of an easy double/single).

Just my two cents

Just move them back 5ft . would actually make them easier to see as well. 

Radio coms have been due for many years now in this sport

On a side note....

I remember  when they briefly banned pit boards in AMA Arenacross back in the 1990's.  Denny's Dad broke one over someones head lol. 

Mike Jones

How about no radios OR pit boards?

Did you see that shitshow during the 250 LCQ where they were trying to throw the red flag and it was clear the guy at the front had no clue? Radios make it much safer.

While we're at it, they already have the leader light(which I think is unnecessary) how about a light on the handlebars that flashes red or something during a red flag? 

I would not want someone talking to me during a supercross race. Imagine trying to select a line going into a corner already thinking ahead to having to hit the 3 perfect to be able to do the 4 after and suddenly someone pops on and says "try the left side of the whoops", or "Tomac just hit the quad in segment 2". I just don't think I'd want my mind processing that information at that moment. I also don't think limiting the comms to the start straight is feasible.

I like philG's idea of backing the pit boards up 5 feet from the racing line. If a rider crosses the line and hits a board it's his fault. Holding a hard object out on to the race course seems ridiculous.

Just like plastic straws have been banned in locations across the world for paper straws, we should ban plastic pit boards and go to pieces of paper 

This actually is not a bad idea

Time to get rid of tuffblocks too. Either that, or manage them better.

I see that point but feel like the team and rider would develop a rapport and know when not to spam the rider with info. 

Wait until you find out that F1 still uses pit boards too. 

Any medium used will eventually have some outlier issue happen like yesterday.

What happens when the radios in the riders helmets malfunction and go into a high pitched painful screech.

Who here has had to quickly pull headphones off their head because of that at some point in their life?

Shit gonna happen, one way or another. 

I’ve had a spotter in my ear in a stock car and there’s no chance I’d want that on a MX track, couldn’t imagine it on a Supercross track. 

Board-busters.

Radio for race director communications could be a good thing. I am against team communications. Part of the "magic" of the sport is that it's just guys on dirtbikes racing and they have the awareness that they have by observation while flying around a track. Take out all the money, glitz, glamor, etc. When they line up, it's dudes on dirtbikes sending it and that's it. 

I do not want them to have bird's eye view information from a 3rd party of what is going on in the race. Calculated decisions, race math, potential for team orders, "Jett is going inside turn 3 and gaining time on you.", etc.... It just totally changes race craft in a way that I do not like. For safety, go for it. 

I want to see racers race, no micromanagement or BS strategy coming from their race manager, you can keep this for F1, thank you.

Riders get their data from the track, don't let managers tell them what to do according to what they see on the broadcast.

Let them race their own race, period.

Also, someone should ask riders if they want someone talking into their helmet during a race... and telling them what to do.

Mental bandwidth is not the same as focus, at least to me. I have great bandwidth, but I can be distracted for a split second.