Posts
498
Joined
12/29/2020
Location
Minden, NV
US
What's Riding For A Non Factory Team Pay
Upgrade to enjoy this feature!
Vital MX fantasy is free to play, but Premium users receive great benefits. Premium benefits include:
- View and download rider stats
- Pick trends
- Create a private league
- And more!
Only $10 for all 2026 SX, MX, and SMX series.
Not much
450 or 250 team? ML would probably know. I think I read that AEO offered Enzo Lopes a ride with no salary, good bonuses, a good bike, and he turned it down. I could be wrong.
When it's all said and done ?
2 pennys and a ball of lint.
From $0-six figures.
Really from paying for a ride to 6 or 7 figures(Kenny) in some cases.
The Shop
Free shipping: VITALMX
Luxon 4-Post Bar Mounts
$189.95 - $239.95
B level team, anywhere from paying 60-100k to getting paid 30-80k. 😂
Who’s paying? 😬🤔🤐
There are local pro's and regional racers that make a decent living or augment their income by staying local in the Pro or Money classes where they can dominate.
Those local pros are not making anything close to a decent “living.”
They might make rent or a mortgage payment every now and then, but they are also still making a real “living” during the week holding down a job that doesn’t involve a motorcycle.
The idea of people 'paying' for a ride is nothing new, there will be people out there who are lucky enough to have good personal sponsors, who will fund rides.
There comes a point where it is cheaper to 'pay' than to do it by yourself as a team.
And a lot of teams at all levels of two and 4 wheel sport only exist because this happens.
So a guy might be pulling down a 'wage' from a sponsor, while riding for not a lot of money.
I think thats what he means by "augment" their pay.
We have a local arenacross pro who rips named Collin Jurin and he is a blast to watch and overall a laid back guy who just makes more racing up in the local stuff even though he has qualified for a few night shows. Still works full time but gets a few decent little checks on the weekends.
CJ rips!
They still bring home more than all these wanna be’s
Oh yeah in the 90,s local racers made bank, 98 was the peak 95 to 03 was good too. Our Wi. Fast guy from West Allis st. Fair spot - Milwaukee . Told me he made 4,800 a week racing lake Geneva Fri night sx . Kawi flew Jimmy Gadis in for all 12or 15 rounds. Ezerins won the 125,250a championship included was a big gold trucker ring. Sunday they raced the nuclear series at Byron iL. Full gates . AX in winter , a little Florida winter series Floridas fast guy was pissed saying . Who the f is that Ezerins . He was unbeatable in money races more dominant than RC. He raced stock RM,s with MX Tech suspension . He didn’t hv a job . Remember 100k in 95 is equal to aprox 800k today if u compare it to things u buy. Bikes , tires , gear everything was free , gas was cheap . Even surgeries didn’t cost nothing. Now u hv 2 to 5 250a riders 30a can get 14 riders but u r not making a living off of that.
How much would Ferdnandez be making, surely more than $100k
I could see Justin Hill making around $50k and expenses paid
Josh Demuth was making 200k alone for arenacross 2001-2002. That was not counting any other races he was doing.
In AX and SX, I paid my guys weekly:
$150 travel stipend
$250 in race entries
$1,000 season completion bonus
$50/$40/$25 AX podium bonus per main, SX nightshow bonus, SX main bonus (I discontinued this and reinvested this cash into transport expenses and upgrades)
SX credential reimbursement
And I provided them:
1 built race bike
1 practice bike
Race day race gas (one of the biggest expenses second to transport fuel and hotels)
All parts for practice and racing, including tires
All gear
Race bike prep between rounds
Transportation
I'm still paying off some of the expenses of doing it, but, the memories are worth every penny.
Pit Row
I know of a kid who races the GT arenacross series, a couple of the AMA arenacross races, and travels to money races and made 120k last year.
Those were different times though, plenty of guys made a solid living doing ax in the late 90's early 2000's.
A lot less than they, or their parents, spent to get to that level.
There are numerous factors involved than the teams paying them. It depends on the level of rider of course, but someone making mains even sometimes can earn a couple grand a week during SX, plus gear, boot, helmet $ and manufacturer contingency. If those deals were done well, they could be in for several more thousand.....multiplied by 17 rounds is around 50-70K. If they do have a salary it's on top of that, and then if bikes and expenses are paid even better. This would not include off season races out outdoors so that is for 3-4 months.
Think about someone like Kyle Chisholm for example. Guarantee he is consistently earning 100K plus with expenses paid with all things included and maybe 200.
And the main at Anaheim 2!
I raced Lake Geneva SX for several years. Mainly as a wannabe/never was. But it was a great track. Everyone was happy and winning unless Junior showed up. Then it was who'll finish a distant second. Rode/practiced at Mary's track in Antioch and Junior would show up with his new Suzuki's and just friggin destroy the track. He probably made decent money. Owns or owned and AX team from what I knew.
Is that net or gross?
I always wanted to see a competitive dude who can clean up locally and regionally do a YouTube video where they hit every high paying local race in a year and document how much they can make racing out of a van all factors considered. Instead of placing 21st or 22nd at most supercross rounds, could you make a lot more money chasing high payout local and specialty races and make a decent living?
Off topic but on pulp Matthes said Ferry made 25K for his regional SX championship. His gear deal was 12K. I thought that was pretty wild… gear deal half as much as the championship. Now these guys get 500K for the championship.
Not the exact question but still pretty interesting
https://youtu.be/l5VJKObeFr0?si=F0lcAU1IXIkN8YD5
When he was a factory Suzuki rider I heard he broke & plated his collar bone 3or4 times during sx. Then Suzuki didn’t hv a contract for him his 2nd yr. In 98 I went to Byron on a wed in my box van , practiced all week . Fri Jr was doing a Mx school with the Garro bros . I watched JR on his cr250 do a section , listened in , etc. JR had Chad Johnson living with him training him then. Chad was 125, 250 b dominating he politely put a elbow on me . I twisted the forks stuffing a rut & was looking for a spot to pull off. Ezerins dominated 125,250 a with huge leads. I remember a iL. Rider giving JR a hands up like why are u not winning. He was on it feet flying off the pegs hitting the whoops . Hoffmaster just came back from Cali. Had a full pc bike & was on espn pre x games @ Vegas speedway . A lot of extra money to to be made even 125 c 200 bucks from Suzuki, 250 for 1 st from goat goggles payout back to 3rd. Etc . Best race I ever saw was b4 that at Aztalan. Tommy lines up besides Ezerins they where side by side a lot . Word was Tommy was taking over in 98 never happened all yr .
Just a bit outside...
Please check your math and time value of money. $100k in 1995 is worth about $208k today.
Post a reply to: What's Riding For A Non Factory Team Pay