Amateur Motocross Pricing Itself Out?

I stopped doing track days on the road courses and came back to MX because it is so much less expensive. 

For MX, there is a big gap between what is actually required, and what some people do. Do what you can and just enjoy riding. 

As long as the middle class has access to credit, the sport won't price itself out. People will spend money to ride and race. 

I just raced a regular Thor Showdown Series round at Lincoln Trail the weekend before last.  They had over 1000 entries.  They’ve had to buy more land from the farmer next door to park everyone this year.  I’d say motocross is doing A-Ok from where I sit.  30 years ago, gate fees were $10 and race entries were $25.  Now gate fees are $15 and race entries $35.  While inflation sucks, a little bit is inevitable.  As long as we can keep the insurance dogs at bay, motocross will be around for a long time.

I understand your frustration OP.  Around here the parents don't send their kid to a facility, they buy the facility. They run 5-6 bikes per year and get 200+ hrs of seat time. No hate on them, but I can't keep up with that. My son understands, and it's a good life lesson for him. 

Once I learned to race within my budget, the joy came back. We race local and district.  I do not take off work for a week and spend a few thousand to get 20th at a national or 8th at a LL qualifier. We run two bikes (one new, one high hour rebuilt) and  ride 100 hrs per year. It's what we can afford. I'm not stressed out. We get plenty of competition, all the memories, and none of the frustration (well, not as much frustration).

Idk how to fix much but I got a brand new KX450 for 5500 on Facebook marketplace (more to be had) and buy everything half off for the most part on EBay 

I gave you specific examples of insurance costs and you still didn't want to believe it.

No I told you that if we can’t get anything better going than that, we’re screwed. End of story. Straight up. 

Just race locally and if you’re feeling froggy go check out some other smaller “local” races outside your area. It’s good for them to race some unfamiliar competition on unfamiliar tracks. 
If your kids aren’t absolutely dominating your local series week in and week out, it’s pointless to go race the big amateur races. It will just be a waste of money and time. 

Lorretta Lynn's and Mini O's cost is outrageous then add in all the training, rebuilds, possible new bike can make this sport seem very costly but definitely not the most expensive amateur motorsport to be in.  

I spend around $3000 a year for local and regional races that includes fees, hotel and fuel.  I do RCSX and LL's area and Regional qualifier only. I do travel to Georgia and S. Carolina for some races.  All local area races I drive to on race day mornings up 1.5 hr drive because I don't typically do Saturday practice. 

Chasing the dream for the kids does not mean you have to travel to all major events but a handful of regional races and any local national event can get your kid noticed with top 5 finishes to possible have a manufacture or team to get in touch with you.

Yep, spend your money how you will but people that try to raise money using a gofundme so they can try LL when they aren’t even dominating chicken licks RR get a big ol face palm from me

That’s not the way I remember it dawg.  

But hey, we both know that your arrogant ass would NEVER admit to not being perfect.  You’re way to insecure for that.   

Can’t wait to see what topic you are absolutely fucking clueless about that you educate us on next.  It’s anybody’s guess. 

Race off-road instead. In CA the NCGP series is a great time, fitness outruns built bikes and the races are 45min so plenty of seat time if you can ride 2-3 classes. I also race a local GP series once in a while (SRA) where it’s even less expensive. 

Every form of motor sport racing is pricing itself out unfortunately slowly but surely.

Off Road enduro racing has the best value wise in terms of actual seat time.

Hell even mtb racing has gotten retarded!

I’m 42, so forgive me for the “back in my day” side of things. But I remember driving my 16 year old self to Mosier Valley and paying $5 to the lady at the railroad crossing to ride for the day. I think it was up to $15-20 for night practice by the time they closed. Bikes were half the cost of what they are now, but so was everything else. Pretty much everything is double the price of what it was 20 years ago.

Listening to Keefer talk about this very thing on Pulp last night, and how he can’t get a straight answer of what most of these people do for a living made me think. I really think a lot of these guys come from families with generational wealth. A fraction are families that work extremely hard for what they have. There are lots of rich families out there, I’m just not part of one!

Excellent post…💯👍🏻

My wife took my son to riverfront in marysville today to get told it was 55 dollars for minis to practice and more for big bikes .

Needless to say it was a light turnout .

I had checked the dirt bike prices are in line with prices from the 90s, when you consider inflation. Also, there is probably some merit to say getting deals on new gear and parts is better than ever, if you wait. I, for example, saved $300 AUD on 10 pairs of gloves (I burn through them riding MT . Don't be a fool and pay RRP!

Regarding the other costs, yes, going racing, entering races and series, insurance (if you have it) and a motorhome are expensive. But it is a sliding scale. Football can be expensive. Tennis is fairly expensive. I think a sensible parent ought to be real and go yes, my kid has a special talent OR lets keep it fun, and not bankrupt our family on the 3% gamble our kid will become a factory rider.

Motorsports has always been a rich man sport. As others have said; road bike, go karting etc. are all significantly more expensive than dirt bike. Ironically, dirt bikes is where the rider can make a significant difference too.

You don’t HAVE to have multiple brand new bikes. You don’t HAVE to get the newest most expensive pant/jersey combo. You don’t HAVE to run VP at $20 dollars a gallon(or whatever it is). You don’t HAVE to have the ultimate camper/ toy hauler/ trailer set up, and you damn sure don’t HAVE to chase a Loretta’s ticket. A used truck and two stroke is your friend. I have seen guys running all of the latest and greatest and Junior still gets smoked by a ten year old bike running pump gas pitting out of an old ford ranger. Is it still expensive? Yes, but it’s a hell of a lot cheaper than keeping up with the Jones’s. You can go either way, but it’s ultimately your choice.

If you race the goal isn’t to get to do big races. It’s to learn life lessons, spend time with family and have fun and if you happen to do big races too during that then it’s ok. If each of those first three isn’t happening it’s probably being done for the wrong purpose because let’s face it most likely they aren’t going to make a living being a dirtbike racer.

This for sure.  I have a toy hauler, but my family isn’t really that interested in spending long weekends at the track with me, so I just get up early Sunday morning, load my mostly stock bike in the back of my pickup truck and drive out to the track.  I pay a $15 gate fee and sign up for 2 $35 races.  For less than $100, I get a full day of banging bars with the boys and bench racing with all those same guys in the pits.  If my son ever gets bit by the bug, I’d still be spending less than $200 per day.  I’m surrounded by palatial motorhomes and families spending exponentially more money than I am.  At the end of the day, while they are busy cleaning up and parking their golf carts in their enclosed trailers, I’m already halfway home.  With the exception of the Loretta’s money grab, motocross can be as cheap or as expensive as you want to make it.  
 

This is exactly right. I raced used KX500s from the late 80s through the late 90s out of mini trucks for very little money. My plastic was usually zip tied together, my gear was clearance rack stuff, but it worked. Did one or two races a month, everything from little MX tracks, to a bunch of GPs, to D37 Hare and Hounds. 

If you want to race, it can be done on a pretty small budget. 

I think the best bang for the buck is the GP races, 45 min race thru a nice, prepped wood/track, just show up at the time of your race, race then go home.

I raced off-road every weekend and rode once a week as a broke college student working at the local dealership just a handful of years ago. I took take off tires from people that I could flip and reuse, I carpooled to the races every weekend with a friend in his van, slept in my truck at the track, or was lucky enough to bum a spare bed or couch in friend’s campers every now and then. I spent a few hours framing my bike once a month to clean and grease everything, never had to replace linkage, swingarm, or steering stem bearings because I took care of them. I soaked my  standard MX chain in gasoline and then soaked it in cheap gear oil I reused to keep it as clean as possible and last as long as I could make it. Any aftermarket part I wanted I waited and bought used on here or eBay.

The only bigger expense I had was having to buy 110 fuel, because my 125 had a decent amount of work done. With the money I saved everywhere else though, I really didn’t mind and I was able to make it work. My truck was 20 years old, my bike was 5-6 years old at the time, I had one pair of black Fasthouse pants and would buy jerseys on clearance because you could make anything match with black pants. Plenty of my Friday nights at the races were spent changing tires for a few bucks for other people, sacrificing my sleep to reimburse my gate or entry fee. We weren’t rich growing up, my dad did well for himself and we were lucky kids, but my parents never failed to instill in us the values of taking pride in what you own, taking care of it, and making every dollar stretch as far as it can. 

When my 125 catastrophically blew up around then, I had barely enough money to cover the hard parts and then had to wait a few weeks to send my cylinder out for a replating because I didn’t have the money. This older gentleman that worked at the dealership was offering to help out, or the Friday before I’d leave to go to the races he’d slide me over a bottle of 927 or something small to help out. I always appreciated the shit out of that. After a few weeks of my bike being down, he brought in his YZ125 with maybe 10 hours on it and told me to take it home and ride it however long I needed it. I took even better care of that bike than I did my own for time it was in my possession. I’ve made a promise to myself that when I’m older and I’m in the situation to help someone like that, I will always remember how that man kept me riding and I will pay it forward. 

As so many here have said, racing can be as affordable or expensive as you want to make it. I've raced used bikes since the '70s and didn't buy me a brand new bike until 2018. Can i afford a new bike every year? Actually, yes. But I run a 7 year old bike that is 99% stock, drive a 20 year old pickup to the track, and love every minute of it. It's a fun hobby that doesn't need to cost a fortune! 

As for the amateur racing thing? I think it's for parents who are really bad at math and career planning. Even if you have one of the top 10% of riders in the country, chances are they could make more money as a trade laborer or whatever job you choose to insert here, vs what privateers make racing the AMA Pro circuit. I would advocate to keep racing simple and fun, and avoid all the stress of having to "make it" in order to pay the bills.    

Yes, it is. We are wrapping up 15 years of racing as my son is going in the military and I have aged out. I expect to avoid at least $25,000 a year in spend as a result, and we didn't chase any kind of big titles. Bikes, gear, fuel, travel, food, RV/hotels make any race weekend at least $500 to go, and often more. The last 2 years in a row we did over 100 race gate drops each season, so we were really committed. I'm sure I've spent over $250,000 on moto in the last 15 years. I don't regret a dime of it - we made memories and have a connection that is irreplaceable. 

To some extent I'm glad it's over. We had our share of ambulance rides, broken bones, and too many concussions, and I feel we got away lucky considering the violence of some of his crashes. After a weekend like this past at Washougal, where so many were injured, some severely, I'm really glad we are done. 

Between the cost to the racer, the insurance issues, and loss of riding areas due to population growth, I'm afraid this sport is going to cease to exist. Pessimistic yes, but not unrealistic. 

I'll probably get slammed for saying this, but Loretta's has hurt local motocross. I was caught up in it myself and qualified and raced there nine times, but it has all but killed local series races. If you set up a series you have to stay off area qualifier and regional dates which usually means no races around here in June which is prime time and not many in the Spring. They try to prep their tracks muddy and rutted "to get you ready for Loretta's son". Training camps have taken the place of races with many racing very little except for qualifiers and Loretta's if they make it. If they do make it, they are so burned out they sit out most of the Fall to rest up. I'm old now and it doesn't affect me much, but hate it for the young ones that can't enjoy it like I did when I was young. Too much pressure now because dad mortgaged the house to fund a toyhauler, paid for a trainer, and spent $1000s on the road because his kid is going to be the next Eli or Jett.

Wow I never heard of 55 to ride.  10 on wed 20 for Thursday to Sunday on probably the best sand riding park at Dyacruse - Wi. Rapids.   I think it’s ran by the township or county of Rome, Wi.  They’ve added numerous miles of trails.  A bunch of us left The Hixton cmj mud race & drove there.  We burned up the hilly track but mostly ran the trails threw the woods & hills a lot of fun brake checking each other & just having a blast riding . dragging the bars in the sand bowl . The place is a blast.  There’s a hill climb with a high Forrestory tower to climb.  I said to my pal let’s hit the lake for a quick swim b4 we get there.  We rolled in with my Box van a Hot tanned blonde in a yellow bikini walks up . Next thing u know she’s splashing water on herself . My friend like what’s going on . I said I don’t know just enjoy it this is cool.  Cheap hotels in town strip club too. A lot of iL. Riders spend the weekend there.  Our local track for 200 annual membership is mostly clay if it rains.  There’s a free sand track 2 exits north of gb.  Leaded 110 fuel at the pump in the area . 

Up north in April it’s wayy too cold to race the quaifers . The ones that do spend time at a training camp in the se.  The quaifers should start in June .  There’s 125 kids that hit training camps in the se to race locally.  When the weather warms up they hv a local pro train them for the 125 class & 125 jr. Locals ride & chase points so there competitive with training camp kids.  Like rt now there’s no way I could get into the top 7 in points if I raced all the races a lot of sat, sun double headers.  Great for everyone’s speed I think Wi. Is competitive on sand tracks with fl., Mn., Mi, & New England now.  Who,s the fastest I think it comes down to the rider .