@PING 5

@PING is brought to you by Troy Lee Designs, Eks Brand, and VP Racing.

Congrats to Oldmoto, who has the top question this week. They will receive a Vital MX shirt or hat, whichever they would prefer. As for next week, we will have a prize from our @PING supporters: Troy Lee Designs, Eks Brand, or VP Racing. Keep those questions coming and ask a unique question to win!

Ping,
Who is in your Mount Rushmore of greatest racers to never win a championship?
oldmoto

Oldmoto,
You have to be a little more specific here. This comes up a lot in bench racing sessions and Bradshaw and Windham get thrown out first, almost without exception. But both of those guys have 125 supercross championships, so I don’t include them on that list. If you don’t want to count 125 supercross, then what about Guy Cooper? Well, he’s got a 125-national championship to his credit, so I don’t include him. If you’re talking about a premier class supercross or motocross title, then that is a different category, and K-Dub and Bradshaw come back into the discussion. Maybe Larry Ward and Guy Cooper to round it out? I don’t like to discount 125 [250f] titles, so I prefer the discussion to include only those without professional titles. In that scenario, Larry Ward and Guy Cooper are back in the mix, along with Robbie Reynard and Danny Magoo Chandler, in my opinion. Ward had an amazing career with multiple supercross and outdoor wins, Magoo was untouchable on a global stage at times, Reynard was one of very few riders who could run down and beat RC in his prime, and Cooper was in the mix for the better part of a decade with factory rides. These are always fun to compare though, and very dependent on the era you grew up in… leave your four riders in the comments!
- PING

Ping,
Never been much of a fan of podcasts, but on my drive to the Dallas SX this year I listened to the RC episode of The Whiskey Throttle Show. Gotta say, awesome stuff man. Now, every time I'm on a long drive, walking/running at my local park, or doing house chores/yardwork I load up an episode and let it ride. I'm currently on the Dean Wilson episode and got a kick out of the Patrick Potato shirt. Where can I find that if they're still available? If not, any chance those will come back for a second run? Keep up the good work, thanks!
Roflcopter726

Roflcopter,
Glad you’re enjoying them! The Patrick Potato shirt isn’t in production anymore, but maybe we’ll bring it back for a limited run again. In the meantime, we have a bunch of new shirts in all sorts of colors on our new website: www.whiskeythrottleshow.com 

Our latest show is with human performance coach, Robb Beams, and it is filled with so much information about training, health and diet. Have a listen next time you’re mowing your lawn. And if we do another run of Patrick Potato shirts, we’ll post it on our IG page and on our website. Thanks for listening!
- PING

Ping!
Thanks for taking my question. Actually, two questions. Your day job as a Fireman/Paramedic… is the dept. good with your riding/involvement with dirt bikes? And the big question, I know this has been beaten to death, but who would need to take the lead on getting the 2-strokes back into competing into the outdoor lites class? How come nobody hears of any progress IF there's been any talks? Thanks for your time
FTR817

FTR817,
My department has been very cool about me riding in my free time. It says something about the culture of the department when they start telling you what you can and can’t do in your free time, assuming it’s not illegal or immoral. My department, San Bernardino County Fire, has been incredible. 

The straight-up 250cc displacement class is a sensitive subject at the pro level because neither Feld, nor MX Sports, wants to alienate Honda, Kawasaki and Suzuki, none of whom produce two-strokes. They point to the US road racing situation, where Honda took their ball and went home, which was the death knell for that sport in America, for all intents and purposes. Is it worth upsetting the apple cart for a handful of privateers and local riders who would use the rule to have competitive equipment at an affordable price? Perhaps a couple smaller teams would make the switch, but all the elite level teams would stay on four-strokes. For pro racing promoters, the answer is no. 

In my humble opinion, this has to start at the local and amateur level. Tell your local track owners and race promoters that you want to see all 250cc bikes competing together. If that starts getting traction it would be an easier transition to amateur nationals, and that could lead to a change at the highest level of racing. Until that movement starts growing, you will continue to hear deafening silence about the subject. There’s your call to action; let’s get to work!
- PING

Do you have burning questions that need answering? E-mail Ping at ping@vitalmx.com. Want more? Click the @PING tag below to quickly find all the previous columns.