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observeroffacts
6/28/2019 6:14pm
6/28/2019 6:14pm
Edited Date/Time
10/12/2021 2:06pm
If you’re a fast local pro, capable of running 35-40th at pro nationals and in turn make no money but spend a lot...
I’m curious if it’s possible to plan local/regional races every weekend for several months and make enough money to survive? Anyone heard of this? I know good sized races have purses of a couple thousand. If you’re able to sweep more often than not, could they potentially make 30-50k a year?
Is it just that people want to be in the ranks and decide not to strategize or is it simply not possible to profit from local races?
I’m curious if it’s possible to plan local/regional races every weekend for several months and make enough money to survive? Anyone heard of this? I know good sized races have purses of a couple thousand. If you’re able to sweep more often than not, could they potentially make 30-50k a year?
Is it just that people want to be in the ranks and decide not to strategize or is it simply not possible to profit from local races?
To be fair, many of the 35th place guys are just riding their local national. This only really applies to guys who travel a majority of the circuit.
1. I went to every county fair/local arenacross race which always pay big
2. I was getting double contingency from American Suzuki
3. All my parts were free, bikes were “leased” from Suzuki
4. It was pre recession and average turnouts were 15-20 A riders so payback was healthy.
Could it be done today? Not in Missouri or Kansas. Perhaps east of the Mississippi yes. Justin Starling is probably top journeyman racer in 2019. He’s all over the world doing every race possible to not have a 9-5 and I respect him so much for it.
Pro racing is where the money is when you’re signed. International racing is where the money is when you aren’t.
Local racing is where the money is when you can’t travel.
I ended up in Elko nevada one weekend after driving all night and made like 900 bucks for 2 nights. That was a very good payout weekend, Did a few nationals and supercrosses and that was cool, but we were regional guys trying to make enough to keep going. Lasted about 9 or 10 years. got older, got jobs, got banged up, etc....
The Shop
All you guys that did the journeyman motocross life probably have so many stories that several books
could be written. Effing awesome,
I have seen some guys make it work for awhile, but in every case there was a dealer who decided to take them on as a project.
Ps I know that that is sweeping every race you enter, not likely
Kind of beside the point, but this thread topic reminded me of that video a while back where Mike Alessi was hustling locals for holeshot money.
and let’s all be honest if you could work at the local Motoshop make estimation 25-30000/yr and then make $26000 in racing (half the $52000 guess I made) I believe that most of us on the vital would take that lifestyle as a 18-26 year old🤷🏻♂️🤷🏻♂️🤷🏻♂️
and I’m NOT a local pro or ever have been
Kevin Walker had 3 bikes and raced 3 classes and received Yamaha contingency for each one and he won a lot of the races. Years ago lined up next to him at Camp Coker and asked him how he did at the Charlotte SX assuming he had raced it. He said why would pay several hundred dollars for a Pro license and travel a long ways to hit a Pro race just to make a couple hundred bucks when I can race out here in 3 classes and make a LOT MORE $$$$ ?
A LOT of the West Coast guys never chased the "National" dream because they could race at least 4 times a week in SoCal, bikes were cheap/free, and the hop up shops were flush with sponsorships.
For that matter, in the Southeast where I was, at least once a month we had someone that was offering $2500-5000 Pro purses at "local" races.
When you figure in inflation and what that 5 grand purse would be worth in today's dollars (a little over 22 grand), you get a great idea of how far the sport has fallen since then.
It wasn't uncommon for a good local pro to make over a grand a week back then if they swept the 250 & Open Class. That's the equivalent of $4500 today. Extrapolated over a year that's $234,000 of today's dollars. And that's before any contingency money.
You can thank lawyers & politicians for the decline in the sport.
Pit Row
Would love to hear some stories from all the guys that did this back in the day, livin the dream!
Get a part time job (work in the morning, train in the afternoon, or fulltime in the offseason etc), live with your parents or somewhere else for free, and somehow get a dealer to really like you and borrow the bikes and a bunch of stuff from him. Land some sponsors and you should be able to have a nice time and race for a bunch of years
2. Gain an audience (at least 50k)
3. Get sponsors that want to sell to that audience
I’m sure this model will be more common going forward. For example, would Hill and Hansen be making as much money now if it wasn’t for Instagram? I don’t think so.
If it works for random “models” selling fit tea, it can work for local racers selling sprockets and air filters.
But I like the idea above about the post where you get some followers on social media and a couple of good sponsors that pay a sponsorship base pay plus "commission" off of products that they are repping. Get a discount code or some form of a code that tracks how much the rider is contributing to sales/profits. In the right scenario, I could see that earning some cash. The best thing about it is, its 100% passive income. It's not like the rider is out there doing a 9-5 job to earn that money. The key is reaching the audience in volume (Dean Wilson with CBD oil as an example) and it being 100% passive income. Not a bad gig in the right conditions.
Life has evolved from the 70s and 80s - in some ways for the worse, in others for the better. Have to change with the times.
Gared Steinke is good at this too, he's always cashing in at small town races
Also I don’t have a nice set of tits or an ass anyone wants to see- and that’s why fit tea works for ig models.
Your cost of living need to be efficient and relatively low.
At the end of 2003 i needed to make a decision, it was either stop chasing the dream or return to region racing, I chose the latter. At 30 something, i landed a legit team green support ride. This opened up the door to making money again. I made $27k in Kawi contingency in 2007. I chased every race i could if it would make me $5. My expenses were fuel, food and entries. I would sleep in the van or stay with friends on the road.
There was a 10 day span of racing in TX and because of Kawi contingency , i made $9,800 including track money. I worked my ass off and hustled for every dollar.
I loved SX and Pro moto, but the money wasn’t consistent enough to get ahead, with my skill set.
I had 3 National numbers, made big bike mains in SX, but i was broke! Going back to regional racing was the best decision i could have made.
We had some good battles at those contingency races around the south.
There are still dealers out there willing to help out A riders, but it takes a while to develop the relationship and the ability to sell oneself. And you have to be fully committed to racing locally/regionally, as dealers see zero return on national participation.
https://racerxonline.com/2010/10/01/where-are-they-now-rick-ryan
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