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You're the Boss, DC.
They've done it for years - that gives them no right to continue to do so. Get team members / rider family members, back behind the fences, and only in designated signalling areas.
Photoshopped?
But, undoubtedly, she's pictured on the dirt, and I've seen her ( and plenty of other GFs / spouses besides courses), many times. Though bulltacogeuse's picture from behind the riders show her there. Cripes she looks tiny, but other pictures of her have never shown her to be that Lilliputian.
Once again, she shouldn't be out there - back in pit row, or a designated signalling area. She's a cool young lady, but not part of the race.
It just makes it so 'amateur hour', and I've had many friends / family members that are not particularly interested in the sport, when watching with me, asking why 'towellies' and others are allowed out on the courses.
The Shop
2016
2015
2015
and just since it struck me as odd, she is wearing the same skirt in a 2015 pic, too:
And how is it reasonable that some riders are allowed to have support crew and girlfriends/wives roaming the entire track and others are not ?
Exactly what is that status called, and where are the guidelines that define it?
Is it a contract dollar amount? Energy drink sponsorship?
Is there a password or a secret handshake?
Everyone was waving towels and throwing water on riders on hot days; it was awesome to be a fan or a rider. Now it is so homogenized and sanitized it's just not the same sport except for local tracks that haven't knuckled under to AMA rules.
Fantastic track prep here.
And get off my grass dammit.
http://www.motohistory.net/news2012/news-dec12.html
Tom Mueller:
"One thing I can state clearly about those earlier days of American motocross - the action was up close and personal for both the media and fans.
Check out this shot of Broc Glover putting a bead on Steve Wise, as the pair snakes through a slight right hander. Two greats in the sport, Glover went on to multiple championships and Wise became a flat track and road racing star.
As a journalist for Cycle News, I had full reign on every track and was allowed to shoot from any vantage point available. And the fans? Well, they had almost the same opportunity. I guess being a foot in front of the fence is better than a foot behind it, correct? It's fortunate there weren't more collisions in those days. Mix alcohol and spectating and it's probable a drunk could dart across the track at any moment.
But as I often profess, that was then, and this is now. As facilities progressed, the sport attained a higher level of restricted access to "hot" areas. Corporate sponsors and VIP suites became the order of the day. Modern motocross isn't better or worse, it's just different. That's a good thing to remember when we reminisce and remember.
I was commenting about the strangeness, to me, of the picture itself. As I said, the bikes and riders are quite large, yet they are in the background, and she, in the relative foreground, is tiny.
Perhaps there are lenses that can do these types of things - hell there's now helmet cams that enable you to choose the vision you can see when you replay them.
Mathilde seems a wonderful Woman, dedicated her her husband and his career, and she's no Trophy Wife that has hooked onto a star. But she, and so many others should not be out there - just officials / medical attendants and certified Media, that take on the risk themselves (the media guys).
Swann, I think he was looking over because his tire washed out a bit RIGHT before this pic. You can see it on the video.
Our local-est track does not allow people out by the track because someone got hit and his leg broken. The 50 parents can get out there for that race, and that is it.
Pit Row
I totally get ya. My personal belief is that photo is fake. Like you, I have no doubt she was there, but I think someone has an axe to grind and used photoshop to put a fine edge on that axe.
I was there last summer for the race - hadn't been since the late 1970s - and was fairly startled at the difference in areas to spectate. Should not have been, but I was.
I miss those days when we were right on the edge of the track. I still get to do that at my local track here in Florida, and I don't miss a chance.
In the pic above, that Swann posted, the shadows from the bike are on one side, and hers is on the other.
This is why I always think you have to be careful with how "mainstream" things get, because once you sell out there's no going back. What looks more fun to spectate at, the race above or a race today?
Post a reply to: Why are There Towel Waving People Right by the Track?