Wanna Be Like NASCAR...Really?

In this essay, my first in the “Do you really want motocross to be more like NASCAR” series, I will focus on something that many seem to feel will automatically have a positive impact on the sport of motocross. The overwhelming consensus on message boards, web-sites and in magazines is that we would all be much better off if only motocross would grow up and be like NASCAR. This thinking has a narrow minded focus. That focus is money. Though there are possibly many other things about NASCAR to aspire to (I don’t know what they are), let us not kid ourselves. The one stirring up the motocross masses in MONEY. Money is associated with TV coverage, huge crowds, spit and polish facilities, pits crammed with beautiful 18 wheelers and hot women. The other thing that money is associated with is, well, money.

I think we need to ask ourselves who really stands to benefit from a large cash influx. Have you ever not ridden your motorcycle because there aren’t any $1000 box seats at your local track? Have you ever bowed out of a moto because your track didn’t have $12 paper cups of beer and awesome chicken wings? Paved parking? If you are a racer, have you ever even refused to go WATCH a race because the facility lacked these things? I hope not. See, it is difficult to make a case for much positive that comes about for the average racer (99.9% of us are the average racer) due to the influx of big money. When you think about it, does the average racer benefit at all from the kind of growth that many hope for today and have for 20+ years?

Over the coming months I will write about some of the specific changes we’ve actually seen in motocross over the years. Some I think are good for the sport and others I think are bad. I hope to make you think about these changes and what they mean to you and the sport that makes you unique. I hope to make you think about a perspective that does not assume that higher cost = higher satisfaction. I think you will see that most of these “improvements” will fall under the category of trying to be more like NASCAR.

Not Better - Modern Jumps

It is common today on practice days and race mornings to see riders lined up on the side of the track to take a look at particular sections. This has always been the case. In days past we looked closely at muddy areas, steep up-hills, nasty down-hills and rough sections of track to find the best line to pick our way through the gnarl. Today those riders are observing obstacles with much more at stake. They are looking at obstacles with very severe circumstances if they are not navigated successfully. Enormous leaps with steep penalties for small miscalculations. “Should I, or shouldn’t I” is the question all riders must now ponder. Every rider from novice to national caliber professional must at times consider jumping a distance with which they are not comfortable. Of course, nobody must jump anything. But this is racing and riders race to win.

The sense of accomplishment you get if you try and succeed in clearing a huge jump is quite high. You have now pushed your limit and have found a new one. For most young riders this game of incremental risk continues each week, each season. Sometimes we don’t successfully clear the jumps. We can laugh with our friends about how we almost “ate it”. These small failures offer little deterrence for most competitors. Other times they are much more serious. My point is that all of us misjudge our abilities at times. If you misjudge a muddy section or nasty up-hill climb, the circumstances are usually more embarrassing than they are life threatening or career ending. Of course, finding a fast, clean line on an up-hill is a much more subtle success, less impressive to spectators. It will be evident in your lap-time by a few tenths of a second if anyone is looking closely enough to notice. It doesn’t always make for a cool picture on your Facebook page. It just doesn’t look that cool to the non-racer.

I'm grown a bit tired of pictures of motocross stars jumping.  Personally, I would much rather see pictures of a rider though a tough corner, a rough section of track or simply ON THE GAS and ON THE GROUND. Not only are the big jumps overly dangerous, to me they are quite boring. Watching everyone in the “A” class clear the same gap is not impressive. I’m so nonplussed when I look through motocross magazines and web-sites at endless images of riders in the air--body and bike contorted so as to “scrub” off enough speed and not miss the landing ramp on the downside of the jump. Nobody wants to flatland a 100 foot gap. Picture after picture, page after page of riders in the most boring part of a motocross track…the air. The air is where you can take a breather, pull a tear-off or adjust your clutch. The air over a motocross track is the most non-motocross part of a motocross track. No bumps, no ruts, no acceleration, no deceleration. How many pictures can I look at of a rider and a motorcycle in the most restful part of the race? Give me pictures (and tracks) of riders working their hardest, using the engine, using the suspension and using the brakes of these amazingly engineered motorcycles. I love to look at the terrain, the hillside, the muddy valley, the corner so chewed up all day that there have been four “best lines” since the first moto. Your girlfriend might not get it. Your friends on Facebook might not understand. But, you and the others in the small fraternity that have lined up 40 wide in the most demanding sport of all will understand.  We need to start asking ourselves if we are happy that motocross has turned into a “spectator sport” or if we can be satisfied, as we have been throughout the history of motocross, with knowing that we are part of a participation sport, where only those that have done it really understand what "it" is.  Do we ride for the people in the stands (which for 99.9% of us are very few) or do we ride for the physical and mental challenge that most spectators will never come close to understanding? I know what drew me to motocross and I think it was the same thing that attracted those guys to carve through the European hills on those heavy pieces of iron just after World War II.

Why Better Motocross?

I created this blog only a couple of days ago. I have lots of thoughts and feelings around the sport of motocross. I like to share my opinions when I feel strongly about something. Motocross is something that I’ve always loved. I think I have a somewhat unique perspective on the sport. In my total of 36 years in and around motocross I have had 2 very separate periods of intense involvement and long periods of various levels of observation without direct participation. As an 11 year old, with a few years of Tecumseh mini-bike riding under my helmet I tried spinning some laps around a motocross track. Finally, not yet 13 years old, I raced in a real race. I was on a spanking new YZ-80 as was damned near every other kid on that northern Indiana natural terrain track. My first race was a snowy/rainy March day. I rode the mini “A” class. I was eligible for the “B” class but I don’t think my dad knew that or maybe he just wanted me to face a stiffer challenge. I’m pretty sure I fell in the exact same mud hole each and every lap of both motos. I’m also pretty sure I finished last, but I did finish. I raced about a dozen times that first year on tracks all over the Midwest from Byron Illinois to Red Bud Michigan. My dad and I were hooked. The next year I hit about double that number of events. I was improving. Like most burgeoning motocross racers, I spent every waking moment riding or wishing I was riding. I rode nearly every day. I mean that. Nearly every day even in the midst of the long Chicago Winters and rainy springs. Soon I was in the 100cc A class and starting to show some skills. I started winning races. Eventually I was racing further from home routinely. Florida, Georgia, Ohio, all over the Midwest. Over the years I won my share of races in the 100, 125 and 250 A classes, sometimes against some pretty stiff competition. I was never a prodigy nor did I ever feel like I had a career in motocross, but I was a fast local guy. At age 18 I blew a knee out pretty good and knew it was time to start thinking about growing up. At the time ACL surgeries were pretty sketchy. I opted not to have surgery. I rehabbed my knee and headed for the Air Force. I spent the next 12 years in the Air Force forging a career and building a family. Not a lot of time and money were available for motocross but I kept up with the sport the best I could. When I think back, I recall that I never even bought a motocross shirt or hat in all that time. Motocross is more of a participant sport and I would have felt a little funny pretending that I was one. Eventually I got out of the Air Force and settled back down in the Midwest. I waited another 12 years or so and bought another new motocross bike.  Twenty-four years between motos.  Once again it was full bore ahead for me. I got a nice enclosed trailer and spent every weekend possible riding at some of the best tracks the area has to offer. I live about 50 minutes from Red Bud, 20 minutes from a new gem called Motoland and within 2 hours or so of many other tracks. I raced or rode at least once every weekend. Sometimes even 3 races in a single weekend. I was riding the 40+ class on a YZ125 against mostly 450s. Over the next few years I regained my comfort with riding I got smoked some and I won some. Eventually I had a bad and stupid fall where I kicked the bike into a false neutral over a pretty good sized jump with a gnarly, sandy, whooped out landing. The crash left me with a damaged liver and ultimately missing a kidney. I was 45 and smart enough to know that it was time to quit again.

So, my unique perspective is that I got 2 separate and distinct snapshots of the sport from the perspective of a very active participant. I saw with great clarity the things that had changed and the things that had stay the same. Over the course of this motocross rebirth I had witnessed an interesting behavior in myself which is very subtle but says something of human behavior. When I raced as a kid I had long hair. I would have to pull my hair back a bit, fling my head back and slide the helmet on to keep the hair out of my eyes and face. In my second career I was running a buzz cut down to about 1/8 inch. The first time I went to put on my racing helmet as a fully grown man my instinct was to push back my hair and tilt my head back. It was unconscious and without reflection. I noticed it right away and chucked a bit. For the rest of my second career I remained amazed at the subtle behaviors that had stayed with me despite 25 years of dormancy. I always thought that was pretty cool and very interesting. What I mostly learned was that while there was a huge continuity break in my partcipation as a motocross racer, there was at the same time a feeling of absolute continuity that allowed me to experience the evolution of motocross as if over night.

My two distinct experiences with participating in motocross allowed me to see the changes and the similarities with an almost eerie clarity. It was like I never left but was transported to the future. All of a sudden I was on a modern bike, on modern tracks and constantly buying parts on the internet. This clarity allowed me, or even forced me, to evaluate the state of the sport today as compared with how it was a quarter century ago. Like a motocross Rip Van Winkle.

This blog will be where I voice those observations. I think my approach will be to alternate my postings to comment on changes that I feel are better for the sport, not better for the sport, or undecided. I’ll touch everything from tracks, rules, equipment, media coverage, demographics and maybe a few more. To start with you can see my first two postings were somewhat critical views on modernity. “Supercross only” contracts and riders were unthinkable in the early days, so that got my attention. Of course, it is becoming apparent to most of us today that we have nearly a crisis of injuries and death in our inherently dangerous sport. This is disturbing to me and I’m happy to see some professional riders fed up enough to consider making changes. We need voices of reason in our sport, especially on a topic with such obvious importance as safety. So, tune in, read on, get pissed, agree, disagree, whatever, but think about what you love about racing motocross.

Can We Make Motocross Safer?

We all saw recently that Grant Langston and Chad Reed are starting a rider's representative group. I couldn't be happier. I don't know those guys nor do I pretend to speak for them to any degree, but we're all motivated by the same thing. We need to do something about the safety of our sport. We've taken the "extreme sport" status far enough. The tendency of humanity is to push all limits. Motocrossers are part of humanity. If a little is good then more is better and lots more is better yet. We've pushed our track designs over the years. Outdoor tracks have supercross obstacles (and worse) and supercross tracks are more brutally penalizing than ever.

As someone that has been involved in the sport since the mid 70s, I've seen many changes, good and bad. The modern motocross track is made for fans and sponsors outside of the mainstream of the sport. The average non-racer, energy drink consumer wouldn't get excited by watching the RedBud grass track race or races on any of the tracks that popped up all over the world for the first 35 years of this sport's history. By making the tracks more appealing to outside sponsorship, we've made them less appealing to the majority of actual riders. In the late 70s motocross bike sales were much higher than they are today. Tracks in the midwestern U.S., where I live, routinely had rider turnouts 2 or 3 times larger than typically seen today. The likely reasons are many (cost?), but certainly the severity of the tracks for the average rider has to be one culprit. The many riders that filled up the novice class gates historically are scared away from the sport because of the skill level it can require to make one safe lap. There really is no novice class like I remember it in the formative years of our sport. The class for real beginners is all but gone. Today's "C" class riders are clearing giant doubles and exhibiting skills far superior to the majority of the riders that filled the gates in past years. This is because many real entry level riders, and I mean adults, not 6 year olds, are afraid to even venture out on a track with intimidating jumps and a high possibility for great injury. This is bad for our sport. When you cut your supply of entry level riders you cut your possible supply of expert riders.

Perhaps more importantly is that parents are scared away. With the great television exposure of our "extreme" sport today, every parent of every 12 year old boy knows what motocross is, or thinks they do. When you tell a lay-person that you race motocross, the first thing they'll say is "that's the sport where you jump really high....that's crazy!" This alone scares away many responsible parents and their kids. Even when the tracks were primarily natural terrain the concept of letting your child race a dirt bike was prohibitively frightening for most parents. Think about all of your friends that are not (or were not) allowed to have a dirt bike. Do you think that the exposure of motocross on TV today as an extreme sport has helped or hurt the reputation of our sport as a safe pursuit for your child? Real motocross frustratingly shares its identity with freestyle jump contests where the single intent is to do something as dangerous as possible without crashing. Racers, on the other hand, are rewarded for riding the track as fast as they can while doing it as safely as possible. The reasons to compete or spectate in either can be quite different.

We need to do something with our sport to return the appeal to racers, not daredevils and outsiders. I would propose that we no longer allow jumps with landing ramps on motocross tracks. Go back to tracks where you can only jump as far as you are willing to flat-land or as far as the natural terrain will safely allow. The result will be the evaporation of the concept of a double/triple/quad. As a result, jump angles and heights will flatten dramatically, and the physical penalty of coming up short will go away as well. Sure, tabletops common on today's motocross track are a safer alternative than the high penalty true double jump, but still they encourage very high launch angles and jumps of great distances. Return to really rough tracks and longer motos that separate the talent and fitness that we all appreciate. Look at some old footage of Unadilla if you want to see a good example of a very rough track long before we cared so much about grooming motocross tracks. Such a change may sound drastic but it is not unprecedented in world class motorsports. One only needs to look at how the NHRA shortened the length of the drag strip from 1320 feet to 1000 feet for the fastest classes after they had seen enough tragedy. Many have said that it was a small step. There is no argument that it was a step.

I understand the reasons these ideas wil not be a popular for some. First, many of today's racers are comfortable with the excitement of big jumps. Modern riders themselves identify motocross with jumps as much or more than they do negotiating tricky natural terrain and the fitness required to endure 2 long motos. Jumping is the sport they have learned. Everyone likes jumping high in the air and doing a cool whip for your girlfriend. Still, given a chance, I think even younger riders would find that a return to natural terrain would provide them with a track on which they could attack each and every section as opposed to many of the "fixed speed" obstacles seen at today's tracks. On a natural terrain track you gain time on your opponents by leaving the gas on longer or finding a smoother line through the bumps rather than slightly more economically scrubbing speed over a fixed speed obstacle.

Another reason that will be offered against a return to traditional motocross tracks is that it could negatively impact outside sponsorship revenue. The average non-racer, energy drink consumer doesn't understand the grueling nature of the sport so we've fallen victim to making the action flashy for them. Watching guys riding around a really rough track with little air time doesn't interest the non-racer. The stylish nature and riskiness of big air launches is something that non-racers can be entertained by for 1 hour on TV. I agree that removing the stunt aspects could negatively impact our mass appeal and as a result, outside sponsorship. This is a chance that we'll have to take if we are interested in improving the safety of our riders. In the end, as mentioned above, improving the safety should actually draw in more riders and potentially offset some of the lost revenues or overcome them altogether in time. I know there are lots of industry people that live on the tremendous revenues brought into our sport from the outside. For that reason, bringing in non-motocross related sponsorship was a long-time goal in our sport. No doubt, that such a revenue loss would impact many good people in our sport. We see a taste of this today as our sport weathers the economic downturn. That said, for the common weekend racer, the sport is not much different whether or not it is on TV or there is a green logo spray painted on the track 12 times a year for our professional riders. No matter the amount of outside revenue there will be manufacturers, niche aftermarket providers and tracks to ride. There was literally zero outside sponsorship for many years. Motocross bike sales were very high and the core racers and fans thrived.

In fact, my point is that if we continue to turn this into an exclusive sport for only the most talented and high risk takers we in fact jeopardize the future of the sport in its entirety.

Supercross Only?

I'm an old-timer I suppose. I started riding on motocross tracks in 1974, racing motocross in 1976 and ended my racing career in 2007 after hard crash left me with only 1 kidney. The sport of motocross was pretty young when I first got involved. Over the years I’ve gotten to witness a great deal of growth. Factory box vans were the hot setup in the early days, available only to a precious few. Now we have privateers riding out of beautiful semi tractor-trailer rigs. The great Bob Hannah seems to get credit for ushering in the era of high salaries. There came a point when the top riders motocrossers could make a respectable living, certainly not comparable to some of the other professional sports, but respectable.

By the late 1970’s supercross was already wildly popular. Big turnouts were common across the country. To us Mid-Westerners, supercross was sort of a compromise--you know, something you rode or watched when the weather sucked so bad you couldn't get out to a real motocross track. Even the factories and the riders themselves seemed to concentrate more on building bikes for the outdoors and honing their outdoor riding skills. Still, the sport was called motocross and it seemed more like there was a form of motocross called supercross. Everyone that rode supercross was really a motocrosser.

Something changed somewhere. I even saw on one of the popular season wrap-up DVD’s a couple of years ago where a young professional rider said that he was really a supercross specialist and needed more time on motocross tracks. Huh? Some riders even choose to race supercross exclusively, or at least concentrate on supercross. Chad Reed was one of the most notable to me since he was among the best in the sport when he chose not to compete outdoors. He sat out an entire motocross racing season. Think about that. Think about how much you love racing. Think about how hard it is to work or go to school all week, and what a great feeling it is on Friday afternoon to begin to focus all of your thoughts and efforts on heading to the racetrack. Reed admitted in a post race interview that he really could have ridden the outdoors in 2008, but chose not to. Does that mean he was being dishonest when he originally said that he didn’t have an outdoor ride? Well, I don’t think so. He obviously wasn’t able to negotiate something to his liking. His expectations were likely pretty high, in fact, it turns out that they were prohibitively high. Whatever the offers were on the table, they obviously didn’t meet his needs for fielding a whole program. So, Chad went supercross only. I gotta tell you, I hated it. We forget that racing a motorcycle is not the same as sending a rocket to the moon. Chad would win outdoor nationals if someone took his bike in the back of a box van and he flew in on Saturday to meet them at the track. Certainly he would have to work hard all week riding, training and wearing out motorcycles. In the end though, all you need is to show up at the track with your body in shape to ride a couple of 35 minute motos. Plain and simple.

Of course James Stewart made the same choice in 2009. This only compounded the frustration for me that Chad tapped into. James too made what I’m sure he would refer to as a “business decision”. If you think someone wouldn’t have paid the absolute best rider in the world a ton of money to go out, and with a very high probability, win a motocross national championship, you are delusional. Hell, for a return on my investment I would have gotten him a couple of good bikes and sent him out there to win for me. A business decision. James didn’t need to though. Why would a guy put his body and mind through all that torture for a long summer outdoor series when he can make a lavish living racing shorter motos at slower speeds for a 3 or 4 months each winter? Supercross does provide the sport with lots of exposure to the less die-hard fans. A business decision.

In addition to not being able to understand why someone would choose not to go out kick everyone’s ass all summer on the world’s best motorcross tracks, other things bother me about this business decision. Even if motocross is seen these days as only half of the game, with supercross being the other half, why would it be acceptable for a guy to voluntarily participate only in one half. Would the Indianapolis Colts allow Peyton Manning to sign a contract that was half-season only? Not likely (yet?). How about Tiger Woods sitting out golf’s major championships because they are so much more grueling than the other tournaments? Probably not.

Let’s look at this from a personal and ethical perspective? Is there no dedication to the sport that gave these guys their lavish lives? The current economic climate has our sport reeling. Good people and good companies are losing their pants trying to stay afloat in what amounts to a leisure industry. Do you think that having your star players voluntarily bow out of competition helps the situation in any way? Of course not. We are still a very small sport. We are also a sport where skill consistently equals results. The best riders win every week. It is very unusual for the best rider in the world to finish 15th one weekend (unless he crashes or has mechanical troubles). We’re not like tennis or baseball. In tennis the number 1 seed can go out in the early rounds. In baseball the best team in the league can lose to the worst team in the league and nobody bats an eye. What I’m saying is that when our stars are not on the track it is painfully obvious. I was at RedBud this year. A great day of racing. I still couldn’t help but close my eyes and envision Stewart 45 seconds out in front of everyone displaying awe inspiring skills. It was a great day and a great summer, but in some ways cheapened somewhat by his absence. All at a time when the sport is struggling like I have never seen it struggle before. I hope for all of us that the realities of the current economy soon pass. At the same time, I also hope that our sport’s elite athletes will realize the shaky ground upon which our sport stands. If we are going to keep motocross growing, even under the best of economic circumstances, we need everyone on the starting line.