Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

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M _ ...... -......~---....... ....,-y~-.. -.- ...-. ..... .. _ _ _ _ _ a... ...... 14 ~ ......c.... . . people . On the way, we rap ab o ut his upc o ming American MX Finals, and his ever present subject of emotional debate: the AMA. Mike tried for two years to get an MX in to Angel Stadium and finally got a break to put it together with only three mon th s head ti me . He had gotten his AMA-FIM sanction to put on what was originally billed as a "World MX Finals" with international stars from everywhere in the world, n aturally. But problems soo n arose. The Sad dl eback Trans-AMA was scheduled only two weeks ahead of the Anaheim even t , and there was a consensus between Mike and the other pro moters that a situation like this and so close would only hurt business. So it was agreed to move the Trans-AMA to another location. The AMA responded to this by putting pressure o n Goodwin to cancel his event instead , which he co uld n't , because he had already committed himself. The AMA th en retracted the FIM sanction, saying that it hadn't been given in the first p lace, which Mike says is "out and o ut bu llshit!" It was later revealed that the AMA had done the retraction on the pretense that the title o f "World MX Finals" was to o stro ng, to which Go odwin replied , " If y ou're go ing to pull the FIM sa nctio n, t he n I don 't need AMA." Further sparring between Goodwin an d AMA could have resulted in a lawsuit , but that was avoided when AMA gave assurances that they wouldn't interfere and let Mike go on his way. Sh o rtl y thereafter, A.l\1A issued a let ter to local television stations stating that Mik e was using "unfair competition: ' "A lo t of heavy BS, n says Mike. His reason for not fighting for . the FIM sanction and then dropping the AMA sanction was that "the AMA had failed miserably in bringing over European riders for the Trans-AMA series." He thinks that having only two Europeans in an event billed as a "World" event would be a rip-off to the spectators and himself. The fault lies with the AMA giving a false impressio n to the promoters that a full co ntingent of Europeans will be on hand. Pro moters are duped into b elievin g this, to discover that only two Europeans show up after $10,000 is given to the AMA for purse money . The promo ters then loo k like the bad guys to everybody, including the AMA who led them alo ng in t he firs t p lace. This hap pened to Go od win wh en he began the Su perBo wl. AMA promised they wo uld secure all th e European riders fo r the event, but they never came through . Th e first tw o years o f Supe rB owl got bad pre ss for no t co mi ng up with the Europeans th at were promised in th e ads. Fro m 19 74 o n, then , Mike has negot iate d all his o wn co ntrac ts with the riders w ho have ap peared. The Anahei m even t has n't been hurt despite the lack of AMA sanction. Mike promises th e best American riders will be there, " t he cream de la cream .. . I think we will have a better show at Anaheim than we had at the SuperBowl. It's going to be one heck of a show!" At Costa Mesa Mike parks the Cadd y in the par kin g lot o f a new office building. We go into one of the offices, and a matronly secretary greets us . Mike gives a passing review of a couple of offices wh ich migh t be needed for temporary expansion in the closing days as the Anaheim eve nt gets more hectic. He talks with tw o me n who are, I guess, his sponsors. One is tall, dark, in his 4 0s. He 's an adver t isin g man . The other is older , shorter, grayer an d wrinkled, with a semi-paranoid loo k behind his eyeglasses as he sees me with my ca mera and tape recorder. He 's weari n g the latest sty le fo r m iddle-aged hipsters: prin t body shirt, beige flared pants, and whi te loafers. I th in k he hates me. He reminds me of th e Godfathe r. Mike says, " Oh, yeah , this is Rex Reese . He 's following me aro und for a co u ple of days . .. Uh, if you do n't wan t hi m in on o ur co nversati o n , he doesn't have to be." The Godfather looks at me and says no, so I wait in th e office fo yer. Mike and the two guys 1(0 into th e Godfather's o ffic e . I wait and sit for a lo ng time. ic he a l Go o d win is a mystery to me. He 's paradoxical with th at big, bucolic (6 foot 3, about 250 lbs .) body of his that reminds yo u of a co llege football jock. But his energy and constantly working mi nd make the difference , and in a more than surprising fashion. Who else would have th ou ght of taking th e mud-splattered and beer-drenched sport o f mo tocro ss out of the boondocks and in to the L.A. Memorial Coliseum? He's a wheeler and dealer in the fi est n sense of the phrase, talking about all seemingly mysterious and abstract elements of promoting with the knowledge of a wizard alchemist who knows that if those mysterious and abstract elements aren't paid attention to , the wo rld will surely explode in his ears. But if handled carefully they can transmogify base metal into gold. Mike's only 3 0 years old , and has a lifestyle that amazes me. He's got th e big bu siness, the big ho use, a b ig car and a p retty girlfriend. He's "got it made" by most stan dards of America. Diane once said "Mike Good win is o ne o f tho se rare talented people t hat do es well at expressing hi msel f, whe ther be it o n pap er , p ictures, or anything .. . Righ t now we're at a p oint of wh at we're goi ng to b e doing t he rest of ou r lives. Mike wants to be a race ca r driver , but that depends o n how muc h he wan ts to be one because it's so expensive. But he has one advan tage ove r the other race car drivers because he can pro mo te himself." Media Max, Inc. is not t he heart and soul of Mike's b usiness wo rl d; th at is to say that he doesn 't live by race promoting alone. Motorcycle race promoting makes up o nly 30% of his yearly inc o me , but it does take up 70% of his time. The majority of his income derives from real estate developments. In his spare ti me Mike takes p ictures, sk is, swi ms, dives, h unts, rides his mo torcycle and chases women (he and Diane, who will be m arried in December , have "an understandi ng. n "Which is good," Mike has said, "for someone as hypertense as myself,") he drinks and whoops it u p with the same kind o f in tensity and gusto that he puts into his work. "Work hard an d play hard, n says Mike. " In other words, 'relax fast, Mike, t he re 's not m uch ti me left.' " Michael Go odwi n would n't have gotten this far if it h adn' t been for am bi tious early beginnin gs, He en tere d Pensacola Junior Co llege in Flori da at age 17, wh ere he was th e social ch airman for a lo cal fr aternity; and after attemp ting to en list the help o f other frats for the fraternity dan ces, he began to stage the m himself co mple te wi th bands an d beer. These were very successfu l, and mad e Mike good mon ey. He th en went to Auburn University o n a Navy scholars hip and majored in engi n eering. A busted lung during a dive ended his scho larship , so Mike took a year o ff and returned to Florida wh ere he worked as a fishery b iol ogist on Sab ina Islan d identifying fish and sharks for the Wildlife Serv ice. He wrote a the subject titled b oo klet on " Fishe r man's Iden tificati o n to Sharks o f the Gulf Coast " at age 18. But he was itching to learn m ar ket ing , so he sold all his fancy things to finance fo ur years of college and headed West in 1964. College marketing courses ta ught him nothing that he di d n't already know. With six un its b efore graduation, Mike was hired by Proctor and Gamble to manage half of San Diego County. Du rin g the one an d a half years that he d id this, he was holding ano ther job producing a liquor wholesaler's magazine. He be cam e Proctor an d Gamble 's top salesman fo r five months straight, w ith his " supre me acc o mp lish ment" be ing th e sale of a bo xcar load of brownie mix to Fed Mart. Mike h ad expected more than th e 52 5 raise th at t he co m pany gave him for his glo rious efforts, so h e left with a friend fo r Europe, but o nly go t as far as a $ 1.80 a n igh t Bowery hotel in New York. T he frie nd got drafted, so Mike returned to Cali fo rnia where he was hired by a rock promoter and put in charge of out of town pro motions. A M

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