Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126030
Country c lub... Stadium... 26 Christ ian s vs, Lions if they had to stand 20 deep aro und a sn o w fence. But wi th a co m fy seat in th e Coliseum an d vino? Hail Caesar! Mike Go odwin has co me in fo r his share of th e lumps for some o f h is promotions. But he has t aken th e gia n t step to take th e sport out o f the league o f th e pure e n th usia st and into the re alm where it will att ract th e we althy spo rts m an, translated to me an well heeled sp ec t ato r. The world is fu ll of 'em who p ays go o d m o ney to be armchair quarterb ack s, ob servers of Arnie 's swing a t Pebble , etc. Moto cr os s in a stadiu m has th at potential . God, I'll never fo rge t the em otion th at gripped the Colise um that n ight with t ho usan d s of us on our feet sc reaming " Go Mart y , GO, " me included. I'm not always wearing the hat o f the cynical journalist. Rick Seirnan who is the Henry ~I ille r of the m o to-journalist se t and Ro nd o Talbot ha ve quest ioned heavily th e wis eness of high schoolers in the stad iums after their go ing ba na nas antics at t he '75 Sup er Bowl. After An aheim I have m or e than a few twi nges o f misg ivings my sel f. Watching th e yo u ng o ne joyously leading his he at an d ge tting m o re a nd more cr ossed u p right before o u r eyes whe re we were seated , 'sho wing off fo r all he was worth (ho w m an y of th at age can resist it ; yo u 're onl y young onc e) and just kno wing th at eve n tually he'd buy it . He d id, in spectacu lar fashion, requirin g full first aid and co m ing u p with a b roken arm . To be a hi gh sch ool hero, n o do ubt , b u t do we need that? Sadly, one yo u ngster bough t it , all the way . Can't our kids be kept kids a bit lo nger before exposing them to the big leagu es? A bi t of maturity under the helmet is all that's needed and they ca n get all the racing they crave without the heady atmosphere of the stadium. Stadium m o t o cros s has such great potential, especially if yo u think back to what I "To te at the beginning of this. Americans like to take sport o u t of the sand lo ts or cow pastu res but for t ho se who love sand lot ba ll t here 's p len ty o f it still aro und. T he re'll st ill be pl enty o f pure m oto cr oss , b u t (and it 's o n ly m v opm ion) to be b ig league in this co un try as a sp o rt it h as to go e ven t ually to stad ium even ts as sto ck cars have done. One o f m y hopes fo r this new ye ar is th at good promo ter s like Mik e Goodwin and th e peopl e in the A!\IA and other int erested parties can take co o l, o bject ive lo oks at wh at is ha pp ening and work toget he r . The A!\IA wasn't precisely too keen ab ou t Anahei m a nd sho wed it wit h no sanc tion but Goodwin has his side of th e ta le to o a nd I think 111 go with Mike, The opportunity is the re. Le t 's ho pe we do n't blow it. Maureen Lee disas ter due to ove ruse and undercapitalization. In fac t, I know of man y cycle parks where o wne r/ope rators started ou t wi t h the d ream of cultivati ng a nd m ani cu ring t hei r patch of gro und into a gar d en spo t. Reality d idn't quite work out that way, a nd m o st are scratching to ho ld what they got; drea ms of facility im p rovem en t reduce d by tig ht m one y to a quest io n of whether or n o t to water the trac k. What a comedown. th e throngs Instead , visualize stream ing in fo r the USG P alo ng the stately bo u leva rds of Handle bar He igh ts , co nv erging on the splendid 3. 1 m ile m otocross circuit th at lies in a n atural valley r in ged by so u nd-entrappi ng hills. The steep valley sides are terraced to m ak e hundreds o f vista vie win g po ints and hedged with d ecorative shrubbery . Gravell ed footpath s, t heir surfaces j ust the r ight shade of b u rn t-och re, inte rtwin e amo ng the vario us comers, h ills an d jumps whos e n ames are engrave d o n disc reet wo oden sign s, as if the affi cionados didn 't already know th em b y he a rt. The co u rse itself winds am o ng t he natural valle y-bottom greenery sw oop ing back a nd fo r t h at th e valley wall in a series o f deceptively d i ffi cu l t cha nge-o f -c a m b e r, change-of-radius co mers. The starting area and much of t he res t o f the co u rse is greenes t green, exqui sit ely tr im med turf; the sa ndy sec tions are pure whi te; the valley stream bubb les across the tr ack in m an y p laces, its p lacid bottom a waiting t he ch u rn in g wheels. In some spots the course is deliniated by b rilliantly-colored elastic fen cing, in othe rs by flo wer in g hedge. Cit rus trees add their seasonal perfume to the riot of cooking smells coming fro m different ethnic-theme serving kitchens. From atop the surrounding ridges, in exclusive Handlebar H a ciend as, the m ajo r shareholders of the club could be watch ing it all from their back patios if they were n ot already do wn in the thick of organizing and running the event . . _ H a n d l e bar He igh ts? Exclusive haciendas? Have I fo rgotten th at the m ajority of bikers ca n ba rely scr ape chain a nd t ire mo ne y together? Sti ll, th e reason our m ythical Han d lebar Heig hts is a m y th lies in one wo rd - undercapitalizatio n. The people who have invested in m o torc ycle-rel ated facilities (tracks, parks, recreat ion areas, commun it y develo p men ts) are to o few in nu mber an d contro l to o little m oney between th em. The few individ uals a nd sm a ll grou ps in the m ote -p ark business find t hemselves whipsawed by ta xatio n and rising co st s o f bo rro wed m oney, un ab le 10 put u p dece nt faci lit ies like flush to ile ts be cause t hey lack the pol iti cal /financial ho rsepower to in fluence lo cal pork-barrel b ur ea ucracies in t hei r favor, surviving from day t o day with th e ground they own, a track sp ri n kler a nd a handful o f porta-cans. I don't lo ok to the state to genera te the ne cess ar y ca p ita l (e ven though government throws more o f it around than a n y bo dy) ; a t least not on our behalf. The way the California Green Stickie program is run today comes so close to taxation with represe ntation it's sickening. No, what we need to unlock sleeping invest ment and set mo tocross in an alternate direction is a man ager /p ro moter the b razen audacity and wit h concept ual ability of a Mike Goodwin but with his (o r her ) sights se t at a longer range targe t. I ' do n ' t doubt that there's st ill a lot to be made from stadium m oto cr o ss ; a lot of u n ta p p ed growt h in spec ta to r ap pe al. Yet I also know t hat in spi te o f our best promo t ional effo rts so far, the mass media still lumps us in with roller derby, pro wrestling and figu re-eight stoc k car racin g. The media ads th at have been used to hype sta d iu m motocross in Southern California sh ow it cle arly en ough . So let's say we go do w n th at ro ad a nd enjoy our m oment o f glory under the sta diu m lights. 1I0 w long be fore the fickle m ob finds a n ew kick and d eser ts us, leavin g the d isill usio ned bonus babies to find the ir way back to the sandlo ts ? Lane Campbell