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/126054
Superbowl Soup Inside Straigbt By Jody Weisel riverboat gam bler is playin g his last hand o f the n ight on th e Delta Qu een as she paddlewheels up the "Mississippi. The gambler draws to a straight wi th his first four cards and the stakes get very high . When it comes time to deal out th e fifth card the gambler is at the mercy of the ficlded fates. A producer o f a motorcycle race has drawn four cards to an inside straight and on the night of the event the fifth card will slide through the ticket counter. If it's a large card then everything is great, but if it 's a smaIl card then the pot is lost. The major difference between the riverboat gambler and the MX promoter is that the producer can hedge his bets by advertising. The Oly Superbowl of Motocross has the hi ghest stakes on the table of any motocross event in the world. It is as big or bigger than the 200 miles of Daytona. It offers the spectator a chance to see a complete motocross race from start to finish without having to hike five miles, stand in the dust, get dirt in his beer or wait in line at a rickety port-a-can. For a real fan this is all part of the thrill of MX, but for the first timer the Superbowl is the only way he knows how to travel. The Oly Superbowl of Motocross is expected to ' draw 60,000 spectators on July 24. Fif ty percent of that number wiIl be attending their first motocross. The Superbowl wiII in itiate 30,000 new fans to the thrills of America's fastest growing motor spo rt . Th ose ne w fans wiII be come regular spe ctators at other events, they will buy motorc ycles, accessories, tickets, clo th ing and help spread the wo rd to their friend s. Everything th at the Superbowl does on July 24 th is good fo r Motocross th e rest of the ye ar . A conc ep ts of ra dio sp ots; The Hype sp ot is the screaming, jumping up and down " Sun day , Sund ay , Sunday a t U.S. Amphe tam ine Speedway ! See Timothy Leary , and his full blown he ad !!!" style th at is not very popular-with th e purist, but by far .th e most effe c tive. The Head spot is basically a kicked back relaxed music com mercial that appeals to the listeners inherent feeling of being in the kn ow. Th e Comedy spot is the a tten tion getter. Comedy cuts across all age groups and social classes. Everyone "After racing Grand Pri;"s all over th e world I can honestly tell you the Oly Sup erbowl track is th e most challenging. " Mart y Smith enjo ys a good laugh and that helps them remember the event. Finally there is the Country {Western sp ot which is keyed to the down home, good old boys. Royal flush Producing a race is mo re than opening the doors and tossing in a handful of dirt. A race producer involved in a project as lar ge as the Superbowl becomes an ad man , TV dire cto r, ann ounce r, security expert , agen t and tour . director. " I've seen plan s fo r the fan tasti c new track and I'm going to try very hard t o win this imp ort ant race. " Brad Lack ey "Th e single m ost important race in this hemisphere. The new fast er. wider track will make it also th e m ost exciting. " Rolf Tibblin How do es a p roducer hedge his bets so that increases his o dds of drawing that insi de straight ? Shuffling the deck Road rac er Hur ley Wilvert once said , " Co mpare .. . rac ing to a rock concert. How could yo u adve rtise ' that yo u 're havin g a roc k co n cert and hop e th at so me p eople wh o play ro ck an d roll m usic show up ?" The Oly Superb owl has gone to great len gth s to guar antee th at the star p erformers show up. The prizes, contingencies and promotion money o n the line th at Saturday nigh t in July are $30 ,0 00. Con tr acts ar e ne go tiated with top European and World Champions like Roger DeCoster and Gerri tt Wolsin k. The A MA h as san ction ed the Superbowl as ' the last race in the five race Super-Cross series with the top Amer ican s try ing to win th e title. Loading the dice The best of all sh ows is n o goo d if there is n o one th ere to enjoy it. AIl steps h ave b een ta ken to insure the show an d no exp ense was sp ared, from th e $ 125,000 trac k to th e high sta kes pu rse. And no expense wiIl be spared in getting the word out . Th e promotional aspect of holding a mo to cross is often for gotten and many rac e promoters are no th ing but ticke t-t ake rs. Th e word promo te conn ote s increasing pu blic in ter est, building up ex citemen t and gettin g th e knowledg eable and no t-too-knowledgeable out. St ad ium Motosp orts wiIl spend $225 ,000 on Radio, Television and print media. In the weeks prior to the ra ce th e tempo wiIl in crease to the point that at any given mome,nt Oly Sup erb owl advertising wiIl be rea ching a m ajor market. Radio: In a mobile so cie ty built around the au tomo bile and traffic jam ra di o advert ising becomes on e of th e most effective audio tools available to a producer. Stadium Motosports wiIl attempt to build a visual image of the excitement and in terest of motocross by caressing y our ears. This is done with four separate With CBS Sports Spe ctacular filming the race for late r showing television exp osure for th e event will co ntinue t o increase. T he tele vision commerci als wiIl be broadcast on all the major stations from Bakersfield to San Diego. Print: Advertising wiIl be placed in all the major motorcycle magazines. trade publication and seven major LA dailies. In addition to the normal printed ads there is also a large number of flyers and posters printed for circulation. Bob Clampett of Pacific Public Relations works n ight and day arranging television, radio and newspaper interviews for riders like Weinert, Karsmakers, Lackey, DiStefano and Smith. Support: The sheer weight of responsibility. duties, and manhours requires the additional aid of sponsors who will help out with the promotion and distribution of information. Honda motorcycles will be co-sponsoring the event and tickets wiIl be available at all Honda dealers for the special qualifying and time trials. Qualifying tickets wiIl also be available at Colonel Sanders, and MiIler 's Outpost store. These tickets are free for the asking. Bel-Ray, Pennzoil and Electro wiIl con tinu e their wholehearted support of motocross by aiding in the sponsorship of the Superbowl. The Oly Superbowl of Motocross receives its name from Olympia beer which gets a great satisfaction out of supporting the sp or t of motocross. The Oly Superbowl will be advertised in over 3, 20 0 rad io spots. Th is will be tied in to tic ket give-aways o n the majo r LA st ati ons to insure that anyone with ears will kn ow wh at 's h appening on July 24th. " The best riders in th e world on your own private stage putting on a sh ow you 'll never forget. " Te levision: Bein g ab le to show th e prospective spectator a tas te of wh at he wiIl see at the Coliseum makes tel evision an invalu ab le advertising to ol. A sp ecial nine sequence TV ad th at is only 30 sec on ds lon g has been produced t o give th e viewer the feel of mo to cross. In flashing. high spe ed frames the peristyle jump, insanity ridge, Staten and Smith 's crashes , th e crowd. the start ana the machines are shown for maximum visual impact. To in su re tha t as man y people as possible will be ab le to enjo y the Superbo wl sho w Stadium Motosp orts has ini tiat ed the Oly Superbus pro gram. Any motorcycl e dealer ca n arrange his own sales promotion. field tr ip or workers benefit program by co n tac ting the Oly Superbus p rogram. Th ey wiIl provide him with discount tickets to the race an d information on how to arr an ge to have a special bus pick his group up at his sho p. drive th em to the Coli seum , an d hom e again. No traffic pr obl em s, no p ar kin g hass les an d a wo n derful time can be had by all whil e yo u leave the d riving to Superbus. And all of this for th e price o f a $10 Superbowl tick et. Harley-David son will be bringing thei r one mill ion dollar motorcy cle sho w to the Coliseum on the day of th e race. The Harl ey sh ow is 10 ,000 sq . feet o f an ti que, rac ing an d ne w machines. A person can st op by his Honda, Colonel Sanders or Miller 's Outpos t st ore get a free ticket to come out an d wat ch th e afterno on time trials and st op in an d see th e Harley Show. All o f th is happen s before th e racin g gets under way on Saturd ay ni ght. Cut, call and fold For th e first time in AMA mot ocross history pit passes will be sold to the public so th at they can get clo se to th e men an d machines the y have paid to watch race. The spe cial RC, RN, KX , and OW works machines will be on display . The number o f pit p asses is limited because o f the size o f the peristyle pit area. The Oly Superbowl of Motocr oss is the biggest moto cross race in America and at the same time it is the biggest production in American motocross with the best riders in the world on your own private stage putting 'o n a show you 'II never forget. But because of the popularity of MX, the excitement of the sport, the com fort of the stadium and the efforts of the promoter the odds of making a suc cess of it are better than those'of filling an inside straigh t .