Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

originally started with Trans-AlvlA's and now we are working down to the National level. What we need is regional type racing and then local racing so that riders can progress u pwards instead of starting at the top . We don't have the time to develop that because I am a lways on the run. We need at least another couple people to help ' carry the load . How is motocross doing compared to all other forms of motorcycle racing7 I think the Grand Nationals have expanded in the number of races. Our Nationals haven't expanded , but we have expanded in the Supercross series. We have added three more stadiums and now there are eight Supercross races and possibly nine. We have grown! We have grown in jotal races. " T here are 41 or 42 races a year now . How is attendance7 That is hard to say because most promoters won 't give you an accurate figure . I think generally there has been a slight increase. The indoors is where it is all at spectator- wise. The Superbowl , Houston , Daytona have all grown trem en dously. A few of them have grown and the rest of them are on the way up at a slower rate . Are attendance figures part of the problem w ith the cancelling of the double National at Hangtown7 ' Hangtown had applied for a race on April third, a date which th ey have had for m any years. T his year they applied for it 'ag ain . Dayton a in th e meantime had m oved up its schedule from the fif th to the 12th of Ma rch . This moved all the Stad ium events after it up; Houston, Dallas and Pontiac. Pontiac fell on April third . Those races were sanctioned first because there are more people bidding for the stadiums and you have to get in as soon as possible. I told Hangtown that we would put them on the 17th. They still had the first double National of the year. However, it would be on the 17th instead of the third. It worked out well for the riders too because we would be going from Atlanta to Daytona to Houston , to Dallas to Pontiac. We'd have a week off for Easter (to travel) and then Hangtown. This year you had a week to cross the country. Hangtown didn't want the 17th. They had some personal club reason why they didn't want it . They had scheduled some early vacations and there was a National enduro the following week and they wouldn't be able to attend it. They felt that the third was their day and they were not very flexible. There are not very m any promoters who get the actual date they apply for because of the scheduling. If you gave everyone the date they ask for we would be criss-crossing the country 20 times . . In this case at Hangtown I went back and ask Pont iac if they co uld change, but a ro deo was booked a year ago for that d ay, p lus' we would have mixed the stadiu ms in wit h the Na tional series which req uires riders to carry more equipment a nd adjust too rapid ly; That is really the prob lem . And the solution7 I don't know if there is one now because when H a ngt own told me that they didn't want any other date I assigned those dates to someone else . The 250's will be racing in Nashville and the 125's will probably be in Phoenix. H a ngtown was the only club that we gave a double National to this year. What ever happened to the plan to make one National Champion based on performance in all three classes7 That was presented at the last rules meeting, but it di dn't pass . I guess it wasn't time. Sometimes you have to present these things two or three times before they get approved. What about the arguments to change the purse structure and pay more money farther back7 My personal feelings are that we have a good purse structure and you get what you earn. It gives the young guy that has some talent a chance to earn some money. This idea of paying everyone start money back 40 places ta kes incentive away. If you have start money the to p five guys are going to get more. If you pay the top five guys start money then they will have to come in and do PR work for the promote r to earn the money. You can't use the 15th or 20th guy because he is not that well known. The same guys are going to get : the money. T he independent guy is going to be hurt because if you have an $8, 000 purse the $2 ,000 worth of start money will h ave to come out of the p urse. We ca nnot afford to increase our purses any more. We are a t a limit for at leas t a year or more. With the present system there is more money available. O u r present system is better than the European system for that reason . We are developing better riders f~ster because over there all the start money goes to the big names. What was the start money controversy at the American Motocross Finals in Anaheim 7 I don't really know how it came about because I wasn 't included in the first meeting, and I don't really know wh.at they wante.d. A few of them got together and got a little over-anxious. They were going to ask for start money for the top 24 riders. They did it two weeks before . the race and. that is wrong. If you are professional and you SIgn a contract to do something you show up . They signed their entry forms and then waited until a couple weeks before the. race to make demands. Some of those people think -that Mike Goodwin , the promoter, is making a million dollars , Is Mike Goodwin making a million dollars7 I don't think he is making it on motocross although he may be making it somewhere else . I know that last year he lost money on Anaheim and th is year he lost money on Anaheim , But he also paid the biggest purse of the year and we paid back 24 places- in the final and 15 pl~ces in the. consolation. So the most money was paid for one mght and the most people got paid. t he AMA board of Trustee's over, turned the staff decision of the Professional Motocross Manager, Mike DiPrete, to deny a sanction to Hangtown. In a compromise the Dirt Diggers and the Board of Trustees agreed to move the Hangtown National,to April 10. The Dirt Diggers must ratify the compromise, which is almost assured. Are the riders really professionals7 . There are a few professionals and ,there are a few making an attempt . to be professionals. bu t the majority are not professionals. The majority of them are still young enough that they do not u nd ersta nd that they are in business. They think they are still racing in the cornfields. • What they must realize is that they are in show business, and they are competing with all other forms of entertainment. They have to put a good show on . And this is where the Stadiums come in . Outside motocross has its place. but it is limited. Once you get up to 20 ,000 people outside you are at the limit. The stadiums have the potential of drawing thousands upon thousands of people if it is a good show. We .changed the format to put a package together to attract TV, spectators and big sponsors. They will eventually get to like it because they are racing less time and making more money . Which brings up the po int that you could have riders who could ride the stadi ums for up to 15 yea rs because you don' t need the endurance. The longer a rider is a ro u nd th e better known he will become . Now we only have Weinert, DiStefano and Smith who do any publicity work or are even known, but they are young. If they stay around ten years they will be household ~ords and motocross will be all the more popular for It. What ever happened to the Camel sponsorship that motocross was suppose to get7 I don' t know what is really happening a t Ca m el , but I thi nk they are still negotiating for ne xt year. Any sponsor is looking for high density areas. Most of our races are in out of the way places that are 30 miles from nowhere. He is only going to give you m on ey if he can get more back out of you. In the stadiums we have this kind of pull. The greatest potential for the riders to get money is to use their talents in the stadiums for a show and then race outdoors for the sport. Not many people in this country can use their talents in this way. We have the potential to draw m ore people than football or baseball because we have the best show. What do you think of the cla iming rule7 It is just a carry over from little league baseba ll a nd mini-cycle racing. Dad thinks that his kid is the best and that if his kid had what the winner rode he would win. Bu t the people wh_o are winning are bett er riders. As of this time the rule won't cha nge, but I think cla im ing is over with. I personally feel that the p rice sh oul d be higher. If you have the d olla rs to go out and cla im a factory back and can m aint a in it (E veryone of th ese wor ks bikes must be stripped down every week). If they ca n afford that , t hen they can afford to build a competitive privateer mount. If they really wanted to . A non-factory rider could fix u p his bike with a couple thousand dollars , as som e have done and compete, and then have someone come along and claim it. Are the factories help ing motocross as much as they can7 . A lot of the factories are putting a lot of bucks into racing, .but I fee l th at t he fac tories are no t help ing -enough m PR of t he sport. If I were to contract a rider I would make it m a nd a tory that a rider spe nt a ce~tain number of ho urs doing PR for me. If they are gomg to spend millions of dolla rs racin~ they ought to spend a couple thou sa nd sendi ng the rider around to do PR. If Suzu ki has Tony D or Ka wasak i has Weinert in there doing PR through their dealers they will get all that money back through advertising. I dont feel that they put enough effort into public relations for the sport. If the PR dep~rtment ran racing departments it would pro b a bly be altogether different. Kawasaki did a hell of a job with the last two Trans-AMAs. The investment is certain ly .wort h it, because they hel p prom~ted ~oth the race and their product. If more factories picked up sponsorships of races that woul d help, because the factories have better P R departments than most promoters. Honda used its dealer network to sell tickets to the Superbowl a nd everybody got increased traffic through the showrooms and turnstiles. What is the story with the Wolsink and Geboers controversies during the Trans·AMA7 In Wolsink's case it wasn' t a major infraction, it was circu mstance. Staten had go ne through and busted ' the fence u p and Wolsink came through an d missed a corner. He was coming hard and went way wide. He claims that he coul dn't see it, but I was there a t the time a nd he m issed the comer, but th at is racing . (Editor's note; WoLsink was p enalized an d lost his secon d p lace overall.) And Geboers was accused of using an illegal axle and then set free by the appeals board. What about his case 7 I think that the appeals committee made the wrong decision. Ge boers broke the rules and he should have been penalized for it. It is so easy to criticize the tech inspector or a flagman . A guy is doing a good job and the a ppeals committee feels sorry for the rider instead of looking at what the man di d . H e either broke th e rule or he didn't. T he man broke the rule. He knew it because a week or two before that a qu est ion ca me up on his swingarm bolt. He had a titanium swingarm bolt. The referee wasn 't going to allow it , but after he checked the book . he found that there are no restrictions on swingarm bolts. So he went back to Geboers mechanic and told him that the swingarm was okay that only the axle had to be steel. So Geboers knew it. He also knew what he had because he had a steel nut welded on the outside to fool the magnet. It was a blatant violation of the rule. Then you had the nylon leather war. Don't you love it when the Europeans come to America 7 It seems like everytime Trans·AMA time comes we have plenty of problems. In this country nylon lea thers are okay, but in Europe there is some controversy as to whether or not they are good enough to wear. The FIM says that you ca n 't wear nylons u nles they a re approved. T he FIM says in in ternat ion al races you must have leather and the Eu ropea ns come over and say that "They let us wear nylon at home." I don 't know whether that is true or not, b ut whe n I was in Europe they wore leather because I demanded it. How much money did the AMA collect in fines this year7 • We haven't totalled it all up yet because there are still quite a few guys who haven't paid . I expect our Decem ber and J an ua ry totals to go quite high. Mostly we fine them for signing up for a race and no t showing up or ca ncel ling, What has been happening is that guys have been signing up for everything just to insure a starting position. This keeps a lot of riders who would show up from riding, and we wind up with 60 instead of 80 riders. That is a $25 fine and it could go up next year. We fine some people for handing pit passes ou t. That is a violation of the rules. There have been fines for not h aving your medical card on you. We could get drastic on that and no t allow the rider to ride, because youmust have the medical card. There have been ten dollar fines for leaving your AMA license somewhere and not bringing it-with you. We had to fine Kent Howerton ,Trey Jors ki and Bob Harris at Texas Stadi um for fighting. Howerton was advised that if it happened aga in it would be a $1, 000 . fine and in definite suspe nsion. These things happen in all sports when the a drenalin ge ts flowing. Ho wer ton and W einert ha d a litt le fricti on at the time, but Howerton wai ted until after the race when he should have been cal med dow n . This year is over, are you set for next year7 We will be ready to ro ll again sta rt ing with th e Florid a Series in February. I'd like to thank all the ride rs, referees, scorers. promoters , corner-workers and everybody who had a hand in making 1976 the biggest year ever for AMA Professional motocross. They a re not all paid a lot or thanked very often. bu t they are the people who make it possible. • 11

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