Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

o 00 O'l .-4 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ By Rex Reese (Okay, music please: dum-dum dum-dum dum-dum) With the running of the ninth edition of the Superbowl of Motocross at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on July 12-13, it can be said with a fair degree of certainty that Mike Goodwin (the event's founder, promoter, producer - you take your pick) has assured himself a place in motorcycle racing in particular, motor spo r ts in general, but not in the lean that nebulous and glowing neon sign that spells out "ShowBiz." It is in the areas of motor sports, show biz and corporate thinking that Mike Goodwin has been trying to cover for almost a decade. With all of these elements wrapped up into one event which is called the Superbowl of Motocross, he has been able to do it successfully - even though Goodwin admits that for himself it's a financial loser. Well, not really, but you know 1!hat I mean, right? It is hard to believe that something which has been running as long and as successfully as the Superbowl only puts a few dollars into the pocket of its promoter, but no matter to Goodwin, since most of his eggs are in real estate, his real money maker, whi.ch helps him support his Supercross habit much like the kind of job that us mortals have which is barely enough to finance a trip out to the movies. It is the power of his holdings in real estate, not to mention antiques, oil wells, and Gcd-knows-what-else that has since put Mike and wife Diane into a cozy Laguna Beach hillside home, fast cars, gold toilet fixtures, several motorcycles, exotic trips around the world that you can only dream of. Oh yes. Don't forget the Supercross. Goodwin admits that while his Superbowl may not be providing him with the kind of payoff equal to his other interests, he is banking heavily on the potential that Supercross racing will hold for the future. Suffice it to say, Mike Goodwin believes that with proper care, future Supercross will cast a long shadow over just about every other major sport in the United States. And with what Mike has got ticking in his head, the rest of the world isn't too far behind. Such words are a far cry from the Mike Goodwin of 10 years ago. Basically, Mike was 'a small, yet fairly successful rock promoter, having staged, among other acts, Janis Joplin's last tour. He went on to promote a number of motocross races, only to lose his shirt over them. It was during a vacation from his miseries that Goodwin says that he had heard where a promoter had staged a motorcycle 20 It's almost been five years since my Schlitz Supercross Series, kind of like article on you appeared in Cycle Toyota did , but in a mu ch bigger way. News, and I want to know what's Between these two sponsors. you're happened since then. You've lost looking at a million-and -a-half bu cks weight; that's a start. - per year! Except for having lost about 45 So, one of the reasons you'll be pounds, there is, in my mind. not a seeing me making phone calls and tremendous lot of things (that have being concerned today is to maximize changed). There have been some evoluattendance at the (L.A. Memorial) tionary processes; we're only up to five Coliseum, because top ' level represenmotocross (Supercross) races now. It tatives of Coca-Cola and Schl itz are hasn't grown as fast as I would .have coming out for that event, and that's like it to - the individual races have what they 're going to make their deci grown, but the series hasn't grown as sion on. fast as I would've liked to have seen it, So, after nine years, this is still the for a variety of reasons: Lack of con showcase of Supercross? tinuity of sponsors, promoters - we're Unequivocably; still the one. not the easiest guys to work together, You say that Supercross has followed you know . Luckily, it's been a very along evolutionary more than revoluhealthy period until this year for Supertionary lines, yet people tend to cross. The riders' 'pu rses have gained think quite the opposite, that Supertremendously, like , for example, the 0018 has displaced outdoor motocross, Superbowl purse this year is twice what that, in fact, it may ultimately lead _ it was last year, to the death of outdoor motocross as What is it this year? we know it in this country. $61,000. Beyond that , the sponsors Well , I couldn't be more to disagree. have increased tremendously. We had Right now, this year is a bad ergo· Toyota on for a point fund ; they metric model, so to speak. to look at. stopped. Right now , probably one of But I feel that a lot of people who the most exciting things on the horizon come out to look at motocross at the for Supercross is both Coca-Cola and Coliseum wouldn't come to an outdoor Schlitz beer. Coca-Cola has been inmotocross the first time. But after they see it, they'll go back out. volved with the Superbowl for five or six years now; they want to do the Is that reflected in figures? series so that each event will be a CocaNo, it's not. But the problem we have Cola-sponsored event. Schlitz is interis it seems like the darn outdoor pro· ested .in_ post!ng JIl01"!ey. to have . a . •.• 1I10~~rs c~n't , ma ke . a buck. Prize race in New York City's Madison Square Garden, packing the place. From that inspiration came the notion: "Well what if. .." And the idea of using the Coliseum in Los Angeles was hit upon. After being laughed at by several alreadyestablished promoters, Goodwin scraped up the last of his own money and threw himself on the mercy of the Coliseum's management to give his cock-eyed idea of motorcycle racing a chance. The race was held, a few thousand people filled the mostly vacant 100,000 seat capacity facility. The riders hated the weird manmade track, but the fans loved it. The rest, as they say, is ... It probably wouldn't be too unfair to compare Michael Goodwin to a flamboyant promoter of another era, P.T. Barnum. Both men range over six feet tall, both come from obscure backgrounds, both have overcome the trials and tribulations of doubters and detractors to become the very best at what they do. In his own way , Goodwin's Superbowl Supercross has evolved from a mere carnival freak show on the National Championship circuit a few years ago, to a full circus - its own main event - complete with prizes, glory, acts of derringdo and money for the top riders. By the same token, Barnum turned a post-libel case parade into what is still "the greatest show on earth." It may not be unfair to say that the Superbowl may reach those proportions, too, someday. But beneath the fur coats, fancy cars and wild ideas that have shocked and even nauseated traditional motocrossers, Mike Goodwin has as much business sense as anyone this side of a corporate board room. For what he doesn't wear in terms of three-piece suits around his home/office, Goodwin makes up in a barrage of demographic figures, explanations, percentages, marketing terms, computer lingo, motivational testimony, and on and on, which gives credence to his success where others have either foundered or failed. It is because of all this "sizzle" that has made Mike Goodwin and his Superbowl of Motocross an attractive enough "steak" for what he claims is a growing interest that is being displayed by a number of top sponsors across the country. And it is on that that Mike hopes to vault Supercross into the "big time." Ah, yes, but there is still that aura of show biz, the smell of hay and grease paint that Goodwin has introduced into the motocross racer's paddock. If P.T. Barnum were still alive, he would no doubt say: "God bless you, son, for the good job that I could probably do myself. Keep up the good work. Yours, P .T." mon ey. sanction money and th e e!'pense of running a track . has gone 50 high for an outdoor guy (that) he cuts ba ck on the on e thing he can't cut back on , which is advertising, which reflects on how many people you can draw . . We spend a percentage of our gross income every year on surveys and market research; we know that there's a much stronger draw. For example, the question is asked, "Now that you've seen a motocross in a stadium, are you more or less inclined to see an outdoor event?" of the people who have never. ' gone to one. (The response is) unbelievably higher, the number of people who want to gol The smartest thing is that someone should tie in with me and a couple of weeks later promote a big outdoor event to playoff of our success . Again. there are very .few people in the country who are fulltime promoters. Just like myself: I couldn't exist on the promotion business; my real estate is far and away our biggest deal. It 's (Supercross) an exciting project for me . We need recognition. That will come from national television continuity and a continuity of national s~nsors. Rather than have Budweiser here. Schlitz here, Miller beer and Coors here - Schlitz does the whole series ; Coke does the whole series . Those people have clout with nation-widetelevisjon. ,l'ha t's. going to make th e big difference and tak e us into 24 , 36 or 48 markets a' year and really make the quantum leap into the big tim e. But again, I'm probably closer to a full-time motorcycle racing promoter than anyone else in the country. Pace, for example, the majori ty of their business is in rock concerts and what they call "flat shows" - boat shows and things like that. We've cut out all of our rock '0.' roll promotion. now; the only thing we promote are events and sponsorships leadingto those (events). For example, we've been fortunate to become fairly well respected in the securing of sponsorships for events You act as agent? . We act as an agent, so to speak, for Pace Management and the Ricky Leopold event at . the Superdome, which has brought more continuity. And that's how we're trying to bring the Coca-Cola and Schlitz people on board, because that will make the big leap to the big time for everyone. Outdoor motocross included? Oh, yeahl In fact , both of them (Coke and Schlitz) want to go all the way, from bicycle motocross right through Supercross. Now it's an evolutionary period; it 's going to take a while. to do. One of the unfortunate setbacks this year has been the tremendous weather factor. Pace had a bad event in Oakland, I had snow in Atlanta, rain in Kansas ' City {or the ·first time in 32

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