Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Hundreds of promo packages had to And that last job is the one that had remorse. Wh en was the last time you be mai led to possible sponsors - after to be done perfectly . While she was th ought of a motocross as role model they were designed, redesigned, then juggling th e AMA, the bank, and material? composed. Printing follows. Pay ing Roger - all with o ne hand - the o the r The pl an was to establish a Eurofor the prin tin g is very soo n aft er that. o ne was being held out to (potential) pean air to the GP: a carnival a tmosThen the h igh-time co n su m p tio n spo n so rs. Wif e and mo th er ~ere phere with a family ambiance - with activit y begins - the follow-up phone additio nal, mor e-traditional roles that " . . . n o co rners cu t." Wh at th at calls, and the incessant in coming calls had to be interspersed within th e GP translat es int o is " Big Bucks" - a require " sch moo zing " a nd lots o f job matrix. A healthy attitud e helps $65,000 purse (in excess of th e FIM · p leasant sm all-talk , before getting . too: " I can handle reject ion," whi ch required 50K) wi th a to tal budget in down to busin ess. Yo u can not afford has to be good - rejectio n comes wi th excess of $300,000. T h is cou ld be the to m iss the grease tha t lub es the deal s the territory. Fisca l Ragged Edge - o ne stum ble - otherwise the machinery seizes. O ne of the worst aspects of generand a near-fall , an econo mic slow" Hey , wh at's ha p peni ng? Oh, wow! a ting the U.S. GP is wh at Yvonne ca lls do wn in cash f1ow(not even a reversal), H ow 's the dog/wife/ kid /new bike! the " begging ." You are forced into would spell D-O -O-M . jo b?" - pick one. beggi ng for sponsorshi ps, beggin g for It is interesting to note that this Yvonne obtained a promoter datasu pport , beggi ng for publ icity, begEuropean flavour worked perfectly point fro m th e mo tocross that was held ging to get th ose corporate doors wh ile a simi lar attempt, th e Formula a few years ago, o ut at Scottsdal e's Horseworld. " Where?" Didn 't know abou t tha t one? That's o kay, no o ne else did, eit her. T he ir advertising left a lot to be desired: it was either nonexis tent or directed toward a segment of the Arizona popula tion that rea lly hated dirt bikes. It was tru ly a Stealth event - no o ne saw it - and the prom oter too k a ba th. T he Baumanns noted everyt h ing that he did, and then did exac tly the opposite. Staffing the proj ect was sim ply a cons ideratio n of calling 10 (rea l good) friends th at "we could trust - people you could yell at without the m getting huffy a nd a ngry." One wa s their neighbor , Mark Guenther (the man ager of manufacturin g of Garrett 's partiall y-T aiwan- based mili tary turbofan project), who handled the bucks, hand-cou nting fives and ten s in th e ticket boo th the weekend of the event . (" Hey , I missed most of th e racing," he said later.) T rus two rt hy people get the tough job s. Yvonne's paren ts even flew in from T exas and her father was put to work load in g eq ui pment , whi le her mother, who o wns a balloon and giftshop , was, natu rall y, the balloon fill er. "Morn -and-Pop,' for sure. Sure, everyo ne will say tha t ha ving Roger D's name attached to the race gave it th e credi bi lity tha t it needed, so it was no big deal to ru n a successfu l GP. Su re! Easy eno ug h to say, bu t not that easy to do, as DeCoster had never been in the race promo bu siness per se. In fac t, he was no t even involved in tha t aspect of this GP. He' wished to avoid the heada ch es of actually genera ti ng the GP - he is the eng ineering type: a numbers, plans and th in gs-oriented guy. The peo ple-type job s were Yvonne's responsib ilt y. She had to sell th e event - co ld - with no credentials . T o sponsors, to th e press, and to the great paying public most of all. In addition ' to selling the event, she first had to resell h er self, h er id eas, and her abilities - eras ing any "bimbo image" (her words) that may have attached its elf as so much unwanted (a nd certain ly unwarranted) baggage. The Miss Coors position got her only so far, now it was a question of going Yvonne Baumann competed in the 24 Hours of Brittany with the Gilbert sisters. beyond being " j u st another pretty face." In the U.S. , a pretty lady is as often as not seen as so meone who opened. It 's a downside and can be a One Phoenix GP, only drew 20% of should be nonaggressive, comp liant, the normal Continental crowds. Bu t demeaning position into which you have to p ut yourself. The upside is that and window dressing . Certainly not a the Saturday gate at the U.S. GP was successfu l bu sinesswomen. Ladies like people are (genera lly) less brusque to frighteningl y low - dangerous vibes that scare a lot of people (m en , a lady - perhaps courtesy is not yet were o n the hori zon - until they dead - once they determine that yo u realized that the pre-race ticket sales actua lly) and o ther women are oftt imes are serio us. If your contact is wi th ho stil e. Madonna is a good exa m p le would acco unt for almos t 50% of the of the ambivalenc e shown tow ard noano ther woman - well , a ll bets are ga te - " which is unheard of." The nons ense wom en . Yvonne's cred ibility off. Yvonne ad mits that she can allow Bau manns used Ticketmaster for the would be a large factor in th e success herself to be a littl e mo re blunt in her sou th em Cal ifornia area ticket sales rat e of her con tacts . Roger' s nam e had approac h, mor e th an wh at a gu y might plus over 100 participating Yam ah a, to p lay a significant portion to achievget away with. Of course, her credi Suzuki, and Honda deal ers throughout ing tha t end. . California, Nevada , and Arizona . bility regardin g the 1991 U.S. GP is n ow highl y en ha nced du e to th e Her telephone skills are impeccable: T he y spe nt $25,000 for area rad io she keep s you directed, but still allow s success of the .',90 race - remember spo ts, a nd 2500 pos ters were dist riba reasonable interruption, ,now and tho se 17,000 p ai d spect ators. One uted. On the other end of the expe nsnea k-in artist was so impressed wi th then . As a matter of necessity, Yvonne diture sca le, at the San Jose Supercross, the show th at he subsequently bought Yvonne inserted G P fliers into all of had to beco me a secretary , a cler k, a writer, and a sa lesma n - saleswoman. the programs - by hand. Their pro mo a ticket, at a Honda dealer: post-race ' package - a concise, professiona l booklet - was done at home on their personal computer. Three-hundred pa ckets were sent o ut - th e obvious targets were people in the motocross/ dirt bike ind ustry - but, being a thinker, the y also sent packages to peri phera l com pan ies. Nautilus, the manufacturer of exercise equipment, is a good (but unresponsive at this time) exa mp le. One of th e pains is when follow-up ph one ca lls elici t the "We didn 't get one" response wh en you know tha t it was not returned. H ey, don't you alw ays get yo ur bills in the mail? The U.S. Postal Service ' does a damned good job - even with th e new, improved 29¢ model. But you shou ld not question po ten tial cu stomers and sponsors: " Did you toss it in to th e circu lar file?" Yvon ne notes that peo p le are now far mor e aware of wh at she ha s acco m p lished an d th ey are far more receptive to her ca lls. H er performan ce o n th e telephone was exem p lary; the ir 1990 sponsors included H o nda, Suzuki , Yamaha, plus associa te supporters Bridgestone and Scott. An added draw was th e motorcycle show : th e " Moto Expo" area featured di splays of di rt bike manufacturers, incl udi ng AT Ks and Husabergs. Honda and Suzuki offered demo rides - Suzuki had some of th eir popular four-stroke DR models available for som e hill and tra il charging. Beer and food concessions were topnotch - the bar becue pit had them begging for more. Messy but good. And who cares if yo u get dirty at the G P? There are some positive peripheral as pec ts 'to th e promotion bu siness: there are pl enty of contacts th at make life a little mor e p leasant . Com pli mentary rid in g equipment is packed alo ng the Baumann's garage wa ll - and " supp liers' trade-outs" are commo n and a handy way of doing business.' T he ir assoc ia tio n wit h U.S. Su zuki . all owed Yvonne to buy - at a very reasonable price - a Band it tha t had been won in a rafle, .No r collusion in ferre d - just a situatio n of being there at th e righ t tim e. Then the fullboat op tion package was arra ng ed by local District Sal es Manager Mik e Mahoney. Their garage is packed with fun vehicles: Yvonne's XR200; Greg's KTM 300 and 604 AT K; the Bandit ; his FJ1 200; an RMX 250; a Waverunner ; plus a minibike for th eir daughter, Yvey. Yvonne even rode to th e Laguna Seca road race GP. U the wo rkout required to push your luck, jump to conclusions, and run amo k is not sufficient exercise for Yvonne, keeping on top of the old physical fitness situation is an added problem. (" Yo u never kn ew wh en you might have to go to H awaii to model a bikini or tank suit . .. I am seldom called on any more." ) To meet those requirements, she swims, skis , jogs, works out at a gym and uses free weights at home, and rides, although " the G P rea lly cuts into my time." Scenic ridi ng areas are close to their Sco ttsdale home: out in the unlimited desert to the north, and around the Four Peaks area. The famil y did some trail riding with Camel Supercross Champion Jean-Michel Bayle after his amazing com e-from-behind victory in the Tempe Supercross early in the seas o n . That was just one of th e " perks" of the job , and the y certain ly mean a lot to a bike-or iented family. But for now the playtim e must wait. The '91 GP is comi ng; the work begins again - now Yvonne Baumann' s pho ne is alwa ys bu sy. And it's likely it 'll stay bu sy, seeing as how Motol ink is working to promote the 1993 Mo tocross Des Nations at Gl en Helen. Okay, wor d associa tion time again. Promot er. Ri ght, Yvonne Baum ann.cs 21

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