Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

GUEST EDITORIAL By Eric Johnson common misconception that arises among motocross racing enthusiasts is that the major Japanese anufacturers (otherwise known as the mnipotent "factory teams") race proessional motocross and super cross trictly to promote and sell their producion-line motocross bikes to John Q. ublic. While this assumption is true to certain extent, the rationale involved n a Japanese conglomerate (namely onda, Suzuki, Kawasaki and Yamaha) ouring million of dollars into a race ffort is much more intricate and comrehensive. During the winter of 1994, '!1l intense ower struggle was taking place etween the AMA, the supercross prooters and the National motocross prooters over the future direction of the port. The supercross promoters wanted ore control in the way oj television .ghts, additional dates and sanctioning esponsibilities, while the outdoor prooters wanted to guard the territory and dates) they had spent years in nururing and developing. The AMA, caught in the middle, did not want to lose total control of either series and went to the bargaining table in an effort to resolve the dispute. During the negotiation process, the supercross promoters made it clear that they wanted additional dates on the already overloaded AMA National and supercross schedule. The AMA, outdoor promoters and factories adamantly said "no way!" The erratic schedule was already a logistical nightmare to manage and the maxedout factory-team budgets could not cover the added expense of a longer race season. It was determined that in order for supercross dates to be added to the schedule, outdoor dates had to Cl!lme off. It was that simple. From this point on, a heated battle raged on as to what discipline was more important to the overall well-being of the sport - natural-terrain National motocross, or stadium-based supercross? The key point of argument from the AMA and National promoters' side of the table was that the factories supported major professional motocross efforts in order to promote their production motorcycles to the general public. From AMA rhetoric, it was stated that amateur racers in America compete on naturalterrain motocross tracks and attended professional outdoor motocross events as spectators in order to watch their heroes compete on the same type of circuits that they did back home. In doing so, they would be impressed by a particular rider or team's performance and eventually end up at their local dealer to purchase that manufacturer's bike and parts. To hammer home their argument, the AMA and National promoters claimed that a very, very small percentage of supercross spectators were actual motocross racers and thus, motocrossbike pwchasers. It made no sense for the. factories to place additional importance and effort on supercross. While their argument made perfect sense, it was not completely justified. Throughout the world, it is claimed that the Japanese factories are fascinated by American supercross. Why? More than any other reason, it is due to the large spectator turnouts that supercross generates. ,The AMA supercross series draws an average crowd of nearly 40,000 spectators per event, with the majority falling within the prime 18- to 34-year-old male demographic. These are very attractive numbers to large corporations such as Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha. By factoring in the signifi'cant local marketing, promotional and public-relations opportunities associated with the supercross events, the Japanese factories (or corporations) are in a position to display their brand name and image to a large, enthused, interested audience. Through this exercise, it is hoped that the spectator will be impressed with the company's ontrack performance and image and be "won over" into considering not only . their motorcycles, but their other consumer products as well. When worldwide supercross sensation Jeremy McGrath wins a supercross, he is not only promoting Honda's line of offroad motorcycles, he is also putting the company's automobiles, generators, lawn mowers, scooters and overall brand image into a positive light. This concept may sound a bit farfetched, but it is true. Think about it. While the majority of supercross spectators may not be hard-core motocross enthusiasts, they are in fact motivated enough to get up off of the couch and come out to the 01' ball yard to watch the race action. These types of ticket buying fans are referred to within the industry as "near-enthusiasts." Although they might not be in the market for a new competition-oriented motocross bike, there is a distinct possibility that they could be considering purchasing a new car, a street bike, or a mini cycle for their kid. These "near enthusiasts"purchase products - hopefully Honda's products. And this brings me to my point. While a manufacturer may not be able to justify a multimillion dollar motocross team solely through the sale of a few thousand RMs, CRs, YZs o~ KXs, they surely substantiate and validate their race programs through such intangibles as corporate identity, brand imagery, promotion, publicity, development, motivation and pride. First and foremost, the main objective for a corporation to meet through racing is to elevate its overall brand image to the buying public. A company, be it Suzuki in motocross, Ford in NASCAR, Honda in Indy Car, or Mercedes-Benz in Formula 1, competes in professional racing to solidify and accentuate the overall image of its brand, not necessarily to sell units, or "move metaL" When a factory decides to go racing, it is done through comprehensive strategic planning. Although it is the ultimate goal to sell more motorcycles or cars, a company does not necessarily justify a racing program through the number of "units" it moves off of the showroom floor. By pooling its best research and development and fabrication resources, a corporation makes a major statement when it creates a piece of in-house machinery and go racing with it. In doing so, it puts its best foot forward. By racing and winning, a manufacturer can validate and promote to the buying public that its "competition proven" technology is integrated into each of its consumer products, be it a motocross bike or a lawn mower. Racing can also be used to motivate a company and its workers to go beyond the call of duty and do the best job possible. When a corporation's racing effort is successful, the residual sense of teamwork and pride can triclsle down from the chief executive officer to the young guy working in the mail room. To a corporation, this positive energy can make a big difference between people who just show up for work and put their time in, to those who come in and give it their all. There are also very significant strategic reasons for a corporation to get involved in racing. One of the most prevalent is the "technology transfer," or, "we race, you win" strategy. When corporations determine to execute this strategy, they are out to prove to the general public that by racing, they are incorporating all of their learning and technology into machinery that is being tested, tortured, developed, improved and ultimately, proven in the heat of battle. Through this information gathering process, the proven technology is then transferred over to· the individual production models. Eventually, through on-track success and the subsequent "race win" advertising in print and electronic media, this message is passed on to the consumer. TIrrough this strategy, the potential consumer is informed that the company is constantly developing and improving its products through racing and incorporating this technology into their production of showroom vehicles. In other words, "win on Sunday, sell on Monday." In American professional motocross, this type of strategy is practiced by the Japanese motocross manufacturers (adopted when the production rule was put into place by the AMA). To cite another example of this type of strategy (to a lesser degree), one has to look no farther than Ford, Chevrolet and Pontiac and their participation in the American-based NASCAR series. By racing production-oriented, "silhouette" automobiles (the Thunderbird, Monte Carlo and Grand Prix, respectively) on high-banked, highspeed ovals, and bullring-like short tracks, these three manufacturers are attempting to lead the consumer to believe that their automobiles are the best and most advanced. By winning races, they are proving to the public that their on-track technology is superior to the competing manufactures on that given day. In essence, the "technology transfer" strategy proclaims to the buying public that by developing a vehicle through competition, the whole becomes great than the sum of its part. Another proven motorsports scheme is the "we race to win" strategy. When a manufacturer chooses to utilize this strategy, they opt to throw caution to the wind in order to win in racing at all costs. Budgets are not an issue. A company collates its best assets and resources in order to create an optimum race effort. The best engineers, tedinology, research and development are brought together with one objective in mind: to win races! Tl:Us type of strategy can be witnessed in the upper echelon teams of Formula 1 automobile racing and to a certain extent, GP motorcycle road racing. While a company such as Honda may spend millions of dollars to develop and race Mick Doohan's 500cc, two-stroke GP road race bike, they cannot make a direct connection to their production motorcycle lineup. Honda competes and spends at this level in order to elevate the overall performance image of the brand. While there are numerous other reasons for a manufacturer to develop a significant race effort and ultimately do battle in the crucible of on-track competition, behind every one of them is carefully planned network is strategically planned to incorporate and optimize the functions of advertising, marketing, promotions, public relations, research and development, dealership relations, human res9urces and overall corporate affairs. All departments cooperate and work in unison to maximize the effect a successful race program can have on the overall well-being and success of a company. If a high-profile race program does well, it can work wonders on every single segment of a corporation. To that end, racing is part of the cost of doing business. I LOOKlNG8ACK; ..j 15 YEARS AGO... DECEMBER 17, 1980 ittle Jeff Ward topped the Mini Enduro class at the Minibike Nationals held at Saddleback Park ~n Southern California. Second place went to Ivan Oden, who competed on a mini borrowed from Ivan Oden Jr., the winner in 4-6 hp (9-11) competition... Evel Knievel finally got lucky with a 13car jump in Wilmington, California. J.N. Roberts proved himself king of the desert once again, winning two 500cc races on two courses at the Prospectors M.e./Bushmasters M.e. Dual European Scrambles!' L irst at the finish line in the San Gabriel Valley Motorcycle Club's Beatty to Las Vegas Hare 'n' Hound was Bob Balentine on his trusty KTM. Dave Hornbeck was stuck in second gear for a large part of the race, but took top Amateur honors, smoke curling out through the cracks in his clutch case... Mike Hale won in the 500cc Expert division in the Porterville Half Mile event in Porterville, California. Hale was second in the 250cc Expert division, behind fellow Yamaha rider Robert Land. The 100cc Expert-class F win went to Suzuki-mounted Chris Carr... Steve Wise and Rick Blackwell were both hot on the ice in Houston, Texas. Blackwell won five of five "heat" races, but was frozen out of the victory in the main by Wise, who was riding in his first indoor ice motocross. 5YEARS AGO... DECEMBER 12, 1990 ictured on the cover were just some of the 2780 racers who entered the 19th annual AMA Florida Winter National Olympics at Gatorback Cycle Park. Jeff Dement and Ricky Carmichael both topped IT, Supercross, P Motocross and GP competition. Dement rode in the 85cc (14-15) Expert class while Carmichael campaigned in the seven- to 11-year-oLd division... Rick Johnson flew to victory at the final round of the Masters of Motocross Series in Maastricht, the Netherlands, then flew back to the United States to get married. Consistent Jeff Stanton took the series title without having won a single event in the five-round series. Jean-Michel Bayle finished second On the weekend and in the series... Danny Hamel dusted the competition at the Battle-to-Victory '90 in the California desert, finishing almost 10 minutes ahead of hs nearest rival, Dan Richardson. 1:N ~e

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