Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

PACE Motor Sports' Gary Becker and Charlie Mancuso • 22 dangerous or whatever.' We are willing to sit down and discuss it. Let's quit bitching at each other and just get things done. What do you gentlemen feel is right with supercross? GB: We're selling a lot of tickets, there's a lot of excitement in the industry from people like Parts Unlimited, who were super this year (as a series sponsor), ESPN is overwhelmed with the ratings and we're overwhelmed with the number of times they're rUJ1.fiing our events, the excitement of the races themselves and the overall excitement over our champion Jeremy McGrath, up-andcomers like Kevin Windham and the exciting things he can do on that motorcycle, and the same goes for (Mickael) Pichon. The talent level is getting better and better and we're getting more and more entries. That brings me to another' question. Are you satisfied with the numj;)er of participants that you have now or would you like to see an increase in both professional entries and amateur entries? CM: We'd love to see an increase in amateur entries and we're going to implement several programs to hopefully facilitate that, but from a professional standpoint, we think we should travel from city to city with this profes~ional tour with a set number of competitors and not be doing any qualifying at the stadium. Rather, we should qualify riders through an amateur program that is done on a number of different levels. That way a rider isn't going from an arenacross up in the Northwest Territory into the Seattle Kingdome Supercross because we need riders to fill the gate. On the other hand, we need to come up with a program in concert with the AMA, a financial program that pays 10th place through 20th more money so that those riders can continue to be competitive and travel the entire series. The amateur program went away the last few years, possibly for reasons of economy or maybe for reasons of the presentation and the way the riders were treat~d - running on Saturday morning and things like that. Don't you guys think that in order to build your own stars you need to put a little more emphasis on the amateurs? I mean, Gary, if you remember back in the days at the Astrodome, there used to be 1600 amateurs out there. GB: Sure I remember that, but at the same time we would get grief because the track gets worn down. It's a situation where as an industry we should sit down together and see what's right, but you're 100 percent right, amateurs need to be a part of the growth of this sport. Where' are they best suited? Is it eight or 10 hours before the show or is it best suited the day before if logistics can handle it? The week before? Or is it best suited to set something up on a regional basis all around the country and have them be a part of the show? That's a tough answer. What about the 1997 AMA Supercross Series itself? Last year there were 15 rounds, and although it may have seemed like two or three rac.es too many, the 14th round at St. Louis was .a really great event. Are you hoping to have just as many races next year or will we see a different number of races? CM: We believe there will be 15 races next year. Will Daytona again be included? CM: Of course. Are you satisfied with the television package and the growth of ESPN2? CM: ESPN2 is up to 35 rnillionhouseholds today, and by January of next year it" should be past 40 million. Once ESPN2 surpasses that 40 million mark they have the right to put supercross exclusively on "the Deuce" as part of the terms of our four-year agreement, which will be in its second year in '97.50 it's quite possible that's where supercross will be exclusively next year, though it's not been confirmed. You see, ESPN is strategically trying to put all motorsports on ESPN2 over the next couple of years, and when that happens we will enjoy much more attractive time slots than we do on ESPN directly. It may be West Coast prime t4ne but in the East it's midnight or 1 a.m. Also, on ESPN2 we will also have more frequency.with repeats. Everyone has been happy with the programs themselves and the ratings, which range from a 0.5 to a 1.2 cum, which is outstanding, but what people miss in this picture is that it is als.o distributed to 150 countries throughout the world and continues to grow. Our worldwide exposure and consequent acceptance continues to grow. The value of the sport and it's stars will be much more global in the next few years than it is today. What about Roy Janson, the director of supercross. Does he have a role in the immediate future of supercross? CM: Roy has a role in the immediate future and the long-term future of supercross. Roy is still the director and he will be our primary point person managing the day-to-day operations and event preparations in 1997 and beyond. Roy has a tremendous knowledge of the sport and the history of the sport He knows more people involved in the sport of motocross, supercross and arenacross than anybody else in our organization. He knows the strengths and weaknesses of this sport and he's already working on 1997. What about Jerry West? Has a role been determined for him? CM: We have offered Jerry an opportunity to be our lead development executive, the guy that goes out and handles new business development, whether it be "Trucktopia" events or off-road racing or air shows or water shows or arenacross or whatever. He would do the leg work and tell us what we need to do, but I regret to say that Jerry is maybe going to be pursuing other opportunities. 50 right now, his role has not been determined. Since we finally appear to have a unified team leading the sport of supercross, where do you want to take our sport in the neJ(t five years? Not our industry, not our show, not our marketing or vehicle or whatever - where do you want to go with the sport itself, the soul of supercross? . CM: I think everybody would like to develop supercross so that it's perceived to be on the level of what other people r.ecognize as legitimately received motorsports like NASCAR and NHAA. We hope that developing better relationships with arenacross and motocross and with all of the competitors, that :we can do our part to help propel this sport into that stratosphere. We want to see opportunities where a McGrath or a Jeff Emig or Windham or even a Denny Stephenson will get to have merchandising and do commercials and endorsements for products outside their immediate category, to the point where people perceive us !lie same way John Q. Public sees the NASCAR program. Just like them, we want to see supercross integrated into mainstream America. We hope that in the next five years that these riders have the same recognition and opportunities in marketing as athletes in other sports. It's all about marketing. GB: We want to see supercross in Sports Illustrated, in USA Today, on ESPN SportsCenter - we want to see supercross recognized as a series of sporting events where people can see some of the best athletes in the world. We think it's unfortunate that these racers are only recognized in their own industry and not by the rest of the world. What Jason Babim is doing for us with a PR effort is to try to get supercross into the mainstream. It's what the riders need, because when they tum 26 or 27 and can no longer compete with

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