Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

crossover star, or mainstream star, supercross racing has ever seen. GB: Jeremy McGrath is exceptional. He's got the look, he's got the personality, he's got the desire, the charisma - he is definitely, without question, a champion. He's warmed up to us over the last 12 or 14 months even though we've had some problems in the past, and he's been a great champion fpr the sport. You're talking about the boycott of Las Vegas in 1995, aren't you? GB: Specifically, I'm probably talking about Vegas, yes. And I think the reason Vegas occurred, and what I've seen over the first quarter of this past year is the main reason that Charlie and I are taking the steps that we're taking next week, which is to travel to California to visit the prominent members of the industry like the manufacturers and team managers to re-establish the lines of communication. In my opinion, that's been one of the biggest problems in supercross racing these last few years - there's not a lot of communication between the promoters and the teams, the promoters and the media, the promoters and each other, for the matter. Maybe now that there's one person calling the shots there won't be the perceived inability to complain (Weisel, Motocross Action editor) is so uninformed and his facts are wrong. If his facts were correct and we were as bad as he said, then I don~t mind being that dartboard and I don't mind taking that heat. The problem is, he doesn't understand our side of the business and he doesn't understand'why we do things the way we do. I think there's two reasons for that. One, the message they were giving was not the right message and the delivery or the deliverer of that message was not done properly as well. We intend to change both of those. The. delivery of the message is going to be positive and the message itself will be positive. If they want to continue to throw darts at us and do things that bring the sport down rather than benefit it, that's their prerogative. But it's not going to be because we did not give them the opportunity nor did we make the effort to inform them of the true positives and the true facts. The industry knows that you're coming off the best year ever for supercross, but the sport isn't anywhere neat perfect. What are some of the things about supercross that need to be fixed? CM: The schedule is always somewhat broken, and to some extent it can never be completely fixed. We are literal- _ _.....I.......!I"'"!"'= ~1~1 W 1ill~J:JJ~;;:::.::J~$. .~_._ . . . . .!MI~_ . or critique without some retribution, as' the riders in Vegas and some of the magazines have found out in the past. CM: First, let me correct one thing: There is not "one person" calling the shots now. It's one team. GB: If you knew a little bit more about our company, you might know a little bit more about our style. We think we're fair, we try to be as respectful to the Jeremy McGraths as we are to the kid who comes in and doesn't even qualify or make it to the show. Everyone is part of the industry and everyone should be treated with the same courtesy and respect. Now that doesn't mean that we're going to do what everyone wants us to do, but we will deal with it in a much more professional and respectful manner, and my door and my phone line are always open. For example, if people want to' call me and say, 'Hey, this guy Charlie is a jerk and blah-blahblah: I'm willing to listen and we'll deal with it accordingly. I think that "open door" policy will solve so many of the problems that we've had in the past With riders and publications and others in our industry. And when I say "our industry," I mean all of ours, because we are all a part of this industry. This industry is not owned by the AMA, it's not owned by the promoters, it's not owned by the manufacturers, it's not owned by the media - we are all involved and we must have respect for each other's roles and for each other's goals. That way maybe we can solve our problems in a much more beneficial manner and take this sport to where the likes of PACE and Bill West and C.E. Albnan and SRO and Mickey Thompson always en visioned it. Even though Cycle News was not involved in the matter, a lot of people might be interested in the situation with Hi-Torque Publications a"d Motocross Action magazine, where they were not welcome at supercross . events in 1996. What is the status of that situation? GB: We wiIl be meeting with the Motocross Action staff soon to iron out our problems. Unfortunately, for someone who is really throwing darts at us all the time, it's unfortunate that Jody ly at the mercy of publicly and privately managed facilities. For example, the industry as a whole, and I'm including Gary and myself, would like to see the series start in Anaheim as it did five or six years ago. That would be most advantageous for most of the teams, and we are making a commitment to do that. Our plans are to do that in 1997, though somebody recently threw a monkey wrench into those plans because Disney purchased the California Angles and they are taking over management of Anaheim Stadium - we are still trying to finalize a date for next year. Ironically, Jack Murphy in San Diego, which would be round two after Anaheim, the opening round, is under major reconstruction to add 20,000 seats for the 1998 Superbowl, so it may not be available. We've had to put contingency plans into place but are trying as best as we can to maintain our integrity and our promise to start on the West Coast. But we will start on the west coast as our response to the perennial complaints of the teams, the riders, and other industry personnel. It's also no secret that the $100,000 points fund for a series of this magnitude is not nearly at the level that it should be. We are working diligently to improve the points fund, and we incorporat~d into every single sponsor's package a significant points fund of $200,000 and we believe that is another step towards fixing things. If we're successful over the next five years the points fund will be a million dollars. And we believe that as the points fund grows and the dollars in purse money grow, so will the perception of the series as a legitimate sport the same as NASCAR, NHRA and other forms of motorsports. Both motocross and supercross have yet to receive the recognition that these athletes deserve simply because of the dollars involved. If we all do our bit to increase the dollars that are at stake, it will help the sport move to the next level. So that would be the answer to your question as to what needs fixed the points fund and the opener. GB: They are both ongoing dilemnas. Call them sore spots. The Orlando opener has been a sore spot for a lot of people for five or six years. . GB: Exactly. People don't understand our side sometimes. We have to take a back seat to pro football playoff schedules in which every team holds all of the dates. You know that there's a select number of teams that will never, ever make it that far but they still have to hold the dates just in case. We have traveling concerns because we don't want to send people from Seattle to Tampa in one week if we can help it, but sometimes things like that just happen. Sometimes we have to make people drive to Minneapolis in the middle of January. That was another point of contention last year, but it turned out to be your second biggest crowd of the year. CM: From a promoter's standpoint we knew what we were doing when we put that race there and it routed coincidentally with Orlando. But now with Anaheim being the opening round on the West Coast, Minneapolis is going to be pushed back to March or April. So in order to get a better travel pattern you're giving up a hugely successful date for indoor racing. GB: We are certainly jeopardizing a winner. It's a situation where we have to be good listeners and if we can change situations around, sometimes we will, as long as its fair. And that's what we're striving for - to be fair. But I have to tell you, it can't come from us only. Everyone else has to be fair. We need to have . mutual respect for own interests, and if you can understand and respect what I'm doing and I can understand and respect what you're doing, then we're going to come to a mutually beneficial situation. CM: About things being broken - we could talk about the travel patterns, the points fund and all that, but the fact that we are going to talk to the industry in the next few weeks is our first step towards solving what the biggest problem in supercross has been, and that's communication. We are going out there (to California) to do a lot of listening. That's good to hear, because it's always been difficult to tell supercross what's wrong, whether you're a rider or a journalist. That's what some of the magazines found out last year. They weren't necessarily playing fair in some of their criticism, but the promoters made them pay a pretty big price by denying them credentials, and that made it hard "for anyone to speak up. Will you guys now accept criticism as well as you can take compliments? GB: You can criticize me, but criticize me fairly. Be factual and at the same time try to understand what your doing as a whole to the sport because sometimes with that criticism they penalize the sport when what they're really trying to do is just hurt me. The situation last year (with Motocross Action) became a personal issue that had to be dealt with at a personal level. CM: Gary's 'Ietter last week that was sent throughout the industry to set up these meetings said for people to come prepared to give us your criticism and complaints and congratulations - there is no formal agenda. You can give us any input you want and there will be no retribution. The message here is that there's an awful lot that we know and a whole lot that we don't. We want the rest of the industry to have a level of communication with the two of us that has never existed with supercross before. GB: Let me give you an example of this. We were standing by the track at Denver before practice on Friday and one of the riders - I'm not going to mention his name - walked up to where the whoop-de-doos were going and their immediate comment was, "Oh, these ----ing promoters are trying to save money on dirt again:' which was the most absurd comment anyone could ever make. They weren't built yet! The amount of time and money w.e spend on a track compliment our desires to do it the very best way possible. The reason we hire people like Rich Winkler and Mark Barnett and run our designs by Duke Finch and the AMA is to have the very best and very safest track possible. We do our best. That's a cost that's a part of doing business, but we will never cut that cost to jeopardize rider safety or competitiveness, and those were two issues that were brought up in several articles. I want these guys to be able to walk up to Roy Ganson), or to walk up to Charlie, or to walk up to me, and say 'Hey guys, this it too skinny or this is too

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