Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

AV IEWFROM THE FENCE BYERIC JO HNSON Ithoug h I grew up around drag racin g (my fa ther was a sportsma n drag race r in Ohio), I have to mit that since I moved out of my cavi'-pro ne years around age 13, I haven't e n t m u ch time a round the b ruteorsepower. tire-smoking quarter-mile ne. Until th is Saturday, tha t is. Upon raking up and not having anything sig ificant to do, I cli mbed into my wellom Acura Integra, hopped onto the 1Santa Mo nica Freewav and headed ast toward Pomo na for the 1998 NHRA ins ton Wo rld Final s drag race. In ret spect, I guess 1 wa nted to see how the ther half lived. Upon a rriv ing a t the facili ty at pprox ima tely 8:30 a .rn., I wa lked hrou gh th e pa r ki ng lo t and was mazed to sec how many people were lready drinkin g beer. (W hile I'm no int , I still can' t come to terms wi th just hat possesses peo ple a t a u to- raci ng ven ts to s tart drinking beer ou t of th e ac k o f a ca r o r tru ck a t 8:30 in th e orn ing .) "Wha teve r gets you ou t of the ed in th e m orning ," I t ho ug h t to yself. Nonethe less, as I walked around and ked at the su rro undings, the Na tion I H ot Ro d Associatio n - ce r ta i n l y ppcared to have its corporate-sponsorhip affai rs sorted out. The brigh t-red ad -white brand colo rs of Winston were lastered onto anything nailed down (or hat moved, for that matter), as were the amiliar colors of Budweiser and various utomotive aftermarket manufacturers nd distribu tors. While I'm sure the governmen t antimoking people would have a field day t an NHRA eve nt, the sanctioning body Y EARAGO... ECEMBER 7, 1967 seemed to be enjoying the fi nancial rewa rds of big-business tobacco. And why shouldn't it? A large portion of the N H RA fan base, at least from what I witnessed, utilizes the product - and it is legal , isn't it? A few hours later , the nitro-burning dragsters were called to the staging lanes, and I quickly assumed my seat up in the aluminum bleachers. As the first pair of cars were pulled to the line to take qualifying passes, my heart sank. . Emblazoned on one of them was the vivid blue-and-white livery of Reebok. Why should the sig ht of Reebok's colors on a car bu m me out? Good question: Let me try to explain. . A week earlie r, over a couple of beers, a few in dustry friends and I staged an ad hoc meeting on just what s po n sors wou ld benefi t from be in g involved with su percross. Reebok was on that lisl. It's no grea t secre t that this off-season - perha ps mor e so tha n any ot her in history - has ignited a flurry of activity that has a number of team s (both factory and pri vate), p romoters an d marketin g organizations pound ing the pavement, beating th e bus hes, a nd knocking on any corporate d oo r within their reach in order to procure ou tside-the-industry sponso rship su p port. In recen t years, as the sport of supercross has become more polished, professional, savvy and, above all, expensive, the race teams and promoters have figu red out that in order to keep the train on the track, sponsorship money to fund the various operations is fast becoming imperative - even critical. An d all of us in the sport have every right to feel this way. Supercross is a wonderful sport that has a lot going for 20 YEARS AGO... NOVEMBER 30,1977 it - so much so, in fact, tha t it boggles my mind that so few American companies have taken the plunge and become a part of it . It's now time for some of them 10 wake up and smell the coffee. Sixteen races, all of them in key U.S. ma rkets with an average event attendance of over 45,000 people, would make an excellent TV package; have a young, active and affluent 18-to-34-yearold fan base; and, most importantly, featu re young, good looking, athletic competitors. All this adds up to a sport that is ripe for the picking - and which leads me back to Reebok. Wha t was Recbok doing sponsoring a d ragster? While I' m su re it ta kes a colossal amount of skill and courage to be able to aim a nd handle o ne o f the 5000-hp, 300-mph, ni tro-burning, tiresmoking beasts, I feel quite comfortable in m y belief th a t the en deavor takes nowh er e near the athletic commi tment a nd p ro w e s s - q ua lities Ree bo k h as st am ped into its corpora te e thos - of supercross. While I may see m a bit presumptuous here, it was pa infull y evident to me tha t the throng of spectato rs pr esent at Pomona we re nowher e near as athletic, active and certai nly not as young as your typical supercross crowd. So, as I observed all of this, and the wheels in my head began t urning, grinding, and smoking, I began to question myself about just what led Recbok to NHRA as opposed to the AMA Supercross Series, and after a while it came to me that the one thing we're missing is savvy marketing and presentation skills to help pitch the sport to the corporate decision-makers of America. Encouragingly, this dynamic of ou r sport appears to be changing - a nd changing for the better. After talking to a number of people in the industry in recent months, and getting a better read on the current state of the great sponsorship hu nt , it appea rs tha t, through the actions of a number of new and knowledgeable "players" in the industry (a nd from outside of it, as well), there are rumblings that a few new co rporations may be sniffing around our beloved sport. By going at it in a profess ional, well-spoken. buttoned-up manner, the people out there selling the sport are dearly articulating w ha t the sport is all aboulto the corpor ate ma rketing people, and, m os t impo rta n tly, debunking the b la ckle ath e r -j a cket /H ell ' s Angels /Go dawfu l Evel Knievel myth. A nd if the domino th eory holds true, and a few ne w and committed sponso rs en ter the spor t and reap th e bene fits they will receive fro m a very enthusias tic a nd d emo graph icall y fri endly fan ba se, a number of others will come runnin g. A ltho ug h we wo uld b e fo oli sh to believe that supercross will ever enjoy th e co rpora te back ing of NASCAR (w hic h I believe to be way overbo re, a nyway), th e ex tra m on ey, p restige, credibility and publicity these guys bri ng to the part would benefi t th e sport tremendously. While the NHRA, NASCAR, CART, Reebo ks, Winstons, Budweisers and McDonalds of the world are still brothers in corporate anns in the automobileracing sponsorship wo rld, I feel safe in assuming that it's only a matter of time before the young and dynamic sport of supercross finds inroads into their world. And if I had to guess, they can already hear the footsteps. '" (GM) won the Bud Light /Skoal U.S. Long Trac k Championshi p speedway event at Ascot Pa rk ... Greg Hancock was seco nd in the Su pport class... A large photo of Rodney Farris (Ho n) was featured in the Locals section of the p ape r aft er Fa rris w on the Ti monium indoor short track in Maryland. '" rad Lackey (Han) was this issue's covc rboy after og e r DeCoster bec ame th e second wi nning the Sears Point , California, rou nd of the Eu r opean m ot o Tra ns-AMA Series. Sears Po int mar ked the se ries os s rid er in as man y fina le, wi th the champio nship title going to no ne other ecks to grace the cover than Roger D eCoster (Suz) ... Graham Noyce sig ned a f Cycle News. DeCoster on e-year d eal with Honda to contest the 500cc Grands Prix as Brad Lackey' s teammate... Penrizoil was obvirode hi s CZs to fourth i n b o th the 25 0 a nd ously a large ad vertiser, running a full-pa ge ad o n its 1500cc· p ro fe ss ion al two-st roke oil and a half-pa ge ad on its Gu mo u t cha in classes a t th e Forst lube ... Nineteen-year-old Jeff Henning (H us) won the Ranc h fin a l of the Rattles nake National End uro in Klama th Glen, CaliforInte r n a t io na l nia... Mike Godfrey (Mail won the UEA Tu ff E' N uff End uro in Red Moun tain, California ... Wayne Rainey Motoc ross r a ce s . Ga ry Bailey ha d a won the Pro short track and half mile ra ces, while Charlie Summers won the IT portion of the flat-track grea t day a t the triple-header at Corona Raceway in e ven t, w inni ng the 100cc ' Sporting class on his wife's H odaka , ad ding Corona, California. ff7[f:if~r::-;-,l,.,., ~ the victory to those he claimed in th e 250 and 500cc Sporting classes... Dusty Coppage (Tril won the Barst ow -to- Veg as .~~= ~==-- 10 Y SAGO... EAR National Hare & Hound . CopDECEMBER2, 1 987 page covered the 192-mile race an Smith (Hus) and distance in 41/ 2 hou rs, averaging Kevin Benn ett 42 mph. Max Switzer (Gre) won shared the cover . the 250cc class and was sevent h Smith won the Winnemucoverall... Jerry Asquith (BSA) ca Dry Lake National was the only man to top the hill H&H , near Reno , Nevada, at t h e H illtop p ers MC ti re w hile Benn ett was the best dimb near Portland, Oregon... at the Sandy Lane NationThere we re race reports fro m al Enduro in Chatsworth, the San Jose indoor fla t-track New Je rsey.. . Cagiva season opener, and th e Lodi showed off its family of Cycle Bowl, which began its 1988 stree t bikes, with the stylish win ter seri es of ra ces... Ed di e Ducati 750 Paso heading th e lineu p ... Dave Schultz Mulder (Man) won the Fres(Kaw) won th e race a nd wrapped up the Pro Stoc k no indoor sh or t track, topBike title at the NHRA Win ston Finals in Pom ona, Calping such riders as M ert Lawwill (H- D) , if ornia ... Cy cle News evaluated th e Sp a r ky s pa r k Malco-mounted Steve Stackable at the canadian SOOCC GP In Ken Weakley (Suz) and Jim McMu rren (H-D ). arrestor, w ith fa vorab le results... S am Ermo lenko 1975. R ~ B ..... D r-, 0\ 0\ ,..... -.D N .... OJ ..0 E OJ > o z 55

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