Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

middle of the pack. Ha y-bale covers are great, but did you kn ow that there's an East Coast ha y-bale s ize a nd a West Co ast size? That's means you h a ve to make a different set of hay-ba le covers. Anyway, it was things like all that that we wan ted to get away from . We came up with a bal e with a tru e foa m material in side th at was specia lly des igned through a bo rder-control company that makes Roller -Blade products. It's vinyllined , with a weighted sys tem in the bottom to keep the center of gravity lower. In the turns, we 'v e designed a 9-foot section that is better-an chored to the berm so we won't be chasing bale s all night long. We've also increased the signage on the floo r fo r the s ta r t area, w here we' ve gone to a tapered panel also in a 10-foot sec tion, increa sing visible sig nage from the floor. Are these wa ys in which PACE hopes to provide better rider safety, or is this a way to increase signage, or both? It's actually both. And w hen I explained to yo u abo ut bolt berms, our ancho ring sys tem int o the turn will prevent bikes from blowing th rough berms and then sca ttering all over th e floor and riders fli p p ing o ver th em. Th is is more of a safety catch - it will p revent rid ers from go ing over into da nger areas like onco ming lanes. It shoul d help out tr em endous ly, not to m ent ion enhancing the floor and signage as wel l. What abou t the actual race tracks themselves ? Are there an y immediate th ings on the chalkboard up the re in Lombard, 1l1inois? Are we going to see Dirt Werx throw out s o m e new s tuff in 1998? Yes, yo u're definitely go ing to see some new cha nges . Each track is uniqu e in its own way, and we 've thrown arou nd the idea of elevated startsat some of our supercrosses, but that's still on the drawing boa rd . What do you mean by "a n e leva te d start"? We're going to bring up the leve l of the s ta rt ga te six to seven feet off of the ground, where it wou ld race to the first tu rn o n a tapered s la n t. I th ink that wo uld give it a different texture, a different fee l and a different loo k. It's just something that' s not been done before. We like to make the floor look as different as possible each year for the fans. We also ho p e to throw a couple of new obstacles in the mix tha t most of the factory riders an d privateers haven't seen yet. Are those the rings 0' fire , real-live alligator pits and the shark tanks I heard about? (La ug hs) No. But mos t of the' tra ck designs are totally revised and renewed for 1998. He y, let me ask you th is: Do the factory teams get to see the blueprints before the tracks are ever designed, or is that not the case? It is the case. I do forward all the factory and ind ependent teams a copy of supercross tra ck s th at we've d e s igned . They' ve give n me their input and that's relayed back into ou r draw ings, not to mention the 1997 drawin gs . We get their comments on what coul d be improved or wha t some of the riders were hav ing problem s with, We review them where rid ers were injury-prone, and we eithe r design them for better safety or remove them completely from ou r drawings, bu t they do get a chance to look at the d iagrams well ahead of time. Wh at about th e s h o w its e lf? For instance, take Leeann T wee d e n , th e floor announcer las t y ea r. She took kind of a beating from the purists out there at first, but in the end sh e turned out to be a boon for you, d idn't she? Th at's correct. Leeann has been a great add ition to the show. It too k her a little bit of tim e to ge t u sed to spea ki ng in front of 50,000 fans and such, but we sat d o w n wi th h er a n d ex p lai ned w ha t we're looking for and what the fans are looking for. I believe she's come a lon g way and she's a grea t asse t to the sport. Are we going to see Terry Boyd and Erv Braun back as the announcers, or are you thinking of spreadi ng that around a bit? You will see Terry Boyd and Erv Braun co me back as th e a nnouncers . Terry Boyd is ou r lou d e r , more e xtr e m e anno u ncer who's out on the floor reporting . Erv Brau n is our race-callin g, boiler pla te anno u ncer. Between the two and Leeann Tweed en, we believe we have a concept package that works really well for the fans . Tell me somethi ng about the sche dule now. Last year there w ere a few questio n s about the Los Angeles date, bu t that wa s bec au se of earthq uake damage to Anaheim, was it not? It was also due to some contract negotiations wit h the bu ildi ng in Anaheim, due to them being acquired by, I believe, Disney . T his year, obviously , w e aren't goi ng b a ck there again . As fo r San Diego, it' s comp let e ly re d on e and restru ctured for the Super Bowl that will be coming there this yea r. We'll be there tw o weeks after the Super Bowl, so it shou ld be in pristine condition. They've also ,e xp a n d e d th e seating there, right? 'Tha t' s correct. They're u p in excess of 70,000. Then you gu ys go to Tampa. Tell me , what was supercross ' position on the Gainesville National? As motocross fans, we've all enjoyed the Gainesville Na tional. Unfortuna te ly, because of its position on the sched u le in the middle of th e s upercross seaso n, there's been a growing senti me nt among riders and teams to d rop the eve nt. We offered to replace.the event with a supercross if the AMA wa nted fo make that change. Are you gu ys excited to be go ing back to Tampa? Yes, we are. We' re ex tre mely p leased and excited abo ut the Tampa d ate, and h op e tha t it will become an ext re mely successful event. So, obviously, you now think that continuity i s beller for the s u p ercross series? Yes, I d o. I believe this w ill bene fit the entire motorcycling community - factory teams an d independent teams, and even the privateers - for testing purposes, getting a n ou tdoor b ike prepared in th e middle of the supercross season. My personal favorite add ition to th e schedul e is that we' re go ing back to New Orleans for the first tim e in about 15 years. Correct; that's Marc h 14th. Can y ou tell us how that came into play? It ' s an a dditio n t h at fits in n icely, because they'll be go ing fro m Dayton a to New Orleans. This is th e first tim e the se ries h a s been t h ere si nce - we ll, I b eli eve it w as ' 81. The race is in th e Super Dome, and the entire city of N ew Orleans is extre me ly excited an d pleased that we' ll be bringing back this race. Did you ask everyone in New O rleans? That's correct (laug hs). Well, the new schedule still leaves one gaping hole on the map: You gu ys still do n't ha ve a race in the northeast. Why is that? We wish it wasn' t like tha t, too . When a d ome in the northeast becomes available and the scheduling provides th at , we wi ll be in the northeast and you will see a su percross there in the near fu ture. Now that the schedule ha s changed, we have th e 16 su percross races and then the Nationals with, like, one weekend off. How can you figure out a way to have s o me kind of break? What are so me of your options there? An optio n would be to space the ou tdoor Nationals down a few weekends. Maybe we can extend the N ationa l series into September and actua lly kick it off around Memorial Day. Have you ever thought about startin g a little earlier? Well, ther e's only ano the r week befor e tha t Jan ua ry 10th da te, and that wo u ld be really close to th e New Year's Day college football bowl ga mes and the NFL playoffs and all that. Stad ium ava ilabili-: ty is mu ch more limited a t th at tim e. Also, d ue to factory testing and ge tting their bikes from Japan, and Christmas, it makes it extremely tou gh and difficult to be (there) on that first weekend . What about sp onsors? Has supercross had any success in procuring an outside sponsor? Yes , w e h ave . We a re pl ea s ed to announce the addition of Toyo ta Tru cks and Las Vegas Co nve ntion and Visitors Authority as the new series spo nso rs. How will that help the '98 series, besides the obvious exposure our sport gets for bringing in outside interests? The addition of th ese im portant nonindus try sponsors will help to genera te great exposure for the sport, the rid ers and everyone. It will also assist u s in pro vid in g increased su p po rt for rid ers th ro u gh points funds and bonus pro.grams . For in stance, th e series p o in t fund ha s been inc reased to $2 17,000 , which will p ro vid e for $100,000 to the ' 98 Supercross Champion and increase payme n ts to a ll to p 20 rid ers in th e series. In addition, the Privateer Bonus Program, which saw 35 true p rivat eer s collect bonus mon ey in '97 just by making the main eve nts, will be increased to $75,000. The 1-900-PRO-RACE Holeshot Award will also be back with holeshot bonuses for both classes, and the 125 Eas t-Wes t Sho ot out at the Las Vegas final has had a purse increase to $25,000. Finally, purses ha ve been increased 10 percent across the board . What ab out th e telev isi on contract? A few years ago, some people were a littl e upset that s u pe rcross h ad mo ved to ESPN 2. Now it seems like it's been a tremendous boo st to the ind ustry. ESPN 2 has been wonderful to the sport of supercross. Back in th e days wh en you had to wait a month - that made it difficult. Now that we tape live-to-ta pe and tha t particul ar even t comes ou t six days after it was held, it makes it wond er fu l fo r the s p ort. O ne o ther th in g abo u t ESPN 2: I've spent the las t three weeks wa tching th e '97 races rep eat ed for the um pteenth time , telling Roy I was d oing research. I am so stoked for the new series to start now, and I imagine a lot of other viewers around the country are, as well. If you had one thing you could do to fix the s e r ie s or the sport, Todd, what would that thing be? Im p ro ving relations with rid ers, team managers and mechanics. Aga in, I think com m unication is the key - be ing level wi th everybody and treating people fairly. Once I have that, I think thi ngs will be extremely pleasurable. What about supercross in the year 2000? What ar e so me of th e long-term plans tliat you and PACE Motor Sports hold for the sport? What I env ision for the sport of supercross in the future would be improving a ttendance, na tion al ne tw ork coverage, and I envision more outside spon so rs. I en vision one da y seeing laser light s dis playing sponso r logos on the floor, on the dirt, on the walls. One day, we could see rad io-eont rolled blimps floating aro und with signage on them . We wa nt to bring national exposure to our mo tocross guys. Each year we're goin g to work on bringing s u percross closer to m ai nstrea m America . These riders will someday reach the level of Jeff Go rd on, or the Mario Andrettis, or what hav e you . You will see improved purses and points fun ds . You will see more coverage on TV. Hopefully, one day, yo u will see su percross come into the realm of NASCAR. I understand supercross has invested in an 18-wheeler to carry the equ ipment . from race to race an d thus make the setu p more efficient. Yeah, w e looked into the p ossibility of acquiri ng a semi. We will have a trailer on the road in 1998 to haul ou r barriers a ro u n d fr o m event to e v e n t. At th e mom ent , we' re looking to acquire a trailer at least. Next yea r we' re lookin g to ad d two to the series . Is the expo s it e going to be set up at every event? No, certain ma rkets an d certa in eve nts will ha ve expos, and obviously those are m or e of th e warm-clima te even ts: There will b e BMX frees tyle teams, m u s ic - th o s e are obv io us ly i n the warmer climates. My one other questi on is, what is your opinion on amateur su pe rcross? You got a good one ther e. I believe that a m a te u rs a re very impo r ta n t to the sport. We w ill p ro d u ce a n a ma te u r supercross in Pontiac at the d ome on the Sunday fo llowing th e Po ntiac Supercross. We ha v e researched acquiring crews to produce amateur su percrosses at so me 1998 events. That will not happen in 1998, with the exception of Pontiac, bu t we will be looking into the future of a ma teur supercross a nd w here it sho uld be and what its role should be . 0 13

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