Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

So how did this idea come about in the first place? I started thinking about this when (illinois referee) Dick Andrae and (former ~rand National Champion) Roger Reiman died. This sport has lost so many of its pioneers and heroes, and there is really no organized effort to honor their memories. Then Ricky Gra. ham died, and I decided it was time to make it happen. Why Springfield? That's a no-brainer. We've raced there since 1938; for years we crowned our champion there; and Andrae, Reiman and Graham all had special connections to the place. In terms of history, it's a natural. Also, the illinois Motorcycle Dealers Associa tion promotes the races there. This is a wonderful group of people Who got us back into the fairgrounds after the "bad guy" episode in the '60s. I felt very confident we could work with them to figure out all the details that will come up along the way. So I pledged $2000 toward a "Hall of Fame" race purse, and challenged a bunch of fellow enthusiasts to match that pledge. The dear was, "If we don't raise $50,000, nobody has to write a check." I figured it ~ould take six months to raise the money. Instead, it took four days! Never underestimate what we dirt track people can do! Looking at your list of contributors, there's a pretty impressive cross-section of dirt track racing enthusiasts on there, but there are also a few names such as former Indy and Grand Prix auto-racing great Dan Gurney that rank as surprises on it. How did you get them aU together? r didn't. We did. This is a great example of "networking" for a cause we all believe in. 1 called some guys; they each called other guys, who in turn called more guys; and in no time we had the money. As for Dan Gurney, he's a big motorcycle lover. I faxed him our proposal and asked if his fondness for bikes extended to this kind of project. A coupie days later his office called in"his commitment. Five people on that list deserve special thanks. Jack Mangus convinced me the idea would fly, so he gets a gold star for inspiration. Chet Burks, Gary Stolzenburg and Ron Stratman are Salesmen of the Month! They really busted their butts to spread the word and get others to join. And Mike Shattuck received our first "Attaboy Award" for his response to the question, "So, Mike, will you give me $2000?" Without hesitation he said, "Sure, and more if you need it." Attaboy, Mike! (And we're looking for ways to accommodate hi generosity!) Also, I want to comment on my . experience with the IMDA. I just can't say enough about all the help that they've given me. Denise Hartley has taken this on as a full-time job, and she already has one! Seriously, there is a very important lesson here for all of us who love dirt track racing. It's corny but true: If we all work together, we can accomplish spectacular things. You've worn a lot of hats in the motorcycle world: race announcer, TV host, AMA pro racing trustee. Which hat are you wearing for this project? All of them and none of them. This has nothing to do with any particular organization or group of people, and it's not about who gets credit for what. You observed that our membership is a cross section, and that's the key to the deal. We may all spend a lot of time arguing about individual issues, but I think this project proves that we all love the same thing - dirt track racing - and, given the opportunity, we can all pull together for the thing we love. By the way, I'd add two more "hats" to your list: I'm an AMA Life Member and 1 was a pitifully slow five-year dirt track Novice who fell in love with the sport 30 years ago. There are more than 25 names on the list. Does that mean you exceeded the $50,000 commitment? There's a funny story about that. Part of the initial pitch was, "Sign up now and be part of this exclusive group of 25 people who will make moforcycle-racing history. We'll call ourselves the Founders Club, and we'll be responsible for founding the Dirt Track Hall of Fame Race." But the truth is that I don't know who the first 25 members were! You see, things got very busy at Dave Despain and Associates once the first few Founders starting calling their" friends and leaning on them to join too. Within a day, the business phone, home phone, flip phone, van phone, fax, voice mail and E-mail were all running wide open. The morning of the fourth day, Willie G. Davidson's office called to explain that he was on the road, but he really wanted to be part of our group. In the middle of that explanation, the fax fired up and spit out a commitment from John Dragoo and John Shepherd, two of Steve Morehead's longtime sponsors. One of those three - Davidson, Dragoo or Shephard - was the 25th member, but I'm damned if I can figure out which one. Talk about coincidence? In the race to get 25 members, we had the grandson of Harley-Davidson's founder and one of Grand National racing's best privateer teams in a phone-and-fax photo finish! That's sort of symbolic, don't you think? . At that point we made the decision to open up the fund raising and let anybody who wants to join come on in. Now that you've exceeded the original goal, what's the next step? At the end of that fourth day, we had 28 members in the Founders Club. With their pledges, we could run the richest single dirt track race in history; give $50,000 to the riders; put $6000 in a Hall of Fame fund; pat ourselves ·on the back; and be proud that we have done a great thing. But if we can rai e $100,000, we can run the richest single dirt track race in history - every year. That is now the goal - to create the Annual Dirt Track Hall of Fame Race. The additional $50,000 is seed money. With the knowledge, experience and enthusiasm of the people in this group, we will use that money to develop an annual Labor Day celebration around the Hall of Fame Race. We envision all kinds of activities: a gathering of past champions with receptions in their honor and "bench racing" sessions, a collection of vintage dirt track bikes, an auction of dirt track machines and memorabilia, VIP hospitality, you name it. The race itself will be the centerpiece, and around it we will build a huge reunion of the dirt track family. Most im portant, the revenue streams we create will fund the race for years to come and provide.a steady flow of money into the Hall of Fame fund. Elaborate on that. What are the specific plans for the Hall of Fame? At this point, there are no specific plans. Remember, we thought it would take six months to get the money to run one race. An annual race - never mind a steady flow of cash into the Hall of Fame fund - was just a dream. With all this initial success, we're moving up all the timetables as fast as possible, but a lot of this is still in the "idea" stage. But that's a good thing, isn't it? Different people will ha ve different vi ions of the Hall of Fame, and we need to gather all those idea-s and pursue the best ones. Right now, we're soliciting the Founders for their thoughts. What is a Hall of Fame? Is it a building? [s it the contents of that building - the old motorcycles, photos, films, scrapbooks, all the stuff that documents the history of the sport? Or is it the riders - the great heroes of the sport who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame every year? To me, it's all those things. But all the different definitions have one thing in common: They cost money. So whatever form tlle Hall of Fame takes in the future, the first step is to create a flow of cash into a fund that can pay for it. There appears to be a bit of confusion as to whether or not this will be a Dirt Track Hall of Fame or a Motorcycle Hall of Fame. Can you clarify the situation? Well, my part of this was started specifically for a Dirt Track Hall of Fame. Simultaneously and unbeknownst to me, the American Motorcycle Heritage Founda tion also had plans for a Motorcycle Hall of Fame, but those plans were secondary to the building of the museum. They moved those plans to the front burner in February. When we found out about what each other had going, they invited me to their next planning committee meeting. I was skeptical, but when I walked into their meeting 1 was encouraged to see Don Emde, Bill Milburn and Dick Mann, among others. That told me that dirt track's interests were well-represented. So they talked and I listened, and I talked and they listened, and we all agreed to work together. In fact, they've embraced our first 24 inductees as their first 24 inductees. People ask me what the Qirt Track Hall of Fame is, and my stock and standard answer at this point in the project is that it's not a building. To have that discussion, you have to go from talking about raising tens of thousands to raising millions. So I tell.them tha t the Hall of Fame is the 24 people that we have decided to induct in recognition for what they have accomplished and for what they mean to the dirt track community. So, the answer is that they are separate projects, but we are still working together. We have the potential to be so big, and they have the potential to be 0 big. Do we want to be as big as we can be, or part of something that could potentially be bigger? And does that mean that we should be? Not necessarily. I don't have the answer to that yet. Right now it's all theoretical and hypothetical. What about the TV coverage for the race? The Labor Day Hall of Fame race will definitely be televised, tape-delayed, on ESPN2. We have that commitment. In fact, they will do a series of '98 dirt track races. Within that series, the Hall of Fame race will have its own telecast. When will the Hall of Fame Race run? [t was conceived as an addition to the National program to run Sunday of Labor Day weekend, but we've since worked with the IMDA and moved it to Saturday, making it a stand-alone event. If there is this much enthusiasm out there, we might be able to create a very exciting two-day weekend the very first year. You've been doing car racing on ESPN the last few years. In fact, other than the Peoria IT, the' dirt trackers hardly ever see you anymore. So what brought you back to this project? First, it wasn't my idea to move from motorcycles to cars on ESP . Tha t's a long and rather unpleasant story that doesn't need to be told here. But my first love is still motorcycle racing, and particularly dirt track racing. The Grand National series has seen some tough times recently. In fact, it's been tough ever since Camel pulled out. The sport badly needs a success story around which we can all rally. We need a project we can all get behind and support, a focal point' for our positive energy. I want the Hall of Fame Race to be that project. By definition, a Hall of Fame is about celebrating the past, but my vision of this event is that it will help us to build dirt track racing's future. It will be the focal point of our effort to expand the ESP 2 television package for '99 and beyond. This "showcase" weekend will enable potential sponsors to see our sport at its absolute best. And the things we learn in promoting this event will be shared with other promoters in a serieswide effort to increase attendance at all Grand National races. All that will take money. You know, I hear a lot of people crying the blues and predicting that dirt track is dying because nobody cares about it anymore. I look at dirt track racing and see the best show in American motorsports. 1 mean that. Nothing I've seen at a NASCAR race compares with 12 or 13 guys in the lead draft after 20 miles at Springfield. It's breathtaking. And I'm obviously not the only one WilD believes in this thing. All these people put up all this money in iust a few days because they believe it, too. Dirt track isn't dying - it just needs a shot in the arm, and we're going to try our best to give it that shot! So how does one join? Just give me a call at 706-769-0474 and [ will send out the information. We've extended the fund-raising effort wough September 1, because we want to give everybody plenty of time to join. We have found the way to make the $2000 deductible as a charitable contribution; they go wough the American Motorcycle Heritage Foundation, whicll is a perfect example of one of the ways that we've found to work together on this project. It's simple, it's a one-time contribution, and it's a wonderful way to support dirt track racing. 1 hope my phone keeps ringing off the hook, and I want to thank Cycle News not only for spreading the word about this project but for being the "Bible" of dirt track since I started subscribing 30 years ago. You guys are great. So when will you feel like this project is truly a success? I can tell you exactly when. When 102.year-oN Jim Davis stands up and is inducted into the Hall of Fame in front of a sold~out grandstand, with 5000 people on the infield and a host of VIPs from within and outside of the motorcycle industry, and with a bunch of potential series sponsors and a throng of media on hand, I'll consider it a great success. t~

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