Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Cycle News 1999 09 22

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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In the tapes BYSCOTT ROUSSEAU t wa s a cas u al qu estion, sta ted innocentl y enough , tha t spa rked the whole deal. While attending the recent Dirt Track Hall of Fame Race /Springfield Mile at the Illinois State Fair grounds, I was making small talk wi th one of the top AMA Grand Nati on al tun ers while waiting for his rider to finish signing an autograph so that I co u ld as k a fe w .qu estions for the story that I was going to file for Cycle News the next day. After a pause, the mechanic wiped his brow, looked ou t into the s ta n ds and then turned back toward me. "I don't know," he said, "Do you get the impression that this is turning out to be more of a telethon than a motorcycle race?" I thou ght about it for a seco nd. For two straight days I had listened as Hall of Fame Race orga nizer Dave Despain mad e his cha rismatic sales pitches to the crow d , m akin g th e m fee l wa r m a n d fuz zy by tellin g them that wi tho u t them the $100,000 race could not have h appened , and witho u t them it could no t ha pp e n agai n . Du ri n g th e Sa turday rider's meeting he had implored the riders to take their helmet s in to the stands, presumably on the premise th a t their vi sibility would aid in the ques t fo r donations toward next vears event. There was the thermomet~r on the front strai ght aw a y on Sunda y , getting splashed with more red paint every time a magi cal m onetary milestone wa s reached . There w ere corporate a n d gro u p donati on s, and auctions. By the time the m icrophone went dead, over $7 0,000 had been collec te d for n e xt year' s $100,000 event. But si nce th at da y, the seem ingly harmless question po sed by that tuner has had me wonderin g about the value of such an event if in fact it might be perceived as imposing on the fans . Looking at it another way, is it worth it to have an annual $100,000 event if the race fans are go in g to be th e ones foot ing th e bill every yea r? I don't have the answer, but I think that it is a fair question. As far as th e racers th emsel ves a re concerned, no one wa nts to tu rn away from th e cha nce to pick up a $20,000 paycheck such as the one tha t this year' s race winner, Chris Ca rr, is enjoying . But I listen to what th ey have to say, and I th ink th at severa l are becom in g a bit self-conscious about what they ma y perceive as exploiting the good will of d irt track fans, their dirt track fans . The riders know that wi tho u t the undyin g loyalty of thos e fans, the spo rt itself wo uld ha ve been circling the drain a long time ago . Lon gtime s eries ve te ra n Steve Moreh ead admitted to ha vin g si mila r feelin gs when I asked him. "I su re do," Morehead said. " It's a shame that w e have to depend on th e fans to com e up with this money. And it' s not all jus t the fans. We have some re ally loyal Harley-Davidson dealers across th e cou n try th a t are throwin g money left and righ t at this deal also. The local HOG chapters have gotten involved in it. Plus, Mike Corbin has been a great su ppo rter of every even t that we go to all yea r lon g. We were just spoiled back in the old da ys when we had R.J. Reyn olds invo lved with the Camel Pro Series, and we had that $100,000 point fund and we had th ose $10 ,000 Ca mel Cha llenges. Now, for some odd reason we can 't seem to find a series sponsor. I don't think that it (soliciting) really takes away from the weekend much, but I do think that it' s a shame tha t we have the race on Saturdav, and it's our biggest race of the year, and nobody comes." Morehead' s last comment points to something that was noticeable at this year' s event when contrasted with last year's - empty seats. Last year, enthusiasm fo r the Dirt Tra ck Hall o f Fame Race seemed to be at' an all -time high , and the grandstands were packed. Thi s yea r, wi th double the purse, the crowd was conspicu ous ly scarce. a t io na l A sk d efendin g Gra nd Champio n Scott Parker who w on th e inaugu ral 550,000 event in 1998 and yo u will get a less philosophical - and far more opinionated - answer. "I think that it's a bad way to go and collect the mo ney ," Parker say s. "It wa s good one time, bu t it is bad after that. When they asked me to go out into the sta nds, I didn't becau se I di dn 't feel right abou t it. I sa id a year ago th a t if they have $100,000 next time, that' scool. But you have to draw the line somewhere. I think that they should ha ve wen t to a sponso r and said , 'Hey, this year's purse is already paid for, we jus t need a hu ndred gra n d for th e next year.' Mayb e thev tried that, and it didn' t work. But I just don' t feel tha t that is w he re they nee d to go collect their mon ey. After a poin t, yo u ca n' t keep go ing back a nd beggi ng off of these peo ple." I as ke d Jay Spring st een th e sa me questi on the sa me way that it had been posed tome. " I' ve thou ght abou t th at before," Spri nger said. "It's like now the fans are what' s paying for us to go racing, and I d on't think th at's right. Th e fan s a re great to com e u p with tha t kind of money for us to go racing. The y' re paying to get in pl us paying for u s to go race. That's bullshit." Carr cashed the 520,000 first prize after he blew away the rest of the field in wha t could be cons idered a very nontypica l Springfield race this year, wit h .little passing and only thr ee riders in the lea d d raft. Ask th e curren t Gr a nd N ational series points lead er about that money and his gratitude is obvious. 'The fans have always supported dirt track wholeheartedly," Carr said. "I'm a little uncomfortable at limes when we sit there and keep asking them for more and 'more, but I also look at this way: If they didn't want to do this, then they wouldn't put up the mone y, and I certai nly appreciate all that thev have done for us riders at Sp ri ng field ~ver th e last couple of years, and of course over all the years, for su pporting ou r spo rt. I feel that maybe we d o n eed to start lo ok ing a t o the r avenues for the fund s that will keep su pporting these purses. So, if you look at Spring field for exam p le, and they keep pulling another $67,000 out of the crowd over a tw o-day period, w ha t's wro ng wi th jacking the ticket price up 55 for that one race. Will we lose the crowd if thev know that the extra money goes straight to the ride rs? Add it onto the ticket price, and you've got $50,000 right ther e." Rich King admitted that he hadn't thought ab ou t it that much . "It (the race) is bei ng sold to them, (the fans) obvious ly," Kin g said. "That just makes it more of an hon or to race in fron t of thos e fans w ho pu t their mon ey up for that reason . But wh en you look at it tha t way, the fans are paying for every Na tio na l that we go to . If it wasn' t for those ticket prices, we wo uld n't be hav ing any Na tiona ls. It's a great eve nt and a great weekend, and if that's the on ly way th at we can co me up wi t h the mon ey, an d the fans want to do it, we ll, I love racing it." Especially after this yea r's event, Will Davis said that he noticed a bit of a d ifference in the fan response this yea r that m ad e h im h e sitant to s u p po r t the meth od b y which th e Hall of Fame money is ga thered. "Yeah, I do have a problem continuing to go int o the stands wi th a helmet to collect money from the fans," Da vis sa id. "O nce that I' ve go ne up th ere , I don't ge t an y negative response, but I don't feel like they are going to give us that. I didn' t hea r as much cheering this year in the sta nds when the money was raised , and it did n't see m like there was as much enth usiasm. I think we've been there all that we need to go there. Tha t's just my opinion. The fans have put it on the map , but if we can' t get someo ne to su p port it from there... I will not feel right going back int o the stands again." You can bet that regardless of their feelings on the Hall of Fame Race, all of the racers shared Davis' sentiment that dirt track fans ar e the grea test motorcycle fans in the world. "The fans are number one, there's no d oubt about that," Davis said . "Withou t th e fa ns we d o hav e, the re is no way that we wo uld be racing at all. The ones that we do have are d ieh ard . And we've got to treat these peo ple a lot better than we treat them in order for them to grow in masses. We have never, hardly ever, given them what we ha ve said we were goin g to give th em. It 's a good thing th a t th ey a re d ieh ar d fan s . If they weren't, we'd be don e." So, the real qu estion is, Can dirt track ra cin g afford a fan-financed $100,000 race? It would seem that the riders - as much as they ge nuinely apprecia te it don't think so. But it isn't up to them . I want to hear from dirt track fans before I mak e up my own mind , so send a letter in to our Voices Section and let me know . Diehards onl y need apply. eN • Looking Back 30 YEARS AGO... SEP M TE BER30,1969 20 YEARS AGO... SEPTE MBER 26, 1979 1 E SAGO... 0Y AR SEPTEMBER 20,1989 e fo r e there was Doug Do mokos or Gary Rot hwell, there Dave was "C r a z y" Aldana an d Keith Mashburn , showing our CN cameraman how to negotiate a "stoppie" on a Ho nda Mini Trail 50. It was good enough to make the cover of Issu e #37 .. . Ou r IS DT coverage noted that Ame rican s did well at the eve nt in G armi s ch -Pa rt enkirch en, Germany. Bill Uh l and Malcolm Smith captu red go ld medals at the event. The East German MZ team took the team tro phy wit h a perfect score... An amateur rider by the name of Morris Norman (Hus) took the wi n at the Spoke Benders Ha re Scrambles in EI Mi rag e, California ... It might have been the machine that Norman chos e, as we tested the new Hu sqvarna 400 and an ticipa ted it to be another great success for the Swedes... Led by Jo el Robert, Belgium won the Mot ocross d es Nat ion s in England, defeating Gre at Britain for the first tim e on their home soil, and stopping the Brits from winning their 16th MXdN in 23 attempts. ur "La test Poop" section brought a lot of mter es tmg news , incl uding word that the Team USA trophy a nd silver vase teams had each finished sixth in their respective classes at the 54th [SDT in West Germany. Larry Roeseier (Hus) was the top-placing American, and 33 of the 40 Americans entered were able to make it to the fini sh... Bernie Schreiber (Bu l) became the first Ameri ca n ever to win the World Trials Championship, doing so with a victory at the final round in Czech oslovakia on the same weekend... Terry Poovey (H-D) celebra ted his 21st birthday by winning the Meadow Lands AMA National Half Mile in New Jersey. He was joined on the podium by runner-up Steve Morehea d and third -pla ced Jay Springs teen (H-D)... "King Kenn y" was kin g again, as Ken ny Rob ert s (Yam) clinched his seco nd consecu tive 500cc World Cham pio nsh ip title at the last round of the series at Le Ma ns, Fran ce... Ha rry Everts, Andre Malherbe and Roger DeCo ster won the MX des Nati ons for Belgium. The event was held in Finland, minus an American-team entry. a y Springsteen (H-D) was awarded th e fi rs t-p la ce money, but no victory and no poin ts, whe n t he Svrac u s e Mi le ra ined ou t. Mike Hale (W-R ) fini shed second to Larry Pegram (H-D) in th e IO-lap Ju nio r Na tional, bu t tha t was good eno ugh to ea rn H al e th e AMA Jun ior Na tiona l Cha m pio nship... It was called the "ISDE" by now, and ou r [SD E Preview told yo u wh o wa s going, and how they we re expected to do. Thi s wa s to be the 64th ed ition of the event. It would be held in West Germany... Sp eaking of West Germany , H ans Nie lsen (C d n) won the Wor ld Speedway Fina l there , claiming his th ird World Ch ampionship tit le to co n tinue the Danish d omination of the sport tha t he had enjoyed with Erik Gun derse n since 1984. Am eri can hopefu l Ronn ie Correy fini sh ed we ll down in the sta nd ing s, scoring only four points ... We previewed the 1990 models fro m Yama ha and Ducati/Husqvarna. We also tested the 1990 Suz uki RM125 an d 250. CN B O J '" '" '" N ~ N jl E '" Q. en '" 91

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