Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

U Open Co-Promoter Eric Peronnard .S. v r, like raci ng was not a s good as it s ho u ld be , so m e' asp ects of it. But I've seen that at a lot of even ts, world-' wide. :' t: Q What ob stacles did you ru n into las t year? r r ,d une A Webehad some for axpected com plications, wh ich is to expec ted first-yea r event. Wh at wa s the receptio n fro m PAC E to the fir st American supercross -sty le race in a long time? c Every bod y knows we did have a few differences last year, but we have since smoothed ev erything out, and are actually working together on th is yea r's event. Th e sport cannot take feuds; it's the most dangerous thi ng for the spo rt, and it took us a while to realize that. They are a very big, suc cessful pro moter, and we are a very' successful small promoter, so it was not very goo d for both of us not to work together. That's the bot; tom line. Q A The man behind the U.S. Open, Eric Peronna rd. By Chr is J onnum '" '" '" ui .8 o <> o 42 s you might guess from his impossible-to-spell su rname, Eric Peron nard is Fren ch , and he so metim es uses a French idiom abo ut "the ma yonnaise pickin g up." The odd-sou nd ing express ion refers to the ph enom en on in w hich a chef can use identical ingred ients on two se parate occasio ns, bu t once the resu lt could be merely good, w hile the other time there will be so me magic qu ality th at mak es it grea t. As a promot er , th e Fren chman attempts to cap ture that ma gic quality, and he hopes to do so at the second ru nn ing of the U.S. Ope n at the MGM Gra nd on Octobe r 9-10. Confused abo ut how a guy fro m France ended up livin g in Sin City a nd putting on a major mot o rcycle competition? A little background: After cleaning u p the back of a French Yamaha shop fo r a few yea rs as a kid, Peronnar d traveled to No rth America in 1979 for a sixmon th mot orcycle adventure. The dollar was compa ra tively weak at that po int, so he picked up a three-yearold Ford van and hit the road , baggin g events like the Tran s USA, Unadilla, and the Baja 1000, and visits with companies like Fox and ]T . The tri p wa s enlig hteni ng for Peronnard ("1 left a kid ; I got back a man"), and he easily fou nd a job at a Suzuki s hop on his retu rn to Fra nce. Soon he had beco me pa rt owner, and began promoting small motorcycle races in his area. In '84, he felt he was ready to return to the States, so he sold the shop, went to the Cologn e, Germany, motorcycle show, and handed his resume to American compa nies . O'Neal picked him up as an export man ager, and Peronnard saw it as a "grea t school." Aft er a short stint at Torsten Hallman (now Th or), Peronnar d reali zed he was born to be self-em p loyed, and he and his American wife sta rted Desert Only, a travel bu siness that sa tiated the Europea n hunger to see th e Stat es and rid e motorcycles. Desert Only also works w it h Eu ro pea n su p ercross p romo ters, handling th e logistics of se ndi ng Am erican rid ers to their off-seaso n races. Pero nn ard grew unsa tisfied with sim ply w orking for a fee, ris king nothing, and around 1993, he and his wife. began to think abou t pro moting their own race. When Hond a put di rt in the MG M Grand for its '95 d ea ler convention, Pero nnard knew he had the location for his race, and w hen Mike DeStefano joined him in '96, the preparat ion began in earnest. The event premiered last year, an d Pero nn ard will be back for more in a matter of days. He's got man y of the best in gred ients, incl uding televisio n co verage, a uni que venue, top rid ers h ea d-to-head (he d oesn't beli eve in diluting th e talent level with a 125cc class), and int eresting in termission sho ws (includi ng 80cc and four -stroke racing, and a freestyle exh ibition) . Will the mayonnaise "pick up"? We talked to Peronnard abou t that and more. w er e yo u satis fie d w it h how yo ur fi rs t event wen t? We were extremely sati sfied, overall. Th e big picture was fantastic. We had a g rea t event. A lot of things were not perfect, and they never wil l be. We felt Q A Th ere has been so me controversy w ith th e na me of your event. What ki nd of race is it? It ' s an indoor motocross -slash-European-style supe rcross. It's not fitting a U.s. standard for regu lar su pe rcross, nor a regu lar arenacross. We are right in the middle. For that reason , we cannot use any kind of wo rd ing th at is reall y a registered word ing . We cannot afford to fight descriptions. Q A Q So wh at is th e nam e of your ev ent? A It's the ':THQ U.S. O pe n (Ind oor Mo tocross) ." Q HOW much money are you putting up? . We put up $300,000. We put up $250,000 last year, and w e raised it up to 300 this ye ar. We created m ore incen tive. We d o believe in the fac t of earning w ha t you m a ke . We wan t a ll the racers to be there. That 's kind of a way of separating the guys tha t wa nt to ea rn money through racing and the othe rs . That' s successful because we see people th at are really grind ing their teeth to get first place. It's jus t a ma tte r of ethics as well. Peo ple in America are wo rki ng hard for th eir .mo ney. Wh en we go and do racin g in Europe, racing is very hard; but still in some cases th er e a re som e people takin g ad vantage of th e system. It's social. It's just natural. It's human. If you get you r money before w ork, or yo u get it after work, you're not goi ng to work the same way. It' s jus t basic hu man behavior. A Q A Th at' s true; an d in Eu ro pe it seems to be more a s it u ati o n where riders are getting pa id before their work. Yes, exactly, bu t at the same time, we're talking about American racers here, and American race rs are really no t eager to travel; they have a really long

• Cover