P188
BY ANDREA WILSON
CN
III TRACKSIDE
T
hey talk about investing
in your future… If you're
a sports series, we're not
talking about a 401k. And while
there are many investments that
you can make for the future of
the sport there's none better
than that sport's future stars.
For anyone that bemoans a
lack of talent in a sport, there's a
lack of well, maybe a future. But
more importantly so, a lack of
talent grooming.
For example, Speedway in
the U.S., lets call it a "niche
sport" (which you could call 90
percent of motorcycle racing in
the first place). Yet we have a
reigning World Champion, okay
he's 45 years old and still kicking
butt, but what happens when he
retires? Well, with the addition of
the 150cc "spec engine" class
that started five years ago, 1996
World Speedway Champion Billy
Hamill with the help of Hagon
Shocks, put together a program
to give young kids seven to 15
years old who love motorcycle
racing the opportunity to try their
hand at Speedway racing. For
$4,000 a kid could have a race-
ready brand new motorcycle that
doesn't require the kid's parents
to be a super tuner. As a result,
there's a revival that has been
injected into the sport with some
young talent that could at least
have a chance of making a living
I BELIEVE THE CHILDREN
ARE OUR FUTURE
