Left Behind
- Updated: August 29, 2002
By Jorge Cuartas
With all of the recent advances in the sport of motocross as a whole, it’s hard not to wonder if we are going to be left behind. Media exposure for all things MX is at an all time high, our two-wheeled brothers are making serious forward progress, outside sponsorships are coming in at an unprecedented rate. From Chevy trucks to smokeless tobacco companies to Blimpie subs to just about everybody that has ever even thought of producing anything that could in one way or another be associated with motorcycling in general — companies are rushing to throw money at MX just to be associated with it.
It’s not just MX that’s blowing up; Sno-Cross is getting huge as well. Yet we in the four-wheeled sector continue to sit by the wayside. This year, Clear Channel held an indoor Sno-Cross series and had pretty decent turnouts. Yet we have absolutely no one that is not in one way or another associated with our sport rushing to throw any kind of cash at us. As a matter of fact, not even all of the people that produce and sell us our parts have decided to support us! I can name a good dozen companies that make sure they’ve got nice big ads in all of the ATV magazines, yet do nothing at all to support any of the ATV events, isn’t that convenient. Maybe if these companies pitched in even the smallest amount, our pros would make a less laughable (and downright embarrassing) amount of money at our events.
Let’s not lose any more legends of our sport. Let’s put our recourses together, get noticed, get television coverage and some badly needed money into our sport before we lose more top named pro legends like Travis Spader.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m stoked that Clear Channel continues to promote our indoor series, but lets not forget that we’re a mere time killer for the monster truck shows. It’s really no wonder we’re being left behind. From the competitor’s stand point, who wants to spend upwards of 30-40 thousand dollars, plus countless hours of effort in order to contest a pro class where all you can win is $1200? Bragging rights are nice, but they don’t pay the bills. From the inside the industry sponsorship standpoint, it’s hard to justify throwing a bunch of cash at a sport with absolutely no exposure outside of the people who already know and use your products. As for outside sponsors, like I said before we’re nothing more than a monster truck sideshow.
I wish I was the more apathetic type and could sit around boo-hooing about the injustices of the industry, but I’m not. Lets call a spade a spade here, and look at where our real problems lay. For one, look at the way our sport is perceived by everyone who isn’t directly involved, if you don’t know what I’m talking about approach a random stranger and mention to him that you race four wheelers, you’ll see exactly what I mean. Nine out of ten people will picture a couple of shirtless, helmetless, toothless, sun-burnt rednecks with a beer coozie in one hand and a huntin’-rifle in the other drag racing through the woods somewhere, it’s flattering, but that’s not what we’re about. But mention the word “motocross” and they’ll tell you the gear ratio that Ricky Carmichael used to pull his last holeshot. Our lack of publicity is completely ridiculous, every night as I watch Letterman and/or Leno, I’m forced to wonder “How is it that every obese, unemployed idiot that wins a pie eating contest or bird calling contest for that matter, can go on a national media tour, but our highly trained and athletic national champions can’t get on the cover of our own industry magazines?”
Wouldn’t the general public get a kick out of this on Letterman or the Tonight Show instead of a pie-eating or a bird-calling contest?How hard can it possibly be to get some recognition? Publicists are a dime a dozen, and there seems to be more than enough TV interview shows on the air. Who’s dropping the ball here? Unfortunately, I think we are. If we don’t demand respect from those within our industry, how can we expect respect from outside of it? All of the bitching and moaning about bad treatment from the dirtbike racers and track owners is great if you want to sit around feeling sorry for yourself, but that’s not going to get us anywhere. The majority of the blame lies within “our” sport, we need to crawl out of the shadows and get ourselves on the map the way every other sport that consists of jumping heavy machinery on a closed course has. Wouldn’t you like to be channel surfing and stumble across Heather Rose on the Today Show, or Creech on MTV’s sports and music festival? Or better yet, how about tuning into the Speed Channel to watch the race coverage from the 12 Hours of ATV America? It’s happening all of the time for everybody else, why should we be left behind?
Fortunately the future is looking brighter, Cannondale’s involvement with Team Nac’s Racing and our sport in general is huge, and the fact that SHIFT apparel has stepped it up this year by supporting just about everybody is significant too. Major opportunities are just around the corner, but as always the opportunities are ours to throw away. There’s tons that can be done to advance our cause, for beginners exercise your right to choose, support the companies, tracks & promoters that support us, and to hell with the rest of them.
