Old School
- Updated: October 1, 2009
By Dave Porter
Pro-Am riders like Josh Williams seem to start every season with enormous hopes and aspirations. Let’s hope this horrible economy doesn’t crush rider’s dreams in 2010.I did an article a while back about professional ATV racing possibly no longer being a part of the ATV Motocross Nationals Series. As you know, there was talk that the pro quad riders would share the same series as the pro dirt bike nationals. I really didn’t get much feedback from that article. What I took from that was that most of you folks thought that either I was full of it or possibly that would never happen. Or maybe most of you didn’t really care. I do understand how people could be very skeptical about such a massive change in our sport. Trust me on this, I’ve seen our sport make huge changes over the years, anything is possible.
The way I see it, factory ATV racing has come and gone before and it could easily happen to our sport again. If you’ll look at this from a business angle I think you too will see how critical these next few years are to the future of our sport.
You can’t do much about the economy right now, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t keep trying to get ATV racing on television. You can do your part by sending an e mail to some of the major television networks. Simply tell them you’re tired of the same olThe factory Pro teams that follow the ATV motocross nationals are very well funded. The rigs that roll into the Pro pits are all top of the line setups. They have team managers, rider mechanics, engine specialist, suspension guys etc etc. In other words, there’s no shortage of help in the name of winning a title, there are plenty of man hours and lots of money involved. Let’s face it, it takes that kind of an effort to really showcase a manufacturer’s product. With that said, who are the ATV manufacturers really showcasing their product to?
This is the type of crowds we need to see at future ATV pro nationals. I took this photo at the Steel City invitational. Stop and think about that for a minute. For the amount of money that the factory teams are spending how much exposure are they really getting with their costly programs? With no television coverage from the ATV motocross nationals ATV manufacturer decision makers have to be concerned about the amount of money they’re spending. Let’s face it, the only coverage ATV racing really gets comes from a few websites, a half a dozen print magazines and the two thousand people in attendance, most of which are the racers, crews and families. Folks, that’s not a lot of return for investment if you ask me, especially in the state of the current economy where budgets have never been so carefully spent. So I ask you, can you honestly see manufacturers keeping this up?
If you were ready to throw a fit if they actually separated the pro class from the quad nationals, you might reconsider and have a little more of an open mind in the name of helping ATV racing survive these hard times. I for one don’t think it’s that bad of an idea, especially if it’s the difference of keeping factory-backed ATV racing alive and well.
At the dirt bike nationals the Speed Channel is already there. The cameras, the crews and the announcers are all present and have a working and successful program in place. And let’s not forget the ten to fifteen thousand fans that always seem to show up to see their two-wheeled heroes. It’s all there in a package that already works really well. And let’s face it, the main reason the factories got so involved in ATV racing was because ESPN2 covered every race on the now defunct WPSA Powersports Tour. You can choose to agree with that statement or not, but I’m here to tell you every one of the team mangers and higher ups in the industry will admit that the WPSA’s television accomplishment is why they jumped in as big as they have. Yes I think we still would have had some factory involvement by now without the WPSA’s effort, but I don’t think it would be at the same level that we have enjoyed over the last few years.
Dustin Wimmer’s mechanic, Glenn Shulde is not only one of my best friends, he’s also one of my sponsors. He’s also one of the many factory mechanics that this economy could really affect. From a business standpoint it makes perfect sense for all of our manufacturers to make drastic cutbacks in their ATV racing budgets. Now more than ever, companies are looking for a bigger return on their investments. I’m telling you right now, we are going to be in danger of our pro riders moving to greener pastures, unless the promoter’s group, the AMA or somebody high in the food chain gets professional ATV racing back on a TV package.
I can remember back in the day when ATV racing was on television. The Golden State Series and the Ascot Speedway Series, (which featured bar-banging action-packed quad racing on a small dirt track oval) comes to mind. There was also a weekly show on ESPN called Moto World. Larry Myers hosted the show, which covered everything-moto, including ATVs. In those days there were no race-specific quads being produced, yet ATV racing was seen by millions on television.
Now that race quads are actually being produced and “ATV racing” is no longer considered a bad word for the manufacturers, ATV racing is rarely seen on television, Go figure! This is so frustrating to me, it only seems logical that now that manufacturers actually make made-for-racing ATV products they would want to push their race-based quads on TV. For the life of me I just don’t get it. Almost every manufacture has a close, if not complete, race-ready quad, yet they’re not adamant about doing whatever it takes to get the sport televised. Since the AMA nor the promoter’s group have yet to make an ATV racing television package happen, shouldn’t the manufactures step up and do it? I’m not a marketing expert, but I think the manufacturers need only look at how 2-wheeled motocross got started on television. The big four combined their advertising budgets and paid for TV time themselves. Back then they didn’t wait around for someone else to get the sport televised, they made it happen themselves in order to showcase their product. Before long they didn’t need to be the ones paying for the television time as outside the industry sponsors jumped on board. I don’t see why the exact same plan wouldn’t work for ATV racing today.
Have faith, the ATV pro pits can someday look just as nice as they do at the Steel City Dirt bike National.The bottom line for this my longest and perhaps most important Old School column is the fact that the ATV industry direly needs to showcase our best show, (professional ATV racing) on mainstream television. And it’s my opinion that we need to accept whatever change is needed for this to happen. So if television coverage doesn’t come to our series we need to send our pro class to it. In the long run it will benefit us all.
I don’t mean to sound so negative with this article, but I think it’s important to bring this kind of thing to your attention so you’re more informed of what’s really going on in our sport. Most media outlets only report on the fluff and feel-good stuff in the sport, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but I’m glad ATV Scene allows me to say it like I see it, especially when I feel there’s something as important to say as this.
At no time in the past can I remember a season ending with so many people not knowing anything about the next season. I’ve heard some pretty alarming production numbers. Bike and ATV production is down 50% or more from last year. People are simply not spending money, and they’re especially not buying new toys. Meanwhile banks are not easily lending out money. In short, the economy is killing this industry.
I talked to a lot of industry people over the weekend of the last national. I have to tell you, none of them had any good news about next year. Normally at the last race of the year people talk about all the moves that the teams are working on for the next season. Team managers usually have some sort of an idea of what’s up for next year. That wasn’t the case this year. It’s pretty scary. It seems like we as a sport are always taking one step forward and two steps back.
We as ATV racers have been through a hell of a lot over the years. Back in the 80’s we lost all factory support. Then the Consumer Product Safety Commission came after us with vengeance. Our sport eventually got better even after the government tried to stop us and the manufacturers turned their backs on us. So I guess what I’m trying to say is be aware of what maybe going on in your sport and let’s band together and do all we can to keep progressing through these tough times. If that means sending our pro class to the bike series, continuing to figure out a way to race in 2010, sending e mails to television producers, supporting specific sponsors and boycotting others or whatever else comes about let’s once again unite and get it done.
