Sparkplug #8

Outside of an untimely visit by the Grim Reaper, there are only two things that can take an up and coming hotshot motocross pro out of the game: severe injury or career burnout. Today’s Sparkplug will discuss motivation, or more to the point, the lack of motivation, which is probably the chief cause of burnout.

If you’ve been around the motocross game for more than a few years, chances are you know or have heard about a racer suddenly losing all ambition and basically disappearing from the local racing circuit. Usually it’s one of the fastest guys in the area, someone who has been racing since they first learned how to walk. Usually it’s the guy most likely to break out of the local scene and become a nationally ranked pro. Sometimes it’s the guy who has won everything and has nowhere to go… but down.

There has been a lot of internet speculation this week about James Stewart, Jr.’s mysterious performance at the Southwick national last Sunday. As you probably know, he pulled out of the first moto while running in the top 5, and then shocked the entire motonation by sitting out the second moto. And as of this writing, no one but James and his team know the real reason behind his action… but that has not kept us from guessing!

If you follow this space, you also know that I am a big fan of James and am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. However, for the sake of argument, I’d like to explore the concept that maybe, just maybe the kid is burning out. Or, to put it mildly, suffering from low motivation due to extreme amounts of accumulated wealth and fame.

Let’s face it: here’s an 18 year old kid who has seen more checkered flags than any 20 of us “couch munchers” (his term for us internet moto-racers) put together and multiplied by 5... at least. He already holds more professional records than 99% of the current professional field, he is the current undisputed 125 National win record holder, and there’s almost nothing he can’t make a motocross bike do. Yes it’s true: he has yet to win a 250 moto or overall, but let’s put that into perspective… without a single 250 victory, he’s still a millionaire many, many times over.

That could be the problem. Much has been made of his nearly over-the-top exotic automobile collection. Some feel it’s a waste of good money; let me remind them that used exotics formerly owned by celebrities get top dollar on resale, and if he plays his cards right, he could actually make money on those rides. But the cars are just toys in the end; it’s what’s happening in his investment accounts that really matter. Seeing how he can include Ken Griffey, Jr. and Michael Jordan on his list of friends, it should be safe to say that James has got some solid investment professionals making his money sing. Heck, even if he were only to put away $1 million in a relatively conservative growth mutual fund that returned 12%, in 30 years he’d have almost $36 million… not a bad nest egg. That fact that he’s able to put away so much more at such a young age… well, maybe that’s messing with his motivation a little bit.

To tell the truth, though, I don’t think that’s it. I think James is motivated by his dream of being the best motocross racer to ever breathe oxygen, and that dream, while daring, may never come true. Rick Carmichael has set the bar very, very high. Maybe too high for ANYONE else to reach. Carmichael has single-handedly dashed the dreams and hopes and goals of many of the professional racers in America today.

How many of today’s stars have completely given up on their dreams of actually winning a supercross or national championship? I’m not going to name names here, but you can bet that there are more than a few. What do these men do when it becomes crushingly clear that they will never reach their long-sought-after goal? Some quit. The rest settle for what they can get. You can hear it in their interviews: “I was hoping to get a top 5 today”, or “My goal was to get on the podium and then finish the year in the top ten”. At least they’re still racing, if that’s what they enjoy doing.

Some have wider aspirations and other talents. Now I’m talking about Travis Pastrana. When he turned pro, he was widely assumed to be the racer that would give RC a run for his money. It didn't turn out that way; Travis has not been able to win a single 250 event, SX or outdoors. Travis is bigger than motocross, though, and while he won his crowns (in the 125 class), he may be destined for even bigger things on 4 wheels. We shall see. But there’s no question that having options… and a spate of painful injuries… has caused his motivation for motocross to be questionable, to say the least. Travis knows that his chances of winning a SX title or 250/450 outdoor championship are very slim. So why bother?

Maybe the same realization is starting to dawn on James. Sure, James is a bonafide SX contender, but maybe he has truly met his match in RC. Maybe he believes, like so many American pros, that he’ll never best Carmichael on an outdoor track. And if that’s the case, he’ll never be able to lay claim to the title of Best Ever. Or as the like to say now, Greatest Of All Time. So why bother?

Why indeed.