Sparkplug 16

Well this has been a rather stormy week in motocross, especially considering the fact that the National Championship series is taking another weekend off as it heads into the final two rounds. For this week's Sparkplug however, I am not going to address the Motocross Des Nations hoopla but instead focus on a hypothetical: what would happen to pro motocross if the factories got out of the game?

It's a sobering question, particularly when you consider the fact that the European and Japanese factories, for all intents and purposes, STARTED the American motocross championship series back in the 1970s. Edison Dye was the forward-thinking American motorcycle dealer who convinced some Euro grand prix stars to spend a few weeks in the Fall racing in America in the InterAm series, which later became the Trans AMA series. The factories were happy to be a part of it because they wanted to enter and nurture the nascent American dirt bike market. Races were won, heroes were made and legends were born.

Motocross blew up and the factories increased their participation, building large racing organizations which doubled as R & D labs and marketing machines. The factories continued racing through the '80s and '90s to this very day, ostensibly with the idea that racing sells. This may still be true, but does it mean that the factories still have to field racing teams? Can the Nationals survive if the factories limit their involvement to selling special parts to the so-called satellite teams and well-funded privateers? I believe they can, and I believe that this type of arrangement will be better for the sport, but it comes at a price.

It's fairly common knowledge that the Japanese factories have a lot of leverage with the AMA. I am not anti-AMA, nor anti-Japanese factory... there are a lot of very good people employed by both that have nothing but good intentions for our sport... but the end result is what really matters and there's no question that the status quo for outdoor motocross is pretty shaky right now. I am beginning to come to the conclusion that it might be better if the AMA get out of the business of motocross. Just let it go. The AMA has bigger fish to fry in protecting motorcyclist rights across the board than to worry about a sport that nearly no one wants to televise. And if motocross separates itself from the AMA, it will release itself from control by the Japanese factories.

I realize that this is heretical thinking. The fastest racers in the world, our very favorite riders, are currently employed by these factories and living quite large at that. The fastest of the fast and the richest of the rich, however, realize that they can make just as much money if not more WITHOUT a Japanese contract. But there has to be a series for them to race.

I'm talking total paradigm shift here. For as long as I've been a motocross fan, the “Holy Grail” for any racer able to fog a mirror has been the coveted “factory ride” (Don't believe me? Check out “Supercross: The Movie”. Er, on second thought, forget that!). It used to be that a factory rider got a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to ride handmade prototype race bikes. They were called “works” bikes. Well, the AMA scratched all that anyway with the so-called “production” rule. But there is still plenty of perks for a “factory rider”, the biggest of which is that there's more money to go around, so they can afford the best mechanics and support staff and facilities. Yet there is nothing to keep a motivated satellite team owner from gathering enough sponsorship to rival the best factory effort in that regard. Well, there is the lack of media coverage... and whose fault is that? The AMA.

So going back to my original question: what would happen to pro motocross if the factories got out of the game? My answer is this: if it also means that the AMA gets out of motocross as well AND the sport gets picked up by someone with vision and a deep love for the sport, well... I believe motocross will become bigger than ever, and finally take it's place alongside other successful forms of motorsport, namely, NASCAR and Formula 1.

The companies that make the bikes do NOT have to control the series. The series should ultimately be under the care and supervision of people who have the sport's best interests at heart. Unless the only point of motocross is bike and equipment sales... and that's not true, right?