Who owns this sport anyway?

I have been waiting a minute to unload on this 350 vs. 450 issue, because I wanted to see what everyone really had to say about it, and I didn’t want to act in anger. And perhaps anger is too strong a word to use, because I’m not really angry, but I am concerned… extremely so… that some people may be saying things without really revealing their true agendas. And that pisses me off, because it goes back to the question of who “owns” this sport of motocross, anyway? Is it the sanctioning bodies? Is it the manufacturers? Or is it the enthusiasts that actually foot the bill?

So today my mailman dropped off the latest issue of Motocross Illustrated (MXi, May 15), and not only does editor Steve Cox weigh in with his column, but another Steve, “The Factory Spectator” Bruhn of Mototalk and Racer X chips in HIS two cents in the “Open Mic” guest column at the back of the mag. Both Steves are talking about what the THIRD Steve, this time Whitelock of the AMA, has said during and after his meetings with the movers and shakers of world motocross. MXi goes even further by printing an article about the whole thing, with liberal quotes from Whitelock. If you have any interest in this topic at all, you really need to pick up a copy of this issue. However, I am about to get into some of Whitelock’s quotes right now.

Here’s the short take: the AMA and FIM have decided that 450cc four stroke motorcycles are too powerful for most professional racers to use; that 450s are destroying the whoops of supercross tracks; and that some action must be taken to gain “parity” in racing. Let’s take this one ridiculous argument at a time.

About the power, said Whitelock: “That’s our biggest problem, really. If everyone was James, we wouldn’t be faced with this problem. Sure, we’d have a racetrack problem, and we’d have a laptime problem, but the competition is bad because very few riders can ride the bikes to their potential.” Whitelock went on to say, “You can see it in the laptimes, and you can see it in the competitiveness, that the riders aren’t capable of racing these motorcycles. They are too brutishly powerful. It’s the same problem that we faced in the 500cc two stroke days.”

Now, I must ask, WHAT THE FUCK? I mean, I don’t have any personal animosity towards Steve Whitelock, and I never have. I know people who say he’s a good guy. All I really know about him is based on the words that come out of his mouth and find their way into the motocross articles I read. But I do have a problem with Steve Whitelock, and that problem is those words of his usually cause me to ask, again and again, WHAT THE FUCK?

First off, what is this “biggest problem, really” that he’s talking about? Surely he cannot be suggesting that by reducing engine displacement, everybody will suddenly be competitive with the best rider in the country. Surely he cannot truly mean that single-digit past champions and two-digit AMA professional racers are categorically unable to ride 450s to their potential. Surely he is not claiming that the reason the 500cc class was abandoned by his sanctioning body was lack of competition. But I swear that’s how it reads to me… maybe my reading comprehension is off?

By adopting the “450F = 250 two stroke” and “250F = 125 two stroke” rules, the AMA and FIM conspired with the factories to kill two stroke racing WORLDWIDE… they are solely responsible for the 450s of today, and you know what? They are GREAT RACING MOTORCYCLES. To compare them to the 500 two strokes of the late 80’s is really missing the boat. Today’s bikes are so much easier to ride, and race, than those killers of yesteryear. And yet, I recall watching David Bailey, Rick Johnson and Jeff Ward in a pitched, three-way battle at Virginia’s Lake Sugar Tree raceway on those 500s back in ’86, and I don’t recall the crowd being bored by any lack of competition.

But what do the riders of today say about this 450 power issue? The MXi article handled that with some choice quotes. One of the quotes was from privateer Forrest Butler of DNA Energy Drink/BTO Sports/Butler Bros. MX… he said, “…we’re talking about professional supercross with the best riders in the world. Every rider out there can ride the pants off a 450.”

Maybe Whitelock needs to meet more riders?

About whoop destruction, or “cupping”, this part of the issue was covered in Steve Bruhn’s editorial. Bruhn pretty much broke this whole story, when he traveled to the Spanish Grand Prix during a break in Amp’d Mobile Supercross action and covered the meeting of the “minds”, so to speak. According to Bruhn, everyone was crashing in the whoops at Anaheim 1. He went over to have a look (and take a few pics); Whitelock also walked over, and then Canadian Dusty Klatt went down hard. How they were able to discern that the “cups” were caused by 450s and not 250s is anybody’s guess. I’m still wondering how they figured out that Klatt’s crash was caused by track deterioration and not rider error…

In any case, if they REALLY believe that 100cc’s less displacement will result in less track destruction, why don’t they just take the easy road and drop all the way down to the already-existing 250cc displacement of the 250Fs? Well, here’s where it gets really, really weird. In the MXi article, Whitelock is quoted as saying that the AMA and FIM BOTH suggested just that… and the OEMs freaked! Said Whitelock, “They (the manufacturers) went into cardiac arrest. They were going to kill us.”

Imagine that: a representative from AMA Pro Racing said that Honda, Suzuki, Kawasaki and Yamaha were going to “kill” them, if they instituted a rule limiting all professional supercross racing to 250 four strokes! NOW we’re getting somewhere, with respect to my original question: who owns this sport, anyway?

I have written in an earlier column that motocross, in this country at least, became a big time sport solely because the Japanese manufacturers realized that it would be a good way to sell dirtbikes. And they were right. Look at what happened to the dirtbike market when the 450 rule went into effect. All of a sudden, my beloved ’01 YZ250 drastically dropped in resale value, and everybody who wanted to be competitive at any level bought a new four stroke. Don’t get it twisted, AMA Pro Racing has been “berry, berry good” to the manufacturers, creating rule after rule in their favor (and changing or overlooking rules when necessary… fuel, anyone?) and pretty much playing the role of obedient lap dog. Oh sure, there’s always the occasional dust up, like that minor drama about Honda running Toyota Trucks stickers on their number plates during the Nationals last year. But now I’m suspecting that it’s all part of the charade to keep the motocross public distracted from seeing the collusion that’s actually taking place. And maybe collusion is too strong a word, but fuck it… I like strong words, if you haven’t noticed already.

Finally, this talk about “parity”… I think they actually mean “parody”, because so far this entire episode has been one bad joke, like a Saturday Night Live skit gone sour. Racing sanctioning bodies have tried to legislate this thing called “parity” since racing first began to use things called rules. “Let’s level the playing field, boys!” is the cry, and then great minds get together and come up with usually the most ridiculous things that men have ever conceived… usually with the intention of penalizing those who have achieved great things through hard work, dedication and innovation. I remember in another sport, the Sports Car Club of America’s (SCCA) Trans Am series (back in the ‘80’s again, what can I say?), when Audi introduced the Quattro coupe. At the time, it was UNTHINKABLE to run a four-wheel drive car against the likes of lightweight Corvettes and Porsches. Well, Audi kicked ass but GOOD for two straight years, causing the SCCA to enact rules to achieve “parity”. They put a substantial weight penalty on any team that dared run 4WD, and ended up running Audi right out of the series. Not a good move.

Now the AMA wants to figure out a way to write a rule so that James Stewart will stop winning by 55 seconds (on a 50 second course), lapping up to 4^th place… and their bright idea is to put everyone on less powerful bikes. It makes you wonder how the job descriptions read over at AMA Pro Racing… “Analytical skills helpful, but not required…”

I know this has been long, but I’m just about done. Here’s my bottom line: as a motorcycle enthusiast and a dirtbike fan, I will buy the bike I want to buy, but it has to be available to buy, at a price I can afford. As much as I loved Jeremy McGrath, I didn’t buy my YZ because he was riding (and winning) on one… I bought it after talking to guys in my age range that actually raced them at my level and higher… and also because I couldn’t afford a KTM 520 at the time! So if the manufacturers really want to sell some dirtbikes, instead of manipulating our sport by pulling the AMA and FIM’s puppet strings, they might consider dropping the prices of their existing bikes and offering us fans more incentives to buy new. Personally, I wouldn’t mind a 350cc bike that was as light and nimble as a 125cc two stroke; actually, that would be pretty cool. But don’t piss on my head and call it rain, that’s all I’m asking.