A few months ago I changed this site to require registration for comments. Today I have simplified that by installing a social login plug-in from OneAll. You can now post comments using your google, twitter, Facebook, Yahoo!, and OpenID credentials. There’s no need to create yet one more online account here. Let me know how it works.
Leatt: Straight talk about neck braces
May 14th, 2012 · Safety
We are beginning to see some very helpful information regarding neck brace testing from Leatt. We need to see more of this, from all the manufacturers, as well as some useful certification standards.
→ No CommentsTags: helmets·injury·LeattBrace·protection·ridinggear
Interview: Shand Garcia of BERM Motorsports
May 9th, 2012 · TrackMasters
(Editor’s note: This is the first in what I plan to be a series of interviews with people who run the business behind the business of motocross racing – the track owner/operators and promoters who create the events we enjoy as riders, racers, and spectators. Welcome to Motocross TrackMasters.)
If you have more than a passing interest in Texas motocross you’ve probably heard of Shand Garcia. In fact, you’ve probably heard Shand Garcia doing the play-by-play commentary at a Texas track. He’s written the only book on Texas motocross history, has a suspension accessory company, serves as assistant editor of Texas’ only motocross magazine, and now he’s co-promoting his own night-racing series. We had the chance to sit down with Shand and ask him a few questions about the business behind the business of motocross in Texas. This is an in-depth interview. If you prefer offline reading here’s a PDF.
The 2nd Annual BERM Pro Showdown series at Village Creek MX Park starts next week. You’re the title sponsor and actually co-promoter. Tell me how the series came about.
The BERM Pro Showdown Series Presented by MOTOREX is a five round Saturday night series at Village Creek MX Park in Ft. Worth Texas, with one round (round #4) stopping at Freestone County Raceway. The series is for amateur and Pro motocross racers.
Obviously with our title, we definitely gear it to highlight Saturday night professional motocross racing in the DFW market. The series came about by having conversations with Village Creek MX Park owner, Mr. Terry Cordray. Mr. Cordray has been a staple in north Texas motocross for many years, and at various tracks, dating back to the mid 70′s.
Mr. Cordray and I agreed that north Texas professional motocross had seen better days. There are a couple of key elements that we both understand…
- We understand the passion for amateur riders wanting to turn local Pro,
- We understand the need for local Pro talent to try and earn a buck racing. [Read more →]
→ No CommentsTags: business·motocross·racetracks·ShandGarcia
Terry Cordray of Village Creek MX Park
March 19th, 2012 · Industry, Profiles in Riding, Racing
Terry Cordray is a man on a mission – a mission to rebuild his business, to have one of the most successful motocross tracks in Texas, and to make it easier and safer for new riders and families to get into the world of motocross.
Cordray is the owner/operator of Village Creek MX Park in Ft. Worth, Texas. He’s been a track operator and promoter for more than 30 years. And today I had a fascinating, 90-minute telephone conversation with him. [Read more →]
→ No CommentsTags: motocross·racetracks·terry-cordray·trackmasters
The business behind the business of motocross
March 14th, 2012 · Announcements, Industry
If you have visited this site periodically over the years you know there are a lot of articles with a business or industry slant. I’m a business writer and consulting analyst by trade, and an avid motorcyclist and racing fan — particularly motocross racing.
One area I’ve never covered is the essential business of running a motocross track. Though rarely discussed — except when there’s a legal brouhaha of some sort or someone is complaining — track owners, operators, and promoters are absolutely essential to the health, growth, and preservation of motocross. [Read more →]
→ No CommentsTags: business·ChangeIsGood·motocross·racetracks·trackmasters
Growing the American MX Nationals via track rotation
March 5th, 2012 · Industry, Racing
A while back I read something, probably in Racerhead, about the unfortunate reality that in order to get a new venue into the outdoor National series an old one has to go away. This is what happened when Broome-Tioga sold its event rights to Tony Miller and Freestone in TX, and more recently, when Glen Helen lost its rights to make way for Pala (which subsequently lost them to Lake Elsinore.)
Then, in a December Racerhead, Davey Coombs was lamenting how hard it is to find a National venue in the southeast, and how even when he found one he had to get a current track to drop out of the series to make room.
That “lose one to gain one” thing struck me as a real barrier to growth. It’s a throw-back, one of the last remaining vestiges of the good ole’ boy power and politics around which motocross was built in the ’70s. How can you really grow a series, and grow the audience for a series, when you have to permanently take a race away from one location to try a new one? And when certain promoters essentially get a lifetime contract — like a season ticket holder at Lambeau Field?
When you’re talking about just 12 races a year, you need a compromise — a way to try new venues, new cities, new tracks, new locations — without abandoning or bringing undue harm to the ones that got you where you are. It’s another way of growing the pie.
So I thought, “Why don’t you just do a planned track rotation?” I did a little spreadsheet to see how a simple rotation would work and it turned out you could easily expand the AmericanMX National series to 18 tracks with a little planning. And luck. Rotation is easy. Finding new tracks is really, really hard. [Read more →]
→ No CommentsTags: AMAProRacing·motocross·MXSports·racetracks
Registration now required
January 26th, 2012 · Announcements
I’ve put this off for quite a while, but you now have to register as a user AND I have to approve your first comment before any of your comments will appear on this site.
If you’ve posted comments here before just signup using the same email address and you should be good to go. Otherwise you can signup and submit your comment, I just have to approve the first one before it appears. [Read more →]
→ No CommentsTags:
HRPSports – It’s not Bob Hannah
August 6th, 2011 · Industry
I saw a little announcement at Motocross Action Magazine titled HRPSports is Accepting Resumes. HRP. The lightning bolt. Immediately I recalled hearing Bob Hannah say during some interview that his wife Terri was running HRP again. I also thought about the Jimmy Weinert Training Facility and the Jimmy Weinert Racing team that’s competing in both AMA Supercross and the American MX Nationals this year. I bet I’m not alone in thinking, “Is Hannah getting back into the sport in some way?” [Read more →]
→ No CommentsTags: AmericanMX·BobHannah·bodyarmor·HRPSports·motocross
Who’s hard-core? My Dad’s Moto Guzzi tombstone
August 5th, 2011 · Profiles in Riding, Vintage
I went to a funeral today to pay my respect to the father of my friend, European Press Agency photographer Paul Buck. Paul and I have known each other since junior high school and back before either of us had a drivers license his dad Jim used to take us to the local motocross races. There’s a great story about someone (I don’t know who) forgetting to secure my bike to the trailer one race and it cartwheeling down the interstate behind us. But I digress… [Read more →]
→ 1 CommentTags: back-in-the-day·family·JWFrazier·MotoGuzzi·PaulBuck
Washougal 1980
July 21st, 2010 · Racing, Vintage
Update 1/30/2012: My friend Reese just notified me the Washougal ’80 pics are no longer online. He said he’s put up some Inter-AM and early Trans-AM pics instead.
Got a great email from motocross historian, CZ aficionado, and all-round good guy Reese Dengler. Reese attended the very first AMA MX National at Washougal, WA in 1980. In honor of the 2010 National he dug through his personal archives and pulled out some great photos. Here’s what Reese had to say:
On the occasion of the 2010 Washougal national I’ve dug thru my old slides and posted a few of my shots, (34), from the first Washougal national in 1980. You can see the shots on this web page,
http://www.ahrmanw.com/Stuff.htm
Some of these shots have never been seen before except by me and a few of my old moto-cross buddies.
There’s some great pics here. There aren’t any captions but if you use Microsoft Internet Explorer to view the thumbnail page you’ll see a title/description pop-up (this doesn’t work in Firefox.) Click the link above or click the photo to visit Reese’s photo page.
