Monday, June 9, 2008

Vintage bike show this Saturday at the High Point MX National

This Saturday is the Parts Unlimited Vintage Bike Show at High Point Raceway in Mt. Morris, PA. Expect a first-class showing from our East Coast VMX brethren in conjunction with the world-class modern MX racing at the AMA Outdoor National.

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Racer X Motocross Show continues to upstage SPEED TV

Racer X added Erin Normoyle to the broadcast team this year and already she has distinguished herself as a darn good interviewer. She doesn't ask nearly as many redundant, pointless questions as SPEED TV's female pit reporter, she doesn't mis-state the obvious, and she doesn't always sound like she's struggling to read cue cards written by a gammatically challened 9th-grader. I know SPEED's team covers a lot of different events, and motocross is just one of them. But still, after a couple of years you expect them to get better. Maybe it's just the difference in audience - SPEED trying to cater to a lowest-common-denominator TV audience, and Racer X having the luxury of catering to a knowledgeable enthusiast audience. Whatever. It seems to me that the standard Racer X sets would benefit everyone.

Don't get me wrong - it's not easy to be a good reporter/analyst/color person on TV (or radio.) And it's not like there is a huge pool of experienced talent to pick from for MX/SX. I'm sure Erin Bates and Ralph Shaheen are nice folks, but SPEED can do better. They've already put Leigh Diffey on the roster in place of Shaheen. Now let's get someone else in the pits and let Bates work in another area.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

I'm a neophyte camper but here's a few tricks anyone can use.

I'm not much of a camper. In fact, I haven't camped at all since about 1982 or so. I'm just not into it, at least not as a lifestyle thing. My compulsion about hygiene and taking showers kinda keeps me in hotel rooms.

But with gas prices climbing to European levels, and the mileage in my old Dodge truck hovering just under the 10mpg mark, I can no longer afford to be so picky. If I'm going to make any vintage races this year I'm going to have to be able to camp at least one night because I just can't afford gas plus a hotel in my race budget. Over the winter I began collecting a little camping gear with the idea that I would camp all weekend at the 6th Annual Diamond Don's Riverport AHRMA National. What you see here is a picture of my campsite.

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Monday, February 11, 2008

Dakar Rally Moving to South America

Posted at ESPN.com, the Dakar Rally is moving to South America for 2009. After the 2008 Rally was canceled due to terrorist threats by stone-age towelheads, Race director Etienne Lavigne told ESPN today the event will run through Argentina and Chile in 2009:

Race director Etienne Lavigne detailed the route in a telephone interview Monday. He was already in Buenos Aires, scouting out the Argentine capital that will host the start and finish of next year's race.

"It's a very, very big adventure," Lavigne said.

This year marked the first time that the 30-year-old rally, one of the biggest competitions in automobile racing, was called off. Next year will mark the first time that it will not race in Africa.

According to Lavigne the race will return to Africa when it can. Seems to me they should stay out of that hellhole. It's hard to imagine it will be any different in the future. But that's just me. [found via RacerX Illustrated]

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

"No Limits" New Year's Eve

Here's an announcement on Cycle News about the Red Bull Experiment, live from Las Vegas (where else?) on New Year's Eve. Sounds like quite a party, but just maybe things are getting a little out of hand. Well-known 4-wheel racer Rhys Millen plans to backflip an offroad truck:

Then Robbie Madison plans to attempt a new motorcycle jump distance record of over 300 feet. Well, been there, done that.