I'm about 45min south of pittsburgh. I use to race D-12 when they were running races due to the fact of d-5 PAMX raising the prices of racing to rediculous amounts. When d-12 quit running races I quit racing and now I travel to ohio whenver possible to pay to practice. The furthest I'll go is Briarcliff and that a little over 2hrs for me and when I come out there its like 4 of us that come out in the same truck and split the gas between us to make it affordable. I agree with others I think the price of gas, bikes, traveling expences, prices to keep up-keep on your bikes and bike haulers is killing everyone. I dont mind paying $20 to practice all day, heck I didnt mind pay $20 or $25 to race but the B.S. gate fee of $10 was rediculous for the racers who was putting the entertainment on. In D-12 you got your $20-25 worth in racing 2 practices and 4-6lap moto's most places I went. In d-5 PAMX you got a 3 lap single practice with 100 riders out on the track at the same time and 3 lap motos and waited for 3hrs between motos if not longer, and you paid $35 to race per class plus some of the places were trying to get a $15 gate fee to get in. Buying bikes I bought a 09 450 and its got around 30hrs on it and I'll probably keep it for a long time due to the fact of what bikes cost. Also I raced series races in d-5 and at the end of the year what they gave ppl was rediculous. I got shirts that were either 3x's or way to small, stuff for a quad which I didnt even have when others who were favorites got new gear stuff for their exact dirtbike they had, money big plaques ect. Where was that fair? I raced every weekend same as they did and all I got was junk and other people I knew got the same stuff junk.
I dont know why it started, but i have a guess. I would be willing to bet the promotor wanted to charge the spectators, so spectators started coming in as riders, stating that someone else was bringing my bike. So to close that loophole, they started charging everyone. In lieu of just making it $30 per class, which where it ought to be.
I can remember 330 to 440 at a Buckey race their. I also can remember when you walk in a store whith in about 30 miles of Dirt Country you would see DIRT COUNTRY FLYERS at all the local stores and in your dealer ships. ?????????????????Dirt Country had either 214 or 240 entries last week, I can remember. Ok crowd, could have been more. For the Vets looking to have someone to race, 40+ was pretty fast last Sunday. Come on down and race with us in D11.
You know I have heard the fair points argument, and I have even used it before. I dont think it would change much if you did seperate the points. To be perfectly honest it has nothing to do with money, or points. Nobody wants to race like they did ten years ago. If you look around you, the things that you truly want to do, eveyone seems to find a way to make it happen. I wanted to race one race this year at Sunday Creek. It cost me well over $400 to do it. I had no chance at winning the series by simply running one race, but i really wanted to do it. So I did.
If everyone wanted to race they would be there. There is a lack of desire to race right now. Thats what is really killing Ohio Mx "racing". Case and point, look at Chillitown. How much more could you ask for? They have gone well above and beyond, so why not a huge turnout? I dont think people want to race anymore. Maybe I will put on a free race with over $5,000 in giveaways? I'd bet you that we wouldn't see a tick over 200 riders, and 300 entries.
You can lead a horse to water but you cant make him drink.
Personally, for me it’s all about the time.
I don’t want to spend the time needed to race: (locally)
Basically, you have to commit to racing at the detriment to everyone and everything else around you.
You have to get ready, get loaded, get to bed early, make food, pack coolers, get up early, rush driving to make it on time, Bla, Bla, Bla…….only to have the “days schedule” dictate when (and how often and for how long) I get to ride for that day.
Now, for events that I deem “significant” enough ……I make the time (at the detriment to all my other responsibilities) and enjoy myself.
But to put forth that kind of time commitment (on a weekly basis) for an average event just isn’t high on my life’s list anymore.