Should we hit the emergency button??

The money is there. It's hard to get mom to give up the $40,000 Lexus to go race. But if you can get her hooked she will give it up.

Moto moms are the most sacrificial beings on the planet! They give up everything for their kids.
 
And and I think Facebook would be the absolute best avenue to use to try and lure people intonthe sport.

Make one 2 minute video showing the sport from sign up race to driving home and you'll have some parents thinking how cute it is and actually go try it. We need an aggressive advertising campaign.

But this year at tvland there were 15 peewees on the line in NOVEMBER. This generation has potential. Makes me want to knock my wife up.
 
Jack Bierbower said:
Can the OMA enforce the C class rule more? Do it by lap times in practice, if your practice lap times are as fast as an average B rider then make them move up to the next class. I'm not sure what equipment or technology a track would need to do this but I think OMA officials cracking down on sandbaggers makes it fair, more fun, and less intimidating. Axell Hodges won the C class at lorettas and he only makes a couple hundred thousand a year on a factory bike and practices with McGrath. C class needs to be policed.


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Wahoo, yes lap times....back to the c class for me!! Ha ha
 
What about working with as many dealerships as possible and reach out to the people who bought MX bikes and offer them a free weekend ride?
 
I agree with Honda 907 about other sports. Other sports are down for sure. I am president of the local youth football organization, and sit on the board of directors for the Gem City Youth Conference. Every organization in our leagues numbers over the last 5 years are down in both Football and cheer. Many believe it is a stronger focus on concussions, and parents holding younger kids out of contact football. I don't totally blame them on this, and believe kids should really not play tackle until 6th grade or so, not first.....but that's not the world we live in.

Kids today are playing sports, but many specialize in one sport. Baseball in our area for traveling kids is almost year around. They practice indoors, and play 65 games a year at 8 to 14 years old. Basketball with all the AAU teams and what not is similar. Everyone thinks little Johnny is going to be the next pro athlete. So kids are not playing 2 and 3 sports.

My son plays school football, basketball and races. Has some success at all of them, but loves motocrosss over all of them. We need more kids like Matthew though. Rounded kids that are involved. My opinion too many kids and parents jump in and go nuts. They do noting but race 24/7 and after 3 or 4 years the kid is burnt out, the parents have spent money they don't have, and they are out of the sport.

I am hoping that my son is more like me, and will never burn out, and be the next generation like me to still be riding and racing in 30 years. My dad is 71 and still goes to the races with me and matthew. Been doing it his whole life. I hope at 71 I am going and watching Matthew race still.
 
There was 84 kids that competed in our class last year in the overall points. That doesn't include the fair races or LL qualifiers. 84....and other than the battle races the biggest gate was 10, maybe 12????? Racers are out there, but why not at the race???

1.Races every weekend...eh, we will go next weekend.
2.Open practice every weekend.....eh, let's go practice. Not really feeling like racing this weekend, and there is a race next weekend.
3.Low turnouts....why go the the race this weekend if there will be nobody there to race? Everyone else is going to open practice this weekend....

Maybe this "emergency button" may be as simple as reaching out the racers that only hit up 2 or three races and invite them to come back.....

Look what happened to Jason when he had his open A invitational race at the Sat night series. Awesome race and had people begging to get into it.
 
Gas cards are nice. But we don't race for a $10 card that shows up 6 months later.
No magic pill for us. Seat time vs $. More laps & less classes or we are going to the woods / GP's. Only moto within an hour of the house since EVERY track offers the same thing.
 
GoFar said:
There was 84 kids that competed in our class last year in the overall points. That doesn't include the fair races or LL qualifiers. 84....and other than the battle races the biggest gate was 10, maybe 12????? Racers are out there, but why not at the race???

1.Races every weekend...eh, we will go next weekend.
2.Open practice every weekend.....eh, let's go practice. Not really feeling like racing this weekend, and there is a race next weekend.
3.Low turnouts....why go the the race this weekend if there will be nobody there to race? Everyone else is going to open practice this weekend....

Maybe this "emergency button" may be as simple as reaching out the racers that only hit up 2 or three races and invite them to come back.....

Look what happened to Jason when he had his open A invitational race at the Sat night series. Awesome race and had people begging to get into it.
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Been beating on the AMA to do this very thing for years. Contact the current or past members to see why they are not coming back. New people will find the sport and there are other things that to bring them in but the focus needs to be on the guys that have already tried. Could be as simple as a damn post card. "Please come back".
 
And there is no reason the OMA has to wait for the AMA to do it. If a fast kid shows up and his only competition is to try to lap my kid.....well that's no fun. And it happened too many times last year. So the fast kids quit coming to OMA races.

Low turnouts=low turnouts.
 
JO.....you are operating a double edge sword with the position you are in. You want more entries at races.... easiest way would be to pull 1/3 of the riders from the other 4-5 other tracks in the state that are open for practice on race weekend. Great....got big races now. Good for OMA.
Bad for track owners trying to build revenue to put on a big flashy race day and improve the facility.

Fair races.....All you could do with that is advertise the snot out of them that ANYBODY can race. Other fair races that we went to outside of OMA didn't require a membership card and pit entry fees were waay lower. And they were some of the biggest gates we were on.

When we leave races with track bucks good for the next race, almost guarantees we will be back. And the kids are happy knowing they won something and use that for leverage to get me to take them back....
 
Same complaints and same solutions.
To me it's just boring anymore. Like John said a while ago.. A lot of people raced more back in the day because it was your only chance to ride that track.
I think tracks are way too easy. Mostly because of the bikes.
 
weasel49 said:
Same complaints and same solutions.
To me it's just boring anymore. Like John said a while ago.. A lot of people raced more back in the day because it was your only chance to ride that track.
I think tracks are way too easy. Mostly because of the bikes.
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I agree with that. Remember when OIR only had one race a month? I made it a point to go there and race. Malvern was every weekend and I'd end up there maybe once every two months.

Limit the times a rider can hit a track. Look at redbud. Practices are packed full. They open a couple times a year.
 
My dream scenario for local mx is something that can't happen. The track owners wouldn't make enough to keep the doors open. But it would be so cool to do. Here it is.

Classes: 50, 65, 85-100, 125, 250, Open

Timed Practice at 9am - 15 minutes per class (this means transponders)
Practice times set the motos. So if there are 75 250-riders, there would be an A & B main separated by the practice times. Top 40 go to the A-main.
Two moto format, 15 minutes plus 1 lap. (10 minutes Plus 1 for the 50s)
5 Lap Dash for cash for the top 20 qualifiers during intermission.

Key points:
- Easy for newcomers to understand.
- Forces you to ride with your skill level.
- Also forces you to ride with people above your skill level, which increases your speed for those of you chasing Loretta's. There will always be someone faster than you, unless you win the whole damn thing.
- You have the opportunity to get 15 minutes of practice time, along with approximately 34 minutes of race time. So now we are starting to get some bang for our buck.
- Longer motos only help you in the future be a better rider.
- Still would be a pretty long day, but no longer than it is now for sure. Not to mention, you will feel like you've done something afterwards.


Like I said though, I don't think the track owners could make enough doing it that way to make it worth it to them. Same thing with limiting your races. If an owner is going to only have 4 races per year, how is he/she supposed to even pay their property tax? Might as well just start growing corn at that point.
 
I tried the less classes/longer moto deal back in 2006. It didn't work - 75% of the riders couldn't handle the longer moto's even though they thought and think they could. The majority of the riders changed their tune and asked for shorter moto's. Even tried one long moto the same year I started the Gobbler Grand Prix and it didn't work as most were to tired to race by lap 8.
The Grand Prix's work as they are not just mx and wide open and riders can pace themselves and not feel like they have to go all out like on a track. The less classes/longer moto's will not work from the track/financial end as most don't want and cannot handle the longer moto's. Plus the injury rate will go up as people get tired and end up on their head thinking they can ride long moto's. You want to chase new riders away do a one moto/long moto mx format. The new riders will either crash or get so tired and get lapped numerous times by the handful of guys that can sprint for 8-12 laps. Yes some can but some doesn't and won't pay the bills.
I'm no longer in the sport and was growing when I decided to sell. The riders are there - I said it before the best way to attract riders is to give it a name, purpose and make it a fun filled event. People are like sheep and follow each other - otherwise just run practice and don't deal with all the bs that comes with racing.

JO - keep doing what you do - yes try to meet riders needs and you do from the pure track/prep standpoint. Trying to please a few will turn some and the routine that they are use to away. I too like change but most don't and will go where their kid can trophie, run multiple classes and get nice year end awards. The riders that get tired of being at the track just switch over to GNCC or local HS racing. It's a age thing but parents don't like the GNCC deal as they can't see/spectate their kids the entire race. Not sure there is a correct answer just one that works best for the area your in - I'm here to tell you that the less classes longer moto's did not work for my area and I'm betting they won't work for MX/SX at the beginner level in most cases.
 
If track A is 50 miles away, great prep, 35 foot trophy for year end awards, gives me a gift card and charges $25 a class for 4 laps. Vs. Track B with average prep, 50 miles away and $25 a class but my kid gets 7 laps... You can call us a Track B regular. Heck I would go to track B if it were 100 miles away.
Now, if track C is across the street from my house and gives 9 laps. I would go to track A. Still have to have a good product.

Totally agree, you cant please everyone. But no one is trying anything different with the race day format. And clearly the turnouts are proving that format is flawed, at best.
 
Timed practice does not work. Guys would just sand bag in practice to get into the slower main.

I don't think it needs to go from 4 to 10 lap motos. A small change could mean a lot to some. Drop a few classes, that are not needed any way, and add two laps. I think you would be amazed at how many people would be pleased by getting 6 laps over 4 lap motos. And all you did was give them 4 more laps. This requires eliminating a few classes, and all the sudden people go wow, they give us 6 lap motos. I am 47 years old, and I will be tired after 6 laps, but that is not going to kill anyone, and eventually we get used to racing 6 laps.
 
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