By Timothy Kast
Pick up a newspaper these days and you find yourself reading “Clinton Declares War on Tobacco Companies”. One could probably surmise that our illustrious Commander in Chief seems powerless to the “Butch of Baghdad,” but perhaps he reasons he could kick Joe Camel’s butt. Everything has a political edge these days, you sigh. Well friends, get used to it. With the advent of a second term (well under way) of Clintonomics, the demise of motorcycle roadracing lies smoking on the horizon in the not-too-distant-future.
Turbulent times to be sure. Without the big bucks support from major tobacco firms, racing as we know it could eaisly falter and die. Other companies such as Oakley (whose stock plunged 24% to a new low last December due to the loss of their biggest retail customer, Sunglass Hut International, Inc.), will follow suit and withdraw their monies from racing contingencies. The sucking sound you hear will be prize money and sponsorships leaving the paddock never to return. Gate ticket prices, entry fees and trackside vendor costs driven to an all -time unnatural high, will place the final coup-de-grace on an already stumbling industry in flux.
Egotistical racers demanding helicopters to transport them away from their supposedly clamoring fans will destroy the remaining concept of the approachable professional at work, to eradicate any trace of the world of motorcycle roadracing that we have all grown to know and love.
This may seem like a paranoid cataclysmic fantasy to some, but to the folks that are used to the rise and fall of jaded careers trackside, you may want to reconsider that unemployment insurance on your credit cards. What happened, how do we fix it and Where Do We Go From Here?
The Real Culprits
Gravity demands that just about everything rolls downhill and poor political leadership is no exception. Having a chump for a president means that people guard their cash and investments more carefully, watching where it goes and how it is spent. This creates a “soft” economy, one where advancements are made in inches, not in feet or meters. Add to that harrassment and interdiction of unrivaled (before now) industries whose main methods of advertising employs sports and in particular motorsports, and you set the stage for the collapse or crippling effect to those same sporting events that rely on those funds for their survival. Remember sporting events before beer and cigarette finances came along? If it was before your time, let’s jsut say it was pretty much limited to one bat, one ball and one glove.
After having personally balanced fresh new tires for every one of Kenny Roberts Jr.’s 159 spare wheels you may begin to realize that this was no small contribution to racing, that some of these corporations brought in to the paddock. Before these concerns wanted in, it was just the folks who manufactured the motorcycles that were being raced, the shops who modified and tuned them and with a handful of oil companies that pumped their product.
When the beer and tobacco companies joined the fray, they brought along countless other smaller companies who saw racing not only as a good investment, but a popular place to congregate and get paid for it. Enter the era of the unlimited racer stipends.
Everyone it seemed, wanted a piece of the pie and there was always plenty of pie to go around. Racing sells products and there were the tire manufacturers, wheel manufacturers, oil cooler people, sunglass companies all who are in the motorcycle industry as well as those connected with the fast paced lifestyle that racing imitates. The glorious vagabond motorcycle racer became the sort of image multiplier that many regular John Does found fascination. Scantly clad babes pranced about holding umpbellas to shield their bronzed Adonis racers. Afterwards there would be parties to the wee hours with hot and cold running companions, refreshments and smashed rental cars, until it was time to climb back into your gypsy vans and do it all over again off in the next distant racing town.
Quite an exciting enchanted lifet to somebody who lays roofing for a living or works in a book store, huh? Advertising felt that this metaphor was something that sold their product and something they could ultimately take to the bank. Racers everwhere were quick to seize upon this and work it to their advantage. Twisting a rental car into unrecognizable shapes jsut amplified the whole extreme image, right?!!? Scandal told the world you were cool, and telegraphed to your competition that you were a force to be reckoned with , if only by the dint of the fact that you were mentally unbalanced. Since the big money guys were raking in MILLIONS what was the cost of a trashed pit bike or hush money to cover the dead hooker anyway?
This Party’s Over
If racing is to survive then every last individual that makes his or her living in motorcycle roadracing is going to have to consider it their responsibility to police up the view that the average citizen has of us. When the high-end sponsors leave... then the bottomless budgets go with them. If PONTUS (Secret Service talk for the President of the United States) can crush an industry like R.J. Reynolds then he can just as easily squash one whos mainstay was those same corporations. The satellite opganizations will fold and then racing will return to the big parking lot, .... lonely race trailer days of yore. How you deal with your epiphany is your business but then again, who wants to be big Dilbert who didn’t get the word?
Everything has a price, and in racing those tag sales can be rather astonishing at times, so it would be best to employ the wisdom of the Scots before doing anything rash, these days. Baggy pants and bowl cut that only a mother could love are on their way out; clean cut is in. Don’t believe me? Pick up a copy of Men’s Journal or GQ and see what the gents are wearing now. There is no substitute for Good Taste. If you resemble a window washer underneath the overpasses in Miami you might have to wait awhile for that mega dollar transfusion you need to go racing. Image can be everything if you look like Fido’s ass, you’d best just keep on mowing lawns.
The Earth Moved
Going racing in the new millennia requires that you are successful at selling... YOURSELF! No, gentle reader, I am not advocating a life of prostitution, but most kindred spirits will have to be able to meet and greet prospective sponsors to provide support for your racing effort. This is done by plain old ingenuity and persistence. Motorcycle industry related companies can be called upon for regular usage items such as pistons, chains, tires, clutches and farings, but the real challenge will be to bring non-industry related companies into racing to replace those firms recently hobbled by current legislation. Stock car racing is an excellent example of this. Who ever figured you would find Ronald McDonald at the roundy-round tracks? Exposure is the big key here, as many big name sponsors will only buy into a racing team who best represents their product. If your prospective sponsors display a family oriented appearance you may have to curtail your after-hours revelry. Anything that could slander, defame or vilify the corporate presence will likewise reflect badly on you. Here again, how badly do you want to go racing? How Mad Mike GP Star spends his idle moments should not concern you; your sponsor may feel differently about you doing the same thing. The new rule of thumb charges that you carry yourself with dignity and restraint. Nearly everyone enjoyed the unrealistic antics of Tom Cruise in Days of Thunder but the real life truth is that Mr. Bill France does not twiddle his thumbs patiently at lunch while a couple of mealy-mouthed misfit racers puzzle out their trackside vendetta in two of Hertz’s finest. Think about that. It just plain doesn’t happen.
Learn to explore the uncharted waters of non-motorcycle related funding for the betterment of the sport. How well you are perceived could mean a lucrative contract for you and a welcome new face in the paddock. Just remember the racetrack is not a circus. Try to birng a new sponsor who will promote the sport, not one who will detract from it. Crazy Charlie’s Choke and Puke Hamburger Heaven is probably not going to be that Golden Goose you have been searching for. Be discriminating and look more to the popular mainstream busniess that would be mutually beneficial through your introduction to the racetrack. How abouat Campbell’s Soup or Old El Paso, Ray-Ban or Smith and Wesson, Ron Jon’s Surf Shop, maybe even Shower to Shower. The diversity of everyday household products that we all use is virtually endless and the possibility of sponsorship from one of these companies is only dependant on your presentation and comportment.
Can motorcycle roadracing last? Sure, without a doubt, but now instead of the big corporate shoulders we have been used to, it is up to us, the racers and crews, to arrive at a suitable alternative. Ther are still plenty of happy sponsor monies out there, but for right now..... the responsibility rests on our shoulders. It’s your choice.
A votre sante, bon ami!
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