Ask Ping!
Friday, July 5, 2013 | 10:10 AM
ODI dates back to the 1980’s as the leader in grip manufacturing. Focusing primarily on the bmx and mountain bike industries through the 90’s and early 2000’s, ODI re-entered the motocross scene when they developed the patented lock-on grip system that eliminates wire and glue. Continuing to advance the way riders hold on to their bikes, ODI has worked closely with the teams they support such as Troy Lee Designs to create the product that is now being used by some of the top teams in the industry.
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PrintDear Ping,
Major props from a working class vet wanna-be to a working class vet used-to-be….
Racing for me has now evolved (regressed) into slowly (both figuratively and increasingly literally) making my way through a racing bucket list of sorts. From your immense and vast experience as a racer, enthusiast, super hero, and celebrity, what would be your recommendations for the top 5 vet class bucket list race destinations in the US?
Regards,
WCVWTB (Working class vet wanna be…AKA: Brian)
Do this thing.
I’m not sure what part of the country you live in but assuming you have unlimited time and resources so I’ll throw a few gems out for you. The Mammoth Motocross is a must-do for any rider, vet or otherwise. The track is epic, the town is amazing and the surroundings are unreal. There is an entire week dedicated to vet riders so you don’t even have to deal with a bunch of bratty kids spoiling your old-timers weekend. Make this one happen. Also, if you can get to a race at Washougal before you die that would be excellent also. Some of the pristine topsoil has gone bye-bye over the years but the track is still epic. If you are in the area there is a grass track event in Chehalis, WA that is put on by a vintage group. This one is actually on my bucket list but the photos I’ve seen have already sold me on it. Buy an old bike if you have to and check this out. If you want to get nuts hop a plane to New Zealand and sign up for a race in Taupo, home of Ben Townley. That track is one of the coolest I’ve ridden and just seeing the country is worth the trip. Lastly, I would say try to get to MX338 in Southwick as soon as possible and see if you can race there before that land gets sold to a developer and turned into a cookie-cutter suburban development. It is a piece of moto history and it will be worth it to say you’ve raced there. Good luck. Let me know how it turns out.
PING
Dear Ping:
I enjoyed your YZ450F review. Looks like you have trimmed down a bit! To my question: Every National race uses those yellow track markers that are shaped like spears. I am waiting for JS7 or someone else to take a fall and get impaled. Wouldn't a round top be better? Just asking.
Sincerely,
George
Pittsburgh PA
I’m sure JBS has rolled over a few of these.
I get asked that question often and the truth is that those plastic stakes are very flexible and much, much safer than the wooden spikes they replaced. The yellow, plastic Acerbis stakes bend with very little pressure and would not likely hurt you even if you dropped straight on it like a disgraced Japanese soldier. There you have it.
PING
Hey, Ping -- gotta love the Ask Ping stuff on RacerX. Here's my own couple of questions for you (1st one's a two-parter):
1. With Southwick having its final National, are you going to miss this track, and which of the R.I.P. tracks (tracks no longer being raced at) do you personally miss? Me, I personally miss Kenworthy's because that was the most Supercrossy style of tracks.
2. Does it come as a surprise to you at how lop-sided both the 250cc and 450cc classes have been the last two years if you count this year so far -- Dungey winning almost all of 2012 after Stewart was forced to go to the sidelines, and this year with Villopoto and Roczen winning most of the motos in both classes? If so/not, why/why not?
Thanks, Ping.
--Mathew
This is when Unadilla was awesome.
I’ll miss Southwick as a spectator and as a rider. It was, hands down, the most brutal track on the circuit. At the end of race day your hands, back, arms, legs, eyeballs and butt were absolutely destroyed from the soft, bump-filled sand and the cramps…Oh, the cramps. I would lock up constantly on the plane ride home the following day. The other passengers must have thought I was having multiple seizures. Gatorback, Steel City and Broome Tioga are the only circuits not still in the schedule and they were all okay. I finished second to Carmichael in one of my better outdoor rides at Steel City in 1999 so I’ll have to give that place the nod. What I really miss is the way Unadilla was back when it was still Unadilla. The jumps, rhythm sections and hard racing surface make it a completely different place than it was back in its heyday.
I’m not really surprised with the domination by one rider. As mental as this sport is there is usually one guy who gets a confidence edge on the rest of the field and proceeds to stomp a mud hole in their collective rear ends for a period of time. Of course that doesn’t make for great racing all the time but it seems to be a trend in our sport. Maybe all the riders should get together and start making passive aggressive insults to the points leaders to knock them down a peg? I dunno, just spitballing here.
PING
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One of the best parts of Friday.
Glen Helen.
Brian, Red Bud vet fest or grass track race is good..
Well since we have lost Southwick now, it seems like the replacement should be Steel City, and please not some lame Nascar infield track. Steel City is an amazing track especially for spectators. The whole track can be seen from almost any vantage point, and plenty of room for parking. Unless there is a good replacement closer to the Wick.
atc110, I agree Glen Helen should replace either Elsinore or Pala. I'm not really sure why the powers that be keep selecting these man made venues. I would like to hear some input from the riders to see how they feel about our new direction. I'm not so sure this is a healthy move for our sport...
BRING BACK GATORBACK!!
Im starting a petition
...now if only ama pro racing was a democracy
Oh, I see act110, you were suggesting a nice vet race or track for Brian. I thought you were finding a replacement for Southwick.
Bring back Gatorback and Lake Sugartree!
I may be old, but how bout a shout out to the old saddleback? Something to be said for an old school track built by old school racers. Not really a big bucket list thing since it is AWOL and all, but just the name evokes some pretty solid memories of epic battles...
Now don't think I am one of those old guys that refuse to embrace the new, but I would still love to see Glen Helen as the first round of the Nationals - seeing the wide eyed riders WFO around Talladega corner for the first moto of 450s is ALL TIME in my jaundiced eyes. I just hope to see it once more before I shed this mortal coil. BRING IT BACK DC - YOU ARE MY LAST HOPE!
Glen Helen should be on any Vet riders bucket list.They have hugh vet classes every weekend.Maybe Ping can't talk about Glen Helen.
# 1. Washougal
I kind of doubt that Southwick land will be sold to a developer.It is owned by the American Legion so it kind of belongs to Uncle Sam I assume.
Hell no to Gaterback and Saddleback.We already have two new and really shitty tracks added to the series.Lets not add two more really shitty tracks.We need a real sand track added to the series.
I can't believe they even used to use "wooden" markers for the tracks. Crazy dangerous.
The American Legion is a 501.C.3 corporation, which means that it is a non-profit company. The US Government is not in control of its assets, but by law the Board of Directors is charged with the control of its assets. The board is either appointed(unlikely) or is elected from the club. The US Government has as much control of Southwick's track as it does your local 3rd Baptist Church of the Glorious Awakening or whatever...
Hey @fred. Obviously you never rode at Saddleback. I did, at least 4 times a week for years. Only someone who'd never even been there would call Saddleback a "shitty" track.
I will not miss Southwick as a spectator. Too many trees in the way, outdated facilities, chain link fences and too many banners around the whole track. I wonder if Ping or Davey Coombs ever sat in the stands and tried to watch and follow the action there? I do miss riding there.
As far as the wooden death stakes, they hold up the repeater banners. You just need to go further off track to be speared like a vampire.
I would definitely like to see Gatorback......back. Another one that I would like to see added is Monster Mountain in Alabama. Fun......very fun.
I think "Ping" gave some good answers to all of the questions. I imagine Fred and Big Ugly Maniac and a few others remember when the tracks were linded with the red snowfenses? now that was dangerous! I have one bit of advise for the guy and his bucket list and that is to buy or build an old early model bike from the early 70's or before and go race the vet class at a Vinage race. I think it is Jackson TX ? that has a really good one every year. I think DC can give you some info and Racer-X had a reprt on it a couple of years ago or less. I do regret never making it to Mammoth when I could but I had my vacation pulled from me because of a big job at work so I had to cancel. Dont think I ever got my entry fee refunded though?
Gotta go.......
LETS RACE
@Welker I think you are talking about Diamond Don's in Jefferson, Texas. April 10-13, 2014 for those interested.
@mgwest haha,your right I've never ridden there.I've only seen it in vids.It just looks like burnt hard dirt that is slick and dusty.I guess if that's all you had.
For Vet Racer Bucket list races:
1. Red Bud Vet Fest - Late August weekend with Friday practice and Saturday racing, best Vet Race in the Mid West for current generation motorcycles.
2. Glen Helen MTA World Vet Championships - Classes for everyone on the world famous Glen Helen Track. Guys come from all over to race this one too.
3. Mammoth Mountain Vet Days - Great race too, great scenery, and great vacation, and all VETS, Ping had that one right.
4. Unadilla MX Rewind - Old bike racing on the Unadilla track and they bring back some pretty big name riders also racing on old bikes. Good weekend event if you like riding / racing old bikes.
5. Possibly ride some of the amatuer days at the National tracks you want to hit, you never know when they'll be gone.
You used "also" twice in one sentence.
Also, I'll say this also. It's not simply confidence. You have to do the work and master so many things large and small until your combined effort results in race wins and domination. That gives you a certain confidence. However, that kind of confidence doesn't just come automatically, you have to earn it with the above mastering of the most important aspects of riding until you're going faster than everybody else, winning and dominating. So...between having all of your shit together, including having quality practice locations, organized practice sessions with a high degree of prioritizing to get the most out of it, having the best suspension setup, engine setup, gearing, physical training, good rest, tires, riding gear, the best group of people around you, good parents with a diversified portfolio, a good girlfriend, mental focus, the right attitude, good logistics for practice sessions, races, appointments etc. you can (1) get wins, (2) dominate, and finally (3) gain the confidence of a dominating winner who knows - KNOWS - what it takes to beat everybody. Only by winning and dominating are you going to get that confidence, that KNOWLEDGE that you have the winning program.
A rider can come out like a rapper, bragging on his "mad skillz" and thinking he's bulletproof, with more confidence than the collective motocross spectators have in James Stewart augering into the ground during the next moto, but then he might get lapped six times.
I know you already knew that, but it seems like people sometimes put the cart before the horse. First you get fast. That gives you a certain confidence.
Confidence is like trust: it's hard-earned and easily lost. It comes in on crutches and goes out on wings.
@fred, Yup, Saddleback was in Southern California and yeah, it was (like all So. Calif. tracks) very dry. And yep, its all we have out here. But if you could ride fast on hard packed blue groove tracks like Saddleback and Carlsbad, you could ride fast on just about anything. I guess that's why there are more National Champions over the years out of So. Cal. than all the other states combined.
Or maybe they can all quit kissing each others ass and take a shot at Villopoto or dungey like Malcom and James Stewart did, Bob Hannah who have pictured above nor would Damon Bradshaw, Ron Lechien and on and on would not let you pass without at least trying to knock your ass down and give something to think about or maybe that has gone by the wayside like some of the tracks, quit riding like a bunch of little Bit%^$s, How about a podium speech like james saying Little Red beat me but i was tired his mom kept me up all night.
I was kinda expecting someone to mention Loretta's vet classes for bucket list. The more I look into it, it sounds like the atmosphere is too serious/intense to be fun?