I’m a 26-year-old electrician from Ellettsville, IN. I like beer, babes and bikes. I don’t have the balls for motocross, but I’m interested in hill climbing. (David Pingree – March ’07 page 304.) Please send me tips, websites for parts, anything will help.
Evan Goshorn.
Good luck, Evan! photo: Gameface photos
Dear Evan,
It sounds like you have really narrowed down the things you are passionate about. Good for you. While it is a shame that you just don’t have the proper size crotch-luggage to be a motocross racer, I think you will have a good time climbing hills. The one event I did last year was a blast and I will definitely do another one if I can. I’m not sure if you are interested in the AMA series, which is a quicker, straighter run to the top of a much easier hill, or if you want to try a NAHA event out west where the hills are much more technical. Either way, check out www.pro-hillclimbers.org for the NAHA series or www.amaproracing.com for the AMA stuff and click on the hill climbing icon for more information. And here’s a tip: Never tell people that you don’t have the balls for something. Good luck.
PING
What up, Ping,
I had the honor and the privilege to acquire a VIP pass for the Thunder Valley National this year in Lakewood, Colorado. It was most excellent to be on that side of the fence for the whole day. I even got to be up close during the podium presentations after the final motos.
While visiting the podium presentation for both the 250F and 450 classes I noticed none of the trophy girls gave the top 3 riders a celebratory kiss – not even the winners! What the heck is up with this nonsense anyway? This is America! I can remember as a kid seeing the great motocrossers from back in day getting kissed or kissing the trophy girl. What has happened to this fine victory tradition?
LC
Dear LC,
photo: Steve Bruhn
That is a great observation, LC, and I’m surprised Steve Matthes hasn’t pointed this out before. I remember watching RJ throw his tongue down the trophy girl’s throat on the podium right after being interviewed by Larry Huffman. You just don’t see that anymore. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen the Dogger grab the trophy girl’s rear end during one of those post-race make out sessions. Can you imagine Ryan Villopoto doing that?
I think the answer here is two-fold. First of all, to riders in those days, being married was the death knell for a racing career. The vast majority of professional racers from the past were single. Today, that just isn’t the case. Aside from riders that are really young (James Stewart, Davi Millsaps, Mike Alessi, most lites riders) the top riders of today are all married, many of them with children. The second factor is that if you grabbed a trophy girl these days and started kissing her while giving her buns a squeeze she would slap a sexual harassment suit on you faster than you can say “settle out of court.” Common sense has gone out the window here in the good ol’ US of A. As usual we have totally over-corrected. Shouting, “Hey, sweet pants,” to get your waitresses attention in a local diner wouldn’t have been completely out of line thirty years ago. Today, calling her a waitress is offensive and sexist. She wants to be called a “Server” or more preferably a “nutrition transportation technician.” The good old days are gone, my friend. Buy the Supercross Classics DVD because that is probably the only place you are going to see trophy girls getting groped by sweaty guys covered in dirt. Oh, by the way, they are called spokes models now, not trophy girls.
PING
Dear Ping
That interview with Eric Johnson on Chad Reed really put the icing on the cake as to what i thought of Chad. All he does is go on with how he is a so much better rider than everyone else except Bubba & RC (although i am sure he tells himself that he is), man he is such a WANKER. I watched him race in Australia this year, but only because like half of the people there we wanted to see if Daniel Reardon could beat him! He didn't give much time to the kids and spent most of his time in his trailer. I don’t think he is good for our sport because of his attitude. When I race my local club days it seems that all the fast young riders are taking on Chad’s attitude and that will be bad for our sport because people don't want to spend their weekends watching some spoilt snotty-nose kid race. I think you guys in the industry need to remind Chad of 2002 when Bubba slowed down and let him pass and then passed him back.
Anyway I love your columns and when are you coming to Australia to race so we can watch a real racer?
Paul
Wee Waa NSW, Australia
Dear Paul,
photo: Paul Buckley
Man, I have to agree with you about that interview with Chad. It was done on Friday afternoon, right after qualifying for the X Games, and Chad didn’t come off well at all. He crapped all over supermoto by saying that it wasn’t “extreme” enough for him, which rubbed a lot of us the wrong way. Well, yeah, when you qualify 15th you aren’t really pushing the limits, are you? He also has a chip on his shoulder about Carmichael sitting out the Supercross series that he won. He adamantly argues that he would have beat Ricky anyway because he was riding confidently and he had a good bike setup. Sure, it’s much easier to be confident when RC isn’t handing you your second- or third-place trophy every weekend. At the end of the day, Reed won the title and that’s what the record books show; he shouldn’t have to argue what might have happened.
Personally, I think Chad is a nice guy. He just needs to realize that, in the grand scheme of things, motocross, er, rather supercross racers are not really that big a deal. Let’s all remember that we’re just racing dirt bikes here. If you sent Chad and David Beckham from one end of a local mall to the other, anywhere in the world, I wonder how many autographs each one would sign by the time they got to the other side? I’m guessing Becks would need a new Sharpie and Chad wouldn’t even take his lid off.
Thanks for the letter, Paul. Hopefully I can make it down to Wee Waa someday and race.
PING
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