What's wrong with these teenage racers these days? They are extremely fast, ride with great form and even crash with style (i.e.. Barcia at Hangtown). The problem is that many of them can't seem to finish a moto with their jersey tucked-in. Take Dean Wilson for example. He is an awesome rider, seems gracious and respectful and even has that funky Canadian/Scottish hybrid accent thing, but I swear I have never seen him get out of the first corner, let alone finish a race without his jersey hanging out. Is this a new phenomena, because I've seen you race many times and never saw you with this affliction as there always (and even to this day) seemed to be more than adequate pressure against the top of your pants to completely and firmly hold your jersey in place. Are the new jerseys made out of some type of slippery Teflon polymer material? Does this new group of racers lack proper asses to hold a jersey in place? Is Pro Circuit/Thor unable to afford the proper-sized jerseys? Maybe his mechanic could sew a giant patch of industrial-grade Velcro to the inside of his pants, or just squeeze a big dollop of quick drying Gorilla Glue inside the back of his pants while he's on the gate, or maybe Thor could make him a one-piece pants/jersey combo. That way he wouldn't have to worry about his pants falling down either (ala Josh Hill).
Just Wondering
Dear Wondering,
You see a lot more of the flapping jerseys now than a decade or so ago. I have a hard time believing that any of the gear companies have gone backwards in their design over that span of time. There are two things that contribute to this, in my opinion: Tall guys don’t have as much jersey to tuck in so it comes untucked easier. During my era I remember guys like Phil Lawrence, Travis Preston and Michael Brandes having a hard time keeping their jerseys in their pants. That’s an anatomical issue that just makes sense. I can’t really think of a time when McGrath had his jersey flapping all over the place, can you?
The other issue is that kids today wear their pants loose and down below their butt cheeks. If there was ever a look that says, “Hey, I have zero class and I’m practically unemployable” it’s this one.
The only other possibility is that these guys are more ass-less than a pair of chaps so there’s nothing to hold it up. Personally, I like the idea of a onesie for Deano. Maybe Thor could put together a suit with a stretchy neck so he could just slip in through the top and never have to worry about a flapping jersey.
PING
Dear Ping,
I was just wondering why promoters of notorious hard-packed tracks like Glen HelenHangtown feel the need to dump thousands of tons of sand on these tracks for the nationals? Whatever happened to the diversity of the riders being able to ride all different types of tracks? Whooped-out sand tracks or old-school huge braking bumps, deep rutted turns and fast sketchy flat turns… give me old school. I feel the promoters are trying to make all these tracks the same. and
Thanks,
D. Hansen, Sacramento CA.
Dear Hansen,
I’ve heard this from a few people over the last couple weeks and it really only makes sense in theory. Yeah, it sounds great on paper that the riders would be tested in all types of varying terrain, conditions and racing surfaces. The problem is that hard soil doesn’t hold water and so it becomes very dusty. How awesome is it to stand next to a dusty track as forty 450s go flying by? And how does that look on TV? And how safe is that for the riders? And if you put water on that hard-pack it gets so slimy and snotty that you have unnecessary crashes and your top riders get hurt. The idea of adding material such as sand, wood chips, sawdust, rice hulls and the like into the tracks soil is to allow for better, safer racing and spectating conditions. Nothing looks more “backyard” than a bunch of guys riding dirt bikes in a dusty circle and that is exactly what the TV broadcast would look like if the tracks let the course get dusty. There is plenty of variation between tracks even if it doesn’t look like it from the air-conditioned confines of your family room.
PING
Ping,
Did Dean Wilson have a short acting career prior to racing? I swear he played Rusty Griswold in a fantastic little piece of cinema called “European Vacation.”
“Mud Bucket” Mahony
Dear Mud Bucket,
I’ll have to check into it but the photo you sent over sure would suggest it. I’m pretty sure I saw Blake Baggett in the movie Benjamin Button a few weeks ago. And Hanny had a lead role in the Spiderman films as the demented son of one of the villains. And when I met Tyla Rattray a few years back I knew I had seen him I just couldn’t place him. Turns out he had a spot on a Tom and Jerry cartoon years ago. Maybe it’s just something with the Pro Circuit team where they feel like they get the best results from guys with some experience in the movie biz. I mean, look how good Arnold Schwarzenegger worked out for the state of Calif…, well, you know, for the, uh, well for that kid that he fathered illegitimately. That kid is set, right? I’m just saying that it would be pretty sweet if your dad were The Terminator. Maybe Mitch Payton’s genius has been discovered? Hire former child stars! Somebody get DeCoster the number to that kid from Jerry McGuire who was always talking about how much the human head weighs; we might have a line on the next national champ.
PING
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