Being a professional motocross rider is not easy. I think we can all agree on that, right? This is something I have wanted to write about for quite some time because our sport can be so brutal on and off the track. I know this article will not change minds about this, but I thought I would give some food for thought, so here it goes…
I hear a lot of people say a rider should just give it up because he’s never going to “make it.” They will ask, "Why is so and so still out there? Doesn’t he know he sucks? Why in the hell are these privateers still trying to make it in their late 20s?" These are all the questions I either hear in person or get on my Twitter feed. I mean I know I have been guilty of this a time or two as well so I’m not a saint here either. I think nearly half of the moto fanbase thinks if you’re not winning races, you must suck. This all got me thinking during a road ride the other day. When is it time to wrap it up and move on with your [quote unquote] “adult life” as a privateer? Let me take you on journey as you read this…
Before I start talking about our current privateers, let me give you a little background about my racing “career”, if you want to call it that? I grew up in a house with a disabled mother who had Multiple Sclerosis and our family was middle class at best. My dad was the sole provider of the house so getting to races as a young rider was difficult, so we stuck to the local scene. Once I was old enough to drive, I got a job (Yes, imagine that! A job to help pay for racing!) so I could support my addiction to dirt bikes. I raced when I could. I worked at Al Baker’s XR’s Only shipping orders to customers as well as Stroker (Larry Roeseler’s old four-stroke hop up shop). Being around dirt bikes was almost as good as racing them so I thought why not be around it as much as I could? This way I could maybe meet as many key people in the industry as they walked through either one of these establishments. I went to college for a couple semesters in my early 20s and I guess you could say I had no real direction on what I wanted to do. I thought I could still race and ride for a living if I got my chance, and there was nothing else in the world I would rather do. I just knew I wanted to make money riding my dirt bike. Key word was “riding.” I always had a knack for testing and feeling my way around a bike and I looked up to all those test riders in the magazines that I subscribed to, which was almost ALL OF THEM! Rich Taylor was a test rider for the magazines as well as a racer and I thought that was the dream job. That is what I strived for.
However, I quickly realized that I didn’t have the talent, money or the mental capacity to be a full-time racer so I bugged the crap out of Karel Kramer (former editor at Dirt Rider magazine) to let me test anything they had. One day when Karel walked into Al Baker’s XR’s Only, he asked if I had to work next Thursday (yes, I still remember what day it was on), and I told him I would find a way to get it off if he needed me. One test rider got hurt so he couldn't make this Honda CR125/250 shoot and they needed a skinny rider to be a photo model. Boom! This was my chance, and I took it. Karel liked the way I looked on a bike and also liked that I could take instructions. It was enough for him to invite me back another time and that snowballed into a 15-year relationship with the magazine. Now, keep in mind, that test rider job didn’t pay anything! But it gave me free gear, a bike to ride, parts and showed other industry companies that I was valuable. Later, I got a chance to be a contract test rider for Yamaha and KTM and that led me to my first supercross race at 27 years old! Yes, 27! Not 18, but 27! A little late, right? The point I wanted to start out with was that everyone has a different journey to the professional ranks and mine was short lived. I quickly thought better of trying to race and instead thought it would be wise to take the test rider route and build a life through dirt bikes by helping companies make their product(s) better.
Fast forward to 2023 and we have a lot of privateers on the gate at any given night show. There are even more if you look at practice on Saturday. How many of these riders are making a living racing dirt bikes? After the Nashville round, I counted 11 of the 22 main event guys that are actually probably making money at racing their dirt bikes. Sure, the other 11 that are in the main probably are making some pocket change, but they couldn't make a house payment, pay their water/electrical bills, health insurance, car insurance, food, etc. on what they are making from racing. Why are we as fans so dedicated on telling these other 11 guys as well as the other 20-30 that are not in the main event that they need to wrap it up because they will never make it? What about the 250 class riders? Does David Pulley need to wrap it up because he hasn't made a main event yet? Does Deven Raper need to wrap it up because he hasn’t made a main event in 2023? I don’t think so! At Nashville we had 46 riders in the 250 class and 47 in the 450 class? So, what you’re saying is that we should get rid of more riders? Sure, why not, let’s have 25 riders line up to try and qualify for a 22-rider main event. Yeah, that will be awesome! I’ve heard people say we only want the elite of the elite at the races, like professional football, baseball, soccer. The way those sports work, you just get cut from a team, and you’re done, straight up. What you guys don’t understand is that there are more people playing stick and ball sports than there are people that race dirt bikes. Our sport is small potatoes compared to these other sports so pushing our privateers out or shaming them and the people who have “the dream” will kill our sport as well as the people who back it. If said rider has some mommy and daddy money helping them race at 29 years old, then so be it! Who cares?! Just because you and I don’t have the same lifestyle doesn't make it wrong or bad for our sport.
If these riders that don’t make main events want to race until they’re 35 years old, who are we to sit here and tell them they can’t? Are they endangering themselves or people on the track? If so, we have a problem, but that’s not happening with the guys I’m talking about. These guys are just out there, they’re not messing with anyone else on the track. Let them race, let them try to achieve their goals, let them try to make a main event. Some racers’ trajectory in life is not like yours or mine. They will figure out on their own when it’s time to move on and do something else in life. We need as many “professional” riders as we can get. When I raced back in 2004-2005, we had anywhere between 90-110 “professional” riders trying to make the night show in each class! Now, if we are lucky, we have maybe 60 at the beginning of the year! I feel like we are so jaded as fans watching Chase Sexton and Eli Tomac circulate the track that we forget that our sport is hard as hell! Watching any “C” practice will show you that, right? Those guys don’t suck, that is actually real life, people! These “C” practice riders would work us at any local track, and they look like they are struggling out there at Anaheim 1. Why? Because our sport is hard!
Some may say I should get a real job as test riding dirt bikes is not sustainable at an older age. I would say, you’re right! At some point I will be old and crusty and will look like dog crap on the bike and also be too slow to possibly feel what the bike is doing. But I will continue to do the thing that I love because it is my life and my passion. Sure, this passion makes me a living, but I am not rich. Could I make more money doing something else? I think I can speak for most of us in the powersports industry and say, “Yes, we could make more money doing something else.” But we LOVE THE SPORT! These privateers are no different. I am sure they know deep down they will have to get a real job someday, they are not oblivious to that fact, but why not run it until the wheels fall off! We only live once! They still have hopes as well as goals and to me just crapping on these guys does no good for the sport.
Things like the Yamaha LCQ Privateer challenge that Steve Matthes is doing this weekend in Denver is proof that we need the “dudes not making mains” in this sport. Hey, if you haven't made a main and you’re 32 years old? Screw it! If you can find a way to get to the races and have someone pay your way, you’re a better man than I was. Go for it.
But…yes, there is a but. I have one other point to mention. I don’t think you should be begging for money to race your bike. If you find yourself doing this, you might want to think about getting a job to help with your racing. Yes, you still can race professionally and work during the week! It has been done and the dudes that have done it in the past still haul ass and make mains! Do I think riders should make more money? Of course I do, but no one is forcing you to race professional supercross and motocross. As I said, this is a small sport, way, way smaller than the stick and ball sports. That means there’s way less money around. Remember, almost anyone in the powersports industry is probably making less than what they would doing similar work in another field. It’s the nature of being in a niche sport. When privateers act like they are OWED more money, then that is when I slowly back away from them and look for riders who appreciate what they have and are helping themselves to continue to race.
Will the guy who can’t qualify for a main event need to get a job at some point? YEP! But who am I to say when that is! I mean one of my good friends, Travis Preston, won a championship and has a regular job today! To say you’ll retire from racing is one thing, but maybe “making it” has another meaning to each of these privateers, so let’s ease up on these guys a bit. We need the privateers, and we need the privateers to embrace that they are damn lucky to do what they do. You privateers go out and a try to get the quality support from family, friends, small businesses and in return do something for them until you get the call to ride for a team! Then, don’t forget who got you there! Our sport is one of the best in the world and I appreciate the rider who can’t qualify (or hasn’t) as much as the rider who wins the whole damn thing! I will gladly stand over to the side and watch the privateers try to achieve their goals and hopefully clear that tricky rhythm that awaits you at the next round. Good luck! #KeepEveryoneOnDirtBikes