Pure Unsubstantiated Rumor

[Christopher Corder]

The most encouraging part of this to me is that if road racing culture becomes more eurocentric in the US, we will see feeder and development classes that will better reflect true road racing. As evidenced by the current Aprilia Cup among others, youth racing can be done on proper motorcycles that develop both riders and mechanics into world level material. Plonking kids down on Ninja 250's will not lead to MotoGP success down the road.

[Steve McNamara]

If any American rider wants a shot and riding in any World racing series they need to be in Spain or BSB. I talked with Bradley Smiths dad for several hours and the Spanish CEV series is the proving ground. A talented young rider needs to bring $100-$150k in personal sponsorship to ride their 600 class not to mention housing and education expense. This makes it tough for most Americans. They do have camps and tryouts similar to the Red Bull Rookies cup but without that sponsorship money talent doesn't matter. Talent is prevalent down there. We need American Companies interested in racing to invest in The future riders to put on the World stage. I don't know the answer but I know the problem!

[Jim Dugger]

We need American Companies interested in racing to invest in The future riders to put on the World stage. I don't know the answer but I know the problem!

Well, I'll pile-on with more problem and no solution.

It's really incumbent on those of us that love racing to figure out how to make it valuable to american companies. And, I'm fresh out of ideas. $150,000 isn't that much money to most companies of even modest size -- it's barely a fully-burdened FTE in the software business, for example -- but when I challenge myself to articulate $150k worth of value to my company for sponsoring racing, I come up about $149k short. And, I'm usually pretty good at asking for investment dollars.

Maybe we ask ourselves how american racing itself needs to change fundamentally to be commercially viable and appealing? If we started with a clean sheet and set out to create a racing product that would broadly appeal, what would it look like? Our current product just doesn't sell...

[Joe Rodriguez]

heres a brain fart,
has anyone thought of maybe having a class that somehow helps an up and coming YOUNG talent get to the show.
i mean, i know there is a couple fast kids here that can get awful close, but $$ is a barrier.
after a few rounds of over priced rubber,which i think is a big issue, im sure they begin to wonder if a more stable career is not the best thing and just stick to club racing where they will soon be bored into quitting.
everyone wants to go big time, but seriously ,it seems as like if you're not winning consistently at 14-15, you may be behind the curve...

[Scott Finning]

I'll repeat what I said before... club road racing is where it all starts. The clubs are splintered organizations with no clear united goal. If there was a dedicated path through the club system to some known end point for rider to follow then corporate sponsorship would at least become somewhat of a viable option. But when the junior ranks are really nothing but purely hobby oriented then you can't blame the corporations to balk. They want to see a business model that has concrete results...
For years I was involved in gymnastics.. I can tell you first hand why the gymnastics club level system is at least moderately successful...They start them young, they give the coaching members of the sport a clear workable systematic path of competition that they are able to use to guide and train athletes. They are governed by a known universal set of rules that apply to all clubs and there is a minimum level of professional certification that participant must meet to be involved.
Gymnasts and their families don't have to guess what the end goals are... corporate entities have a clearer and more concise view of how and where their sponsorship dollars are being spent and what they can expect in return.
It's not a perfect system but it is a good model for what could be in American road racing... there's no reason this could not be ran in conjunction with the hobbyist level of the sport...

[Allen Dye]

My first job...and my longest, truest love (don't go there) was in racing and specifically in the marketing and promotions of racing..which translates simply to money. I still have connections into what now is IndyCar and a few left in NASCAR as well. Yes, motor racing is motor racing. The challenge, quite frankly, is simple; how much exposure can a specific marketing vehicle give to a company? After that, there are some intangible benefits; employee morale and brand association are some examples.

As I see it, we have several rather steep hills to overcome;

1) Investment into motorsports overall is declining. At one point in time, racing was at the top, or near the top world wide as a spectator sport. It's slipping...

2) Because of #1 above, television dollars are slipping, meaning less big time exposure...which of course brings less exposure which means less dollars which means....and so on.

3) Interests in motorcycles may be decreasing as evidenced by a slightly slowing overall motorcycle sales environment. Let's all face it; the motorcycling culture is dramatically different here than in any other country. The average age of the motorcyclist is increasing. Companies are striving to find new, young blood; BMW with sport bikes, the Japanese with more sub 600cc/non-supersport bikes...

4) We don't take motorcycles or motorcycling in the country seriously. There, I said it...from the way insurance treats motorcycles to the way we license and train motorcyclists to the way non-motorcyclist treat motorcyclist to the way motorcyclist treat motorcycling...we don't take it seriously here. See #3 above...

5) Racing, in all forms in the US, competes with far too many stick and ball sports. In the rest of the world? Soccer...sure there are other sports, but gee whiz! In the US, we have football, basketball, baseball and hockey...and to a lessor degree, soccer. Kids who don't grow up with motorcycling parents...especially those who don't race, WILL NOT LIKELY be racing...

Unfortunately, there is such a small part of the population in the US that is interested in motorcycle racing. It's a tough pill to swallow for everyone on this board, but it's fact...Want a US kid to make it big on the world scene? Grab him young, ship him Spain, don't let him ever find out about Xbox, soccer or girls. You might have a chance...

[Sean Gurevich]

If we started with a clean sheet and set out to create a racing product that would broadly appeal, what would it look like? Our current product just doesn't sell...

In today's world, if it resembled Supercross or something like X-Games, then that's the best chance it would stand at making money and surviving.

Here's a list of North American oil companies with the bottom half consisting of US-based. Click on any one of them and notice that their revenue (and assets) is measured in billions. Now, find Repsol in that list. Notice how its revenue and assets is measured in millions. Any one of those US oil companies (even the ones you've never heard of) could sponsor a MotoGP team with the money that they use to wipe their ___. All we need to do is find where their sewer flows. )

[Joe Rodriguez]

valid point Dean, billions dont get there by spending themselves.LOL
you'd have to convince one of their grandsons to go MC road racing rather than Nascaring, then you may have a chance.

[Sean Gurevich]

I noticed that I actually forgot to include the link in my previous post. Here: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?...#North_America

BTW, did you just call me Dean?

[Dean Darnell]

BTW, did you just call me Dean?

Ya, it confused me too!