I like to listen to the DawgHouse 2 Wheel Radio show . It is a motorcycle podcast which the hosts call “A completely irreverent, totally biased, intellectually challenged and scornful study of the twisted life of the motorcycling world & those who inhabit our planet, all wrapped up in a disturbing weekly show!” and I can’t completely disagree with that description to much 😉 The show use to be on Saturday mornings on a local Washington, DC radio station but was dropped when the station changed formats. It is now broadcast on the internet Tuesday nights. I typically listen to the podcasts during my commute.
The last couple weeks they have been discussing and lamenting the fact that motorcycle racing does not have much of a following in the US. So after listening to those shows I sat back and thought about why I am not a follower of motorcycle racing. I do caveat the following this with the fact that I have watched some bike racing on TV, both road and super-cross.
While I am a lifelong rider I have never really followed the road racing scene (in fact I have only once attempted to attend a bike race at BSR/Summit Point but the $30 entrance fee was too much to watch just a small portion of the track). I do follow, loosely, NASCAR and I have even been to a couple races (in the 80s).
Long story short I came to the following conclusions (right or wrong just my thoughts):
1. I want to see more of the race. I can, for the most part, see the entire track at NASCAR and super cross, not so with road racing, car or bike. When I can’t see all the action I do not feel I am getting my money’s worth, I don’t really know what is going on, and unless I am near the start/finish line I have no idea who won. Motorcycle road racing on TV just is not as well coved as a NASCAR (which only has a couple of road races) or as well as the auto grand prix style races which also has attendance issues.
This maybe an American predilection for this type of racing. Like our version of football and fondness of baseball, it is neither right nor wrong it just is. With the NASCAR tracks folks can see the action, depending on how thick the beer googles are! And the same applies for our other major American sports, I can see the entire playing field from my seat. I can see the entire track at Supercross and when I see it on TV it looks better attended than any other version of motorcycle racing I have seen.
2. Harley is not road racing. Yeah, I know, but the fact is that the folks you want to watch are the folks who watch NASCAR and ride Harley. My two favorite manufactures are Harley and Honda (Royal Enfield is #3) but there is a large gap between #1 and the rest. So unless I am really enamored with a Honda sport bike (I am not) I have no emotional draw to the sport.
Without that emotional pull do I want to pay $30 dollars to see part of race then walk or ride around the track to see different parts of the action? No not really.
So what would get me into motorcycle racing? What could be done to fix this situation?
I only have one idea which might be used pull people into the sport. First, it will not be road racing. Second it will have to be a V-Twin bike. So what I am thinking is that we have a V-Twin series (NASCAR has car and truck) for those of us not into the sport bike world.
It would also have to be an oval (turn left) track. The NASCAR super speedways would be too large for bikes like this but not the short tracks like Bristol could be a lot of fun.
Would Harley, Indian, Victory Star and others compete, would it be a privateer series? I do not know but I do know that I would be more interested in seeing a race of this nature then I would a normal superbike road race.
Combine a V-twin race to an oval and I start to think WOW! And when I think back to the old pictures of motorcycle racing in the early 1900’s I think of oval board tracks and large crowds. Would I go to the speedway during Daytona Bike Week to watch guys race Harley and Indians, yes I would!
Just saying…..
I JUST WANT 2 RIDE!! 