Benefits of Being a Pro?

Woods&Water

Woods&Water

PR Member
Hey guys, just thinking out loud here. Back when I was growing up, I remember tracks used to let Pros practice for free, or even half off. Or races, if you had your pro card you could get a discount on racing. Where has all this gone? I know there are now quite a few riders in Ohio that have been putting in a lot of work to get this license, and what do we get out of it? I remember RamJam, just a few years ago, let pros ride for $10 I think? Does anybody offer some kind of help or discount? Thanks.
 
Ram Jam does offer $10.00 practice for Pro riders as long as they can show me a Current Pro card. This will still be offered this coming winter :)

Thanks,
Rae Lynn
 
Benefits? Let's see it costs you 250$ a year.By the time you enter and get your pit crew and family into the pits that is at least 400$ or better. You get 2 15 min. sessions on the track. If you are session B you get the worst possible track to try and qualify on. We figured it out even without traveling expences it cost you approx. 800$ an hour for practice. Then if you stay and race pro-am or amateur A the next day just because you are there you get ragged on saying you are there just to steal the money and points from the A riders trying to get their license.
 
All the spectators they rake in and they make there privateers pay to race. Pay to get a license. Then they make them drive back and forth across the country. They can't start east and gradually make their way west to save these poor saps some kind of money.

Now this was lucas oil circuit rant. Not a local rant.

Someone that makes the main gate should be getting atleast a grand per moto or they should be making atleast 60k a year. Even at that rate they wouldn't make money. It would all go back into racing. But to drain these guys of their pocketbooks and dignity is ridiculous. Or maybe I can't read what's written on the wall. How do you feel on the subject rocket?
 
There isn't any writing on this wall Georgie, you really don't know how to read...... remind me when I'm hurt not to have you dispense my meds!

The racing is a travesty the way it's set up with these guys paying to ride when they are the show. Do you think that Colt McCoy has to buy a ticket to get into a Browns game???? Or that the Olympic athletes have to pay to be in the stadiums they are competing in as Amatuers?? Or that any professional in any sport anywhere has to pay to get into the event that they are playing in???? Absolutely ridiculous....... and if they make the 40 man gate, they should be able to make ends meet for the weekend at a minimum......... $1000.00 for 21st - 40th place at the nationals, and more for the the guys that finish in the points. Of course the factory guys don't need that money and I'm sure that they could write a rule that covers privateers getting paid a decent amount for whatever place they finish. Cole Thompson should have gotten a hefty payday for his 7 - 8 moto scores this past weekend!

Maybe when the AMA is out altogether, the riders band together in a union, and ride as a group of showmen together..... things will change!
 
Maybe they need a "quad rider" to run/manage the nationals. So many changes, some heads would spin, and some would roll.
 
It cost's $275 now just to get your motocross license "doesn't include super cross" . It's $200 per event just to practice twice for 15 min. Even if you make the main, I believe 30th-40th get around $250 per moto. They make your mechanic be an AMA member in order to be in mechanics row. And each pass is $40 for each event if you don't purchase a year crew pass. They used to give you a free guest pass, but took that away a few years ago. I bet Cole Thompson only made 2 to 3 thousand at the most for his 8th overall. If you took 60th place in a pro golf tournament you would make $11,000. They have been talking about forming a rider union for years, but that's a long ways away. AMA will do everything in their power to avoid that.
 
Rocket we pick our patient assignments. You'd never be under my care. Be thankful for that. I'm thankful for that, you'd probably know everything there was to know about my job a a patient. But then again you'd be sedated and Intubated and couldn't really speak out anyway. Better that way, nobody wants to remember being in an icu.

Atleast we are on the same page for paying our privateers. They all need to sit on the gate. I didn't go to redbud to watch dungey smoke everyone. Left for the second moto. I'm sure most of the fans wouldn't be all that excited when 6 guys go around the first turn.
 
Union is NOT the answer. Never is......look at the NBA, NFL, MLB......yeah, those unions are out of control just like the others. As for the AMA......what you guys are compaining about (payouts, mechanic passes, pay to get in the gate, etc etc etc) is not all the AMA. Payouts for the motos, that is the promoters, period. Your great NPG is setting the payouts per moto. They dont have to charge pros what they do.........But in ANY form of racing there is always registeration fees. Wether it be Nascar, Indy Car, boat racing, or motorcycle racing. It is not the same people racing every single week. I understand the registration fees (not the gate fees, although if they did not charge that, the registration would go up), as long as the moto payouts are good. The NPG are the ones at fault on how much the riders are making on the National level.
 
GeorgiePorgie said:
Rocket we pick our patient assignments. You'd never be under my care. Be thankful for that. I'm thankful for that, you'd probably know everything there was to know about my job a a patient. But then again you'd be sedated and Intubated and couldn't really speak out anyway. Better that way, nobody wants to remember being in an icu.

Atleast we are on the same page for paying our privateers. They all need to sit on the gate. I didn't go to redbud to watch dungey smoke everyone. Left for the second moto. I'm sure most of the fans wouldn't be all that excited when 6 guys go around the first turn.
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Georgie, I've been through the ICU process after a motorcycle crash and trip to the hospital and it's no fun. I'm also a good patient who doesn't complain much, has a very high tolerance for pain, and just wants to do whatever it takes as quickly as possible to get out of the hospital! A day in the ICU is not fun when you can't have anyone visit or anything else except for immediate family (and not kids either).

But I agree with the payouts to privateers on the line vs payments they make to be at the race are skewed terribly. Everyone has their hand out to take some money from the racers when they are the ones providing the show that makes everyone else money. Without riders, the promoters have nothing to promote, the sanctioning body has nothing to sanction, and the series has nothing to offer a sponsor. Riders are the base of the whole process and they need to stand up for their rights. If you read about the FMX tour and how they treat the riders there, you understand what a difference it is for the FMX riders who get their bikes transported to the events with the equipment, there are no fees to pay for the riders to be part of the event, they and their crew get in for free, and the show still makes money for the promoters who are actually helping the riders get from event to event.

Changes should be made, but without the riders acting as a group to wield some power..... nothing will change. The factory riders would be forced to ride by their contracts, but how many of them are there? Would you go to a SX to see 6 guys ride the 450 class?
 
Changes should be made, but without the riders acting as a group to wield some power..... nothing will change. The factory riders would be forced to ride by their contracts, but how many of them are there? Would you go to a SX to see 6 guys ride the 450 class?
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But I would cheer ridiculously if the entire gate sat their except for the 5 factory boys. Then I would cheer more when anaheim 1 doesn't sell out. All those seats both SX and MX and they're forcing privateers to pay to race. Whose the fat cat?
 
FMX is totally differnt. Those boys are more like being in the icecapades, or a play. They are preformers, and not racers. They are performing for the employer more like an employee. Just my thoughts.
 
FMX- do you think they are not competing for prize money. Boy did I open a big can worms with this one. My biggest beef is not only to the cost but again I am all about saftey first and formost and timed practices to qualify are totally unsafe for the rider. Maybe not bad for the factory or seasoned riders who have been on all these tracks mulitple times but for the rest of first years pros it is disaster waiting to happen. AND FOR WHAT!!!!
Simple math - they accept 90 riders per class at a National at 200 an entry fee it comes out to 180,000 per class which in turn is 360,000. That is not including mechanic fees, family members, plus semi rig parking. So where do you think most of the purse money is coming from. I am not begrudging the promoter from making money. He wouldn't do it if it weren't profitable.
My biggest laugh is all the kids out there wanting a pro license and again for what. If you aren't a carmichael, stewart, dungey, ect. why bother. Showing up at a National with our locally modded bikes is like going to a gun fight with a knife.
 
Most pros and privateers alike grew up racing all the nationals. Timed practice isn't a bad idea. However they need more time than just 5 minutes "free". That's what 2 laps ?!
 
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