Racing Enterprises Motorsports

Rant 4/27/11

As we run through our 25^th year of promoting motocross races, I can’t help but be a bit nostalgic.  I’m not one to keep mementoes of our races.  I’ve given away most of the things that I collected over the years.  But, I have a tremendous backlog of memories from all of the races we have done.  I remember all the good and bad days, most of the people, and the bizarre events that make up our history.  An awful lot of which I really can’t put into writing until I’m done promoting races.

I may be incorrect, but I believe that I have watched more laps of live racing in the past 25 years than any other human being.  Add it up 25 years, about 40 races a year, plus most of the supercross races in So Cal, the Nats, the GPs.  I have spent more time actually on the track watching laps than I care to think of.  There are a lot of people that don’t even know that I own REM, they think I’m just a track worker.  I have watched so much racing that I am usually running towards a crash before it has actually happened.  I usually couldn’t tell you who won, but I can tell you who fell and why.   

One of the things I am most proud of is all of the great racers who have brought their own children out to race REM, many of them had their first motocross race with us.  Roger DeCoster brought out his son Kitch when we were at Carlsbad.  Rick Johnson, Jeff Ward, Mike Bell, Troy Lee, Gary Jones, Larry Brooks, Willy Surratt, and David Bailey have all had their kids race with us.  The pros who have raced with us read like a who’s who of motocross.  From the ten Commotion by the Oceans to the weekly motocross program most of them have raced with us, from Jeremy McGrath, Villpoto, Grant, Tomac, Johnson, Ward, Lechien, Glover, the late Donny Schmidt, Mike Craig, almost all of the freestyle guys before they went to freestyle raced moto with us.  Just about every factory star, privateer past and present have raced with us.  One of my regrets was having a rainout the day Ricky Carmichael was going race with us.  So many of the greats from the past have raced with us, including one of our favorites almost 80 year old Chuck “feets” Minert.  Over the years almost every major player in the industry has raced with us.  Magazine guys, clothing guys, pipe guys, factory guys, the guys that have created this sport have almost all raced with us.  Every week it has been a surprise who shows up to compete or just hang out in the pits.  I’ve met the very best and some of the very worst of motocross. 

What gives me the greatest joy are all the racers, regular guys, industry guys, Hollywood guys, all of them are special to us, who have raced with us for years.  And those that go away for a few years to return to racing with REM.  We have made so many life long friends over the past 25 years of racing.   My group of buddies are not industry bigwigs, but guys just like anyone else that races motocross.  A cabinet maker, a school bus company owner, a dentist, a couple of salesmen, a police detective, a machinist.  I do have friends in the industry, but for the most part I don’t hang out during the week with them, just on Saturday’s.  Most of the industry guys are just like anyone else, they just have a cool job.  Although most of the will admit that their jobs are not always as cool as most think. 

Because of REM I have had some fun times at some other events.  One of the coolest things I did was help build goggles for the Spy racers inside the Kawasaki semi at very muddy San Diego SX once.  That may not sound like fun to most but it was really cool, I learned more about goggle prep in 2 hours than I did in 40 years of racing.  I have been down on the floor for a lot of Supercrosses.  It is a completely different experience mostly because you cannot see what is actually going on.  I worked as a spotter for Terry Boyd the former announcer of SX a couple of times, which was a real eye opener.  I was actually interviewed by the great Larry Huffman at a SX once, and I got to meet the late Micky Thompson.  I’ve gotten to be a part of all the Nationals at Glen Helen, and the USGP.  When we first built the REM track at Glen Helen Doug Henry told me he liked the track, as a big Henry fan that was one of the all time compliments I ever received. 

One of my favorite moments was Jean Michel Bayle racing the 2^nd Commotion on a privateer Honda.  That race featured one 35 minute plus 2 laps pro moto.  Bayle cartwheeled while leading going down the 3^rd straight away heading towards the ledge.  His bike ended up at least 100’ from where he landed.  He ran to the bike and then  passed all the way to 2^nd,  and was challenging for the lead the last lap finishing just feet behind Mike Healy, and ahead of Micky Dymond.  It was his first race in America, and made me a lifelong Bayle fan. 

One of my least favorite moments was when I had to convince an older 125 Beginner that he was not going to race pro just so he could be on the track with Rick Johnson, he was serious.  But, so was I, in the end his ego was seriously deflated.  Fights are never fun and over the years we have had some really bizarre ones.  In fact we created a Pink Jersey that if you misbehaved you had to wear.  If you actually throw blows you are done for the day, sometimes the month, year, or forever.  The problem has always been a fight between two competitors occurs but neither says anything about it, and I find out after the fact.  Fighting is not cool, revenge moves are not cool, and threats aren’t either.  In the end we are all just a bunch of yahoos out racing dirt bikes and that in itself is an extremely crazy thing to do.  We need to admit that we are all mutants of one sort or the other and embrace each other as a fellow mutant brothers or sisters.

Over the years just as we have made many friends and we have lost some.  Some to cancer, some to other illness, some to riding accidents and a few to racing.  Their memories and photos are all that we have of them now, I think about them and miss them as they were all members of our REM family.  We have had many racers move away from So Cal over the years and it is always a treat to receive an email or note from them.  I recently had a REM racer from 15 years ago email me from Germany where he has been living for a while.

There was a race at Carlsbad where a racer crashed, got back up and was going to continue racing with a broken pair of handlebars, he was angry that I wouldn’t let him continue racing with the broken bars.  There was the time at Commotion that I bet Jungle Jim Chamberlain a hundred dollars that he would choke and not finish in the top ten.  I mostly did it to get him riled up, I knew he could do it if he got mad.  If he didn’t finish in the top ten he had to take a lap in his underwear, helmet and boots.  After the race he lived up to his end of the deal and took the lap, he finished 11^th.  There was the time I was taking a check lap, I came around a corner and there were eight or nine very white moons trying to blind me, it was ugly.  Once at Glen Helen I stepped over the same rattlesnake 4 times before it decided it had had enough and let me know it was there.  The last time I saw the late Rodney Morrison (a long time REM racer) he had come out to race with us, he had been suffering through cancer.  He wanted to race, and he joked with me that if he crashed to watch out for his colostomy bag.  He didn’t crash, but he was taken by the cancer soon after.

I’ve gotten to see the battles between the AMA and Glen Helen, between ARC levers and ASV, between Jody and everyone on the east coast, between Gary Jones and Doug Dubach, between the meat man and everyone in the 40 int class, between Lars Larsson and the ambulance parking spot, between bro’s and ho’s at the National, between Tony Alessi and ……….., you get the message. 

All these years of promoting, racing, working on tracks, picking up rocks, picking up riders, starting bikes, fighting with track owners, begging for products from sponsors, dropping the gate, doing the riders meeting, dealing with spoiled kids, bad parents, dealing with good kids, and great parents, waving yellow flags, riding behind Dr John, getting roosted by Jody, being badgered by Alan Olson, trying to get racers to behave, and I’m still here, our doubters said we wouldn’t last 6 months.  You can always reach me at remsatmx@gmail.com

Rant 3/15/11

First off my last rant was hijacked by a well meaning but misled young man and pasted onto a motochat forum.  I have found that there seems to be a huge percentage of people that frequent these chat orgies that have little or no reading comprehension and or common sense.  It is similar to people watching the news for sound bites, they only hear what they want to hear.  To clarify, I never said that I want the big four to stop making 4 strokes.  Far from it, I simply would like to see them continue to produce 2 stroke 85’s, 125’s and 250’s mostly as an entry level product for kids to start out on.  End of discussion.  Please don’t copy and paste any of the rants to any other web site.  They are pretty much hidden in my website for a reason.  As long as people continue to enjoy reading them I will keep posting, but some people don’t get my sense of humor or my sarcasm and I would prefer they don’t have easy access to them. 

New racers.  I get a few emails from riders both young and old who want to get into racing.  I’ve been asked a lot of different questions about racing and I thought I would share some tips to riders interested in becoming racers.  Number one, when you come to the races put numbers on your bike, all 3 plates should have the same number (I know that sounds obvious but you would be surprised how many show up without that simple job done in advance).  And make sure you have white numbers on a black background or black numbers on a white background.  They must contrast, stand back 50’ and see if you could read them, if you can’t neither can the scorers.  Don’t put sponsor stickers on your number plates, save that for the freestyle guys.  Run your visor up as high as you can.  If it is in the low position you cannot see beyond your front fender.  Have you ever seen a pro running his visor in the low position?  You have to look down the track, not down at your front wheel.  Buy the best protection you can afford.  Don’t be cheap when it comes to things like helmets, boots, knee braces, and neck protection.  Those are the items that will be between you and the ground.  Walk the track, it makes a difference.  Bring your own food, drinks, and toilet paper.  It pays to be prepared, the snack bar may not be open, the toilet may not have any paper.  Prepare your bike before you get to the races, clean your filter, change your oil, wash your bike, tighten all the nuts and bolts, don’t wait until you get there.  Blow your nose before you go to the line, really simple, if you can’t breathe you can’t go fast.  Another good reason to bring toilet paper with you.  Drink lots of water the day before.  Once you get a setup that works leave it alone.  Fiddling with your bike setup is for practice days. Don’t try to make a bunch of changes on race day.  You don’t want to find out in the middle of the first turn that the adjustment you made between motos didn’t work.  Bring an ipod, bring a book, relax between motos, you need to rest your body and your mind.  After you come in from your moto do your prep work first, before you relax.  Clean your number plates, gas up, check your nuts and bolts, spokes, tires.  Check your chain tension, then go and relax.  Have at least 3 pairs of goggles.  One for practice, one for each moto.  Prep them in advance, tear offs, lenses, no fog that way you aren’t messing with tear offs in the dirt and dust of the races.  Unless you have a medical condition you should avoid pain killers like Advil, Tylenol, Ibuprofen.  I have been told by medical experts that if you are injured especially if you were to suffer a brain injury that these pain killers can lead to increased swelling.  I am not a doctor but if you take these frequently ask your medical professional about this.  Get an EZ Up or like shelter and bring it with you.  Even it you don’t use it, it will be there if you need it for sun protection, or rain.  If you do have a EZ Up make sure you bring an extra set of tie downs to tie it to something so it doesn’t blow away.  Wear black undies, you don’t want to have to explain that brown mud streak to the ladies that do your wash.  Buy a can of WD 40 and a roll of duct tape and keep them with you always, they are good for just about anything.  If you have questions ask another racer most will be really happy to help you.  If they don’t you must have beat them in the last moto.  And finally have fun, you paid a lot of hard earned money to race, enjoy it.  And if for some reason you have a bad day, remember there will be another race just like this one, next week.

Rant 2/20/11

BOOO.   What the hell is wrong with people?  There have been many times standing in the line at the grocery store waiting my turn to pay for overpriced food while an overweight checker carries on a conversation with an equally overweight person paying for their ding dongs, ho ho’s, and diet coke that I wanted to let out a big BOOO.  Get your crap and go, I’ve got things to do.

 How about getting gas, everytime I am forced to use my retirement to put gas in my truck so that some asshat in Saudi Arabia can buy another Ferrari to drive to the Mosque.  I’d really like to stand there and BOOO the oil company.  BOOO to oil industry analysts, your justification of why we should pay so much for something you pump out of the earth and why it should cost so much more is hog wash, bull shit, anti middle class and sucks.

How about just about any state agency, not to mention names but BOOO.  I’m sick of government employees who cannot be fired, get paid really well, have great benefits, complain about their jobs but don’t do their jobs, BOOO.  How about banks, charge us more to use our money, change the rules to make sure you always win (sounds like a vegas casino), encourage the use of credit and then penalize people when the banks aren’t making big enough profits,  loan money to people that can’t afford it and then expect the taxpayers to bail you out, but never give a taxpayer a break, BOOO. 

How about Congress, just a big fat BOOO, thanks for doing literally nothing, gridlock really helps us out.  I dare you to BOOO that traffic cop when he gives you a ticket for going 50 in a 45.  Just because he’s parked on the sidewalk in a blind spot creating revenue for another city who can’t control spending doesn’t mean you’re not a criminal. 

Walk into your local bike shop and give them a big BOOO.  How many times have you gone into a shop and you hear, well we will have to order that for you.  It will be here next week.  Hey, I get it, it costs a lot to carry inventory.  But come on, innertubes, motocross socks, goggle lenses, just about anything you need has to be ordered now, not just OEM parts.  I understand the economy sucks, and I would like to support my local shop, but the internet companies are selling bike stuff a lot cheaper.  I understand that the shops have high overhead, etc, etc.  Maybe hire employees that like their jobs, know the products, and make you feel like even though I’m paying more I’m getting more because of the knowledge and security I get buying from your dealership as opposed to buying from an unknown internet site.  I’d like to BOOO the Japanese idiots that decided to stop making 2 stroke race bikes, effectively keeping an awful lot of people from getting into dirt bikes.  The margins just weren’t good enough for them in the good ole US of A.  You know of course that they still sell them other parts of the world.  Here in America we get to be the sacrificial lambs that support the rest of the world’s economy. 

 I would like to BOOO all the scumbags who abandon their dogs out by the raceway.  The attitude that they will fend for themselves is bogus.  They either starve to death, get hit by cars, become dinner for coyotes or mountain lions, or succumb to the elements.  3 weeks ago I saw a puppy that could not have been more than 2 months old with another older dog which was not its mother that had been abandoned.  I don’t want a dog but if I could have gotten these pitiful creatures to come with me I would have adopted them, you could just tell they had been someone’s dogs, they would not come near me as much as I tried.  I can only assume the worst for them. 

This all leads into the BOOO’s for Bubba.  What is it that makes you want to BOOO a racer?  Has he taken money out of your pocket?  Do you resent the fact that he has a white, smelly little French man as his gofer?  Is he faster than you?  Did you get beat out of a reality show because he got his?  Perhaps Red Bull could only afford Bubba or you and they chose Bubba.  Do you hate Native Americans?  Do you hate the fact that he is so much faster than most of the rest of the field.   Perhaps you cannot handle the fact that Bubba is the same ethnic background as our president.  Or perhaps it’s just as simple as the guy 4 seats over is BOOOing maybe I should too.  

With all the things in our world that we should be upset with, angry at, appalled with spending money on a ticket and then booing any elite athlete is just plain lame.  As usual this is just my opinion, or maybe I’m just thinking out loud.  And as usual I could be wrong, but I doubt it.  

Rant 2/3/11

It’s not easy to write these stories, because of what I do on the weekends I have to be, for the most part politically correct, not offend too many people, and basically write a vanilla story.  Something that may offend some, but not the masses.  I have lots to say, but at least for now I have a muzzle on.  While I have offended some, mostly practice riders, bros, and forum jockeys my interest in writing my blog is purely cathartic.  It began one week after an altercation at the Glen Helen National with a group of bros, and the rest has been history. 

I have been putting off writing this story for a long time, but a 25 year anniversary is rapidly approaching that I can not let go by without remembering.

My brother in law’s name was Ray.  The first time I met him he was only about 4 years old.  He was a little bitty guy, with a speech impediment that made him sound like Alfalfa on the old Our Gang Series.  He had some health issues as a baby, and he was smaller than a normal kid his size.  But, he was fearless.  He started hanging out with us because we were the older kids.  I was in ninth grade and we would let him tag along with us because he was unshakeable he became our own little mascot.  It didn’t help that his father had abandoned the family and he really had no male figure to look up to.  So he adopted me. 

He rode around on a girls full size bike that he couldn’t pedal while sitting on the seat.  He would jump anything, he would go anywhere, he would say anything much to the chagrin of his older sister of whom I would go on to marry.  Over the years I picked him up numerous times and carried him home or to the hospital.  Once when he was around 10 he fell out of the rafters of the garage and suffered a skull fracture, I was there in a matter of minutes and rushed him to the local fire station where they transported him to the hospital.  Perhaps not the smart thing to do today but that was before 911 was in effect, and it was a lot quicker.  There’s nothing like blood coming out of a ten year olds ears to get your attention.  Another time one of his school mates was killed riding in the open area that was behind their home in Poway.  He was traumatized by what he saw and lived through that day, we talked a long time about it.  Other times he would take off on his Yamaha 80 without letting anyone know that he was out riding in the hills, so I taped a sign on his gas tank that he could not remove to gently remind him to tell someone where he was going. 

They moved away to St Louis a few years later.  I didn’t see him for a few years.  But, when his mother and step dad went to Israel for a 3 year stint with his company Ray and his younger brother Tom moved in with us.  We had just purchased our first home, our daughter was still a baby, our son was in 3^rd grade, I was in my late twenties and suddenly I became the father of 2 teenagers.  Ray had just graduated high school, his plans for college, and living in the St Louis area were dashed by his parents plan.  He had girlfriends, and I mean girlfriends (I’ve never been around such a ladies man, he had married women 20 years older than him chasing him around).  He was lost, he really didn’t know what to do with his life, or where he was going.  He was tossed back to California where he had lived 8 years before.  He struggled with his future.  Ray worked for a grocery store for a while and bought a street bike.  It was a little Yamaha 350cc 2 stroke, but he loved it.  One Saturday morning the door bell rang, there was Ray standing in the doorway, he had crashed about a mile from our house.  A woman gave him a ride home, tattered and bleeding.  We went down and retrieved the Yamaha and then proceeded to dig the asphalt out of his hands.  I tried to use it as a teaching moment for him, as I dug little rocks out of his skin with a pair of tweezers he saw no humor and got little education. 

He went on to join the Air Force so that he could eventually go back to school full time.  He was at March AFB living in the barracks.  Somewhere along the line he hooked up with a girl he went to school with and moved into an apartment with her.  He wanted a fast car, I had given him an old truck, but like many young men he wanted something fast.  He showed up at my door one morning with a brand new Honda 600.  It was Honda’s first really nasty crotch rocket.  It was a beautiful machine.  He asked me to take it for a ride, which I did.  I brought it back after a short ride, and told him it had everything, power, brakes, handling, and if he wasn’t careful this beautiful machine would kill him.  90 days later to the day he died.  He had just turned 21.  He had an argument with his girlfriend, was late for work and ran a red light in Riverside.  He struck a pickup truck that was second vehicle going through the light.  He plowed into the driver’s door.  The window was rolled up and his helmet shattered the window cutting his throat in the process.  His chest slammed into the upper portion of the door causing his lungs to compress against his chest cavity.  He broke his femur when the bike slammed his body against the truck; he had numerous other broken bones as well.  He survived from Wednesday until Saturday afternoon, he never regained consciousness.  On Friday the doctors told us he was in stable condition and that he had actually improved, they gave us a little hope.  I made the decision to go ahead and run the race that was scheduled for Carlsbad the next day, we were all in shock but we ran the race.  I could not tell you what happened that day at the races.  After the race while I was driving some friend’s kids that flagged for us home, he died.  I knew when I drove into the driveway and saw my wife standing there.  Myra loved Ray and Tom like they were her kids, not step brothers.  It took her 3 years to learn to cope with his death.  To this day she has not completely healed from it, and probably never will.  My most vivid memory of his last 3 days was sitting in the ICU waiting room as they rolled him past the door back into ICU from surgery; a nurse followed the gurney wiping up the trail of blood he left on the linoleum. 

I rationalized all of this and the death I have witnessed since with the idea that our lives are a book.  Some of us have many chapters, some have very few.  Some of those chapters are full and some have chapters that have few pages.  What we do in life is our book.  What we experience, what we cause, what we love, those that we touch, help and hurt make up our pages.  A child that dies has very few pages in their book, and that seems unfair, as it does when a young person full of promise, full of life, with so many pages to write, has their lives cut short for whatever reason.  Raymond’s chapters were full while the book was short, he lived his life like he knew it was going to be that way.  And just as some books are a really good read, some people’s books are not really well written.  It is what we do in life no matter what you may believe in that is written in the pages of your book.  Make sure yours is a good read no matter how many chapters it may have.  RIP Raymond F. Newhouse III

Rant 1/22/11 Things I’ve seen.

One of my friends is always in amazement that I don’t go to every Supercross, National, and other big event.  I know that I haven’t seen everything in the moto world but I’ve seen most of it.  And I doubt I am going to miss much anymore that hasn’t already happened.  I am going to guess that I have watched in the neighborhood of 12 thousand hours of actual racing.  Not including practices, testing, track prep, track clean up, etc.  If you know me, or you race REM every week you noticed that I don’t spend a lot of time in the pits on race day.  I am on the track doing everything I can to make the races better.  I’ve watched just about every lap of our now over 1000 races.  Over the years there has been more than one racer who didn’t realize that I own REM.  For months, they thought I was just another worker bee on the course, flagging, watering, picking up racers, working on the track, starting the races or separating racers acting badly. 

I started remembering some of the notable and notorious things I’ve seen over the years.  I was on the infield the night that Mike Fisher led the San Diego Supercross for several laps only to throw it away just feet from where I was standing.  I was there when Magoo won the USGP at Carlsbad.  I was there when Marty Moates won it as well.  I remember Magoo doing the Magoo double at Saddleback and watching Hannah and Howerton go at it.  I was only inches away from Heikki Mikkola’s careening Husky when he tried a last lap last corner do or die try to wrest the win from Gerrit Wolsink at one of the USGP’s at Carlsbad.  I saw the infamous Bradshaw-Chicken takeout at the Vegas SX actually I was only about 10’ from it.  I was there when Stanton beat Bradshaw at the last SX of the year, I shot a picture of Bayle, Bradshaw, Stanton, and many other of the top guys that day waiting to be called down from the peristyle for opening ceremonies, they looked like any other group of guys sitting around waiting for the races except they were all on factory bikes.  I watched DeCoster and Wolsink eat lemons at the Lake Whitney Trans Am race in 75.  For months after that I tried lemons on race day only to figure out it was a purely Euro thing. 

I was sitting about as close to James Marshall when he was hurt as you could get.  I remember the sick feeling I had, and how I wanted to leave.  I drove my pickup onto the track to pick up an injured Damon Bradshaw when he hurt himself during his first comeback attempt at an REM race at Carlsbad.  Unfortunately I have watched friends die, friends be hurt, and the darkest of moments that you can imagine.

 It seems like just yesterday that Jeremy McGrath, Brian Deegan, Larry Linkogle, Ryan Hughes, Travis Pastrana, raced 80’s at REM races at Carlsbad.  I remember the first time I saw Ryan Villopoto and Josh Grant race an REM race at Glen Helen.  It was before either was a factory racer.  You could just tell they were going to make the cut.  The only time Donny Schmitt raced with us was at Commotion by the Ocean when he was going for the 4 stroke National Championship.  I remember what a truly nice guy he was.  I was on the floor when they booed Carmichael, for what I still don’t know.  I was there when RJ won the last USGP at Carlsbad.  And I will forever be in his debt when he told me that I could use his image to promote REM any time I wanted.  I was at the start gate when we dropped it before Rex Staten was ready, he did not talk to me for 5 years.  I watched Roger DeCoster, Rick Johnson, Jeff Ward, Mike Bell, Troy Lee, Larry Brooks watch their sons race at REM.  I got to watch Larry Brooks lead Rick Johnson at Commotion until his chain came off and watched as he struggled to get it back on.  I watched Jean Michel Bayle race his first race in America at Commotion 2.  He battled back after tossing it away on the first lap to almost take the win away from a very fast Mike Healy.  I was standing with my back to the finish line when Deegan ghost rode his 125 over the finish line jump after winning his first Supercross, I did see the bike careening down the track though. I was there when Shane Trittler flew off his bike and landed on the seat of a very surprised Damon Huffman at the Vegas SX.  I was there when McGrath threw down his first nac nac.  I got to see the infamous Alessi-Tedesco fiasco at Glen Helen from about 20’ away.  I’ve been there to witness all kinds of bad behavior from AMA officials, promoters, team managers, mechanics, riders, sponsors, tv crews, and spectators.  I’ve gotten to see, meet, and watch nearly all of the top racers from the early 70’s to today race an event at REM. 

I have experienced a lot in the 41 years I have been racing, promoting and photographing motocross races.  But, to be honest, I have way more fun and would rather hang out with Dr. John, Randy, Ken, Gary, Jody, Alan, Ray, Big Gary, Marc, Nort, and a bunch of guys you never heard of than spend a day hanging out with the hangers on at SX or National.

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Dear Sponsor. My name is Johnny Sprocket. I am writing you to obtain sponsorship for my motocross endeavors. I am without a doubt the fastest at my local track, and usually first or second at any track that I venture to. I have included a link to my own website that I have many of my motocross videos posted. You can see in these videos what an asset I would be if your company were to sponsor me. I am at the track at least 2 times a week giving it my all. When I am at the track I interact with many of the other riders who are there. And they always want to know what products I am using and how I go so fast. If you were to sponsor my efforts I could include your company as one of those that is helping me to achieve my dream of motocross stardom. Not only do I have a helmet camera shooting every lap, but a friend of mine also shoots me in the difficult sections so that we can watch my mastery of the sport. While I can appreciate Jeremy McGrath being called the King, I must say he has nothing on me. I am the Emperor. Many of my friends say that I should race, but I say why bother with that when I can be the master of my environment. My specialty is 2 lap sprints where I put the wood to my competition. My 2 lap sprints are then followed by a lap of looking back at my competition to show them how they could be a better rider if they simply followed my training regimen. I then go back to my truck to check out my latest video, and ponder the edits to that video so that I can post it on the moto chat forum and get people to look at my facebook page. This alone is why you should sponsor me. I have at least 50 people a week following my moto exploits. During the time that we are preparing for the next video, my bike which is tricked out with every aftermarket product sits on its stand with my custom made graphics showing the world that they should aspire to be more like me. Should I be challenged at the track I have several moves that I make to show the challenger who the Emperor is. One of my patented moves is the track cut. I will cut out a section of track that might be slowing me down and concentrate on my favorite jumps. If a feel a rider is disrespecting me I will cross over into his line and crash him, teaching him who the emperor really is. And if challenged, I can do a great one hander look back at the rear wheel to see if my spokes have come loose. All of these are moves I have perfected just like McGraths Nac Nac. I would like to add that I am 32 years old just reaching my prime to be a professional practice rider. Should you wish to sponsor me please contact my wife, so that she will be impressed. Therefore with your help I could quit my job to live the dream of being a full time sponsored practice racer.

Rant 12/21/10

Motocross is a brutal, grinding, painful, journey which requires the finesse of bullfighting, precision of ballet, and ends with the elation or dissapointment of a child on Christmas morning. 

Your average motocross racer will run the gamut of these experiences in one day of racing.  Race a motocross bike over a motocross track and it will change from practice to moto one and again to moto two.  It usually begins with a groomed track with no bumps, no holes, no ruts, a loamy surface, traction everywhere, and a grin from ear to ear. 

By the time you finish the first moto it is rougher, ruttier, traction is there but you have to look for the good spots, your arms hurt, your lower back hurts, your knees hurt, you have sweat in your eyes, and you narrowly averted disaster at least 6 times. 

By the end of the second moto the once pristine track resembles a bombed out, rutted war zone, everything hurts, you’ve been pelted with clods, stones, and broken bike parts.  You burned through all your tear offs and qualify for a seeing eye dog the last 3 laps, you have averted disaster at least another 6 times, and your mouth feels like you’re sucking on a sawdust milkshake without the milk.  But, if you had a good moto, win or not you have that ear to ear grin back.  If you didn’t have a good moto it’s like the Xmas you got a sweater and socks. The only saving grace is that there will be another race next weekend just as there will be another Christmas next year. 

I watched a youtube video this week that someone posted on the internet.  Pardon the language but this asshole seemed to be really proud of his moto prowess.  What he seemed to be really good at was stupid take out moves.  Several times he was passed only to cross the track to take out the racer who had just passed him.  A block pass is a thing of beauty when done correctly, the idea is that you cause the rider you are attempting to block to slow and lose his momentum thereby getting the jump on him and beating him to the next corner.  It is not called a crash pass.  If your idea of a good race is to take out your competition risking their safety as well as yours you are a stupid ass moron.  What was even worse is that this was not some untrained kid, but a vet who could ride the bike without these stupid moves.  The goal of a race is to beat your competition, not hurt them, ruin their bike, or cause them to come beat the living crap out of you after the race.  I will be honest, if this moron had done those moves to me at a race, I would have retaliated.  While I never condone violence, or retaliation, every now and then some ass spelunker needs to be taught a lesson.  Just please not at REM.  Leave that to me.  Happy Holidays.

Nothing perplexes me more than someone who doesn’t know or care about history.  History always repeats itself.  It is like thinking that your thought is the first time that thought has ever been processed.  Whatever you can think of, more than likely someone has already had that electrical impulse pass through their brain.  The difference is that some people act on those impulses and others let them pass.  There are always exceptions re; Einstein, Hawking, Gates, DeCoster.

I was perusing some local San Diego TV stations web sites the other day.  For some reason they allow anonymous no bodies to post replies to their stories.  The inane, stupid, hurtful, asinine, idiotic statements made by 99% of the people putting in their 2 cents worth makes me lose faith in humankind.  People making comments about rapes, murders and all sorts of horrible things that people do to one another, like they are auditioning for a comedy club job.  The comments aren’t funny they just show a side of people that were they not hiding behind a keyboard, would not be quite as brazen. 

Unfortunately that same mentality haunts all of the moto chat boards as well.  Engaging, thought provoking, educational cannot describe what takes place on these forums.   Many comments are made by anonymous jerk offs that don’t race, don’t ride, don’t contribute to anything in our sport but hate and discontent.  And if you actually know what you are talking about, or have a relevant contribution you are attacked for all number of things by these so called expert/MORONS.  I realize that most racers don’t post on these forums, and it is a shame because they have been taken over by idiots.  What someone new to the sport must think going on one of these sites to get information.  Wanna be FMX’rs, BROS, old sad losers, and haters of everything thinking they are being cool pretty much dominate the conversations. 

Motocross has not been around that long.  In the scheme of things the first generation of motocrossers is just now approaching that point in life where we need to worry about losing their stories, which are the history of our sport.  Reality is a bitch and the reality is there is not much written down about the short history of motocross not just in America but in Europe.  And for those history challenged among you, Motocross started in Europe.  What got me thinking about all of this from a historical aspect was REM entering its 25^th year.  25 years ago this weekend REM began.  That means that REM has been around nearly half the life of the sport.  That is if you hold to the idea that organized Motocross began in Europe after the Second World War.  Lately I have been going through stories, articles, results and anecdotes about REM over the past 25 years.  And I realized that if something were to happen to me that history would be lost.  Not that it matters much in the grand scheme of things, but I like to think that REM has made positive contributions to this sport.  Otherwise what the hell have I been doing for a quarter of a century. 

My pipe dream is that we treat each other with civility, with candor, and a willingness to do the right thing.  I think most of us are sick of the hate, discontent, maliciousness’, the cynicism, the distrust, in general how we treat each other these days.  Most of us are just trying to support our families, pay our bills, and have some quality to our existence.  As unusual as it is I’m not closing with some self deprecating humor or funny anecdote, just try to treat everyone as you would like to be treated.  RIP Rich Eierstedt 1954-2010

                   REM began 25 years ago this coming weekend.  I was about as unlikely a prospect to become a motocross promoter as there ever was.  I never intended to become a promoter, never really wanted to do something as crazy as promote motocross races.  I was very uncomfortable speaking in front of people in my own work group, let alone hundreds of racers.  I was never a salesman, never managed people, never had aspirations of running let alone owning something as complicated, time consuming, controversial, or down right unorthodox as promoting motocross.  When I began REM I was just a lineman for the phone company.  Yes, I was a racer.  Mostly CMC races all over, but Carlsbad was what I considered my home track.  I began racing somewhere around 1971, I would have started earlier if I could have.  Back then there were the 125, 250 and open classes with Novice, Intermediate, and Pro.  That was pretty much it.  It was a much simpler time.  Bikes were relatively cheap to buy, maintain, and race.  A 16 year old kid working part time could afford to race a couple of times a month if he watched his money.  Over the years I raced Carlsbad, Saddleback, Southbay, OCIR, Indian Dunes, Gorman, Ascot, Barona, and some that I can’t remember their names.  I raced all over the Texas panhandle, Lubbock, Amarillo, Hereford, Plainview, and Anton.  I raced nights, days, GPs, but mostly daytime motocross is what I enjoyed.  I pinched and saved, pieced together parts, and did everything that I could to race.  There were a couple of years when there was no money to race.  No money for anything new for the scooter or racing.  But, whenever I had a chance I was racing.  Just like most of you, I never made money racing.  I had a very short lived and unsuccessful career as a pro racer, I realized that to feed my young family I better get a job very quickly because racing wasn’t going to do it.  

Promoting literally fell into my lap.  In the summer of 86 I was approached to run races at Carlsbad.  No one else wanted to do it.  The program that was there had fallen apart, after the GP in 86 the track was supposed to close.  I had been racing pretty much every weekend for 10 years.  But I was there every time there was a race at Carlsbad.  I had been doing photos and stories for San Diego Off Roader Magazine for a couple of years when I was asked to take over.  I figured why not, it can’t be that difficult.  I can ride whenever I want to, race with my buddies, hang out.  After all, the track was going to close in a couple of months anyway.  It started out as a partnership with 3 of us, after the first race the partnership quickly became me, myself, and I. 

I have a love hate relationship with being a promoter.  I love our racers, I have met and become friends with so many great people that I never would have had an opportunity to meet otherwise.  Quite literally all of my good friends are REM racers.  And I consider everyone that races with REM part of out family.   But I hate the politics, I hate the injuries, I hate the backstabbing, I have come to hate those who think MX is just a quick way to get rich.  If I could, I would let every racer race for free.  Unfortunately I have not found a sponsor yet that would pay the bills so that we could do that.  I realized years ago, that because I never made money racing that I am conflicted taking money from racers.  I remember what it was like to spend money that I didn’t have to race.  I remember all too well trying to balance my personal life and my racing life, and trying to justify going to the races.  If you try to explain to someone who doesn’t race or who does not love a racer why we do what we do, they won’t understand.  My lovely wife who has put up with me for all these years understands.  Of course I was racing when we were dating in high school.  But, she hit it on the head when she said that nearly all racers are addicted to the sport.  And not to belittle anyone that rides dirt bikes for fun, but until you line up for a race you are just a dirt bike rider not a racer.  There is a difference that only racers understand. 

Why do I continue to promote motocross races?  I don’t have a really good reason.  Some have said that I am pretty good at it; some have said I am just an asshole.  I have always tried to put on the safest races possible, that pro or beginner can enjoy, that racers want to come to every weekend.  That fathers sons and daughters can enjoy together.  I think in a way that I am still looking for that perfect set of motos that every racer goes to the track for.  After all these years I still consider myself a racer before promoter.  Hello, my name is Frank and I’m an addict.  

Rant

I watched The Great Outdoors/A Constant War yesterday on dvd.  It tells the story of the 2005 National Championship season.  I hadn’t watched it since it was released.  It was an amazing slice of history that is just 5 years past.  It was Stewart’s first year in the premier class, RC’s first year on a Suzuki, Kawasaki’s last year of 2 strokes, and of course the infamous Alessi/Tedesco fiasco at Glen Helen.  Brooks was the team manager at KTM, Short was riding in the 125 class, as was Milsaps.  It was Dowd’s farewell tour.  It was bittersweet to watch Ernesto Fonseca constantly up front of the pack on the factory Honda 450 and to juxtapose that with what happened to him a few short months later.   The same with Doug Henry, and to think about his life changing so much in such a short time.

To watch guys like Kyle Lewis, Travis Preston, Sean Hamblin, Ryan Hughes, Broc Hepler, and many others and you see how quickly top level racers come and go in this sport.  Some are here for just a short time; others seem to last much longer.  Put it in context of a real job though, and it seems that most of them would barely be off probation in the real world when they’re given their pink slips. 

  Being a pro motocross racer is a difficult job.  But so is being a fireman, policeman, construction worker, airline pilot, stay at home mom, truck driver, ditch digger, tomato picker, business owner, mechanic, you get the picture.  Not everyone can be a professional motocross racer.  It is a lot of work, training, and talent that most of us don’t have.  But, not everyone can be a policeman, or doctor, etcetera. 

My point is most everyone works hard, and some can be consummate professionals at what they do.  The difference is people don’t pay to watch the rest of us at work.  I can appreciate that.  I watched RC do things on a motocross bike that were truly unbelievable.  He deserved his millions, he worked hard and sacrificed.  But, even as good as RC was he is gone. 

When I watched the dvd last night I noticed for the most part, a bunch of guys putting in an effort that a typical worker with an average work rating puts in.  Nothing spectacular, just collecting a paycheck.  They are pro racers, getting to travel, getting freebies, getting to race a motorcycle for a living.  And just like some people in other jobs, making excuses, not making an extra effort, blaming everyone but themselves, just waiting for their vacations or days off.  In many ways watching that dvd was like watching a bunch of guys I used to work with.

  And unless they are very good and saved all their money they will be working a job just like everyone else when they’re moment of fame has passed.  And those same guys  will probably still be blaming everyone else for their lack of success.