Apparently, quite a bit. http://motocrossactionmag.com/mobil...um=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+MxaNews+(mxa+news)
that's also not counting on all of the contingency that the sponsors will have. typically that's just for top 3 spots (podium finishes) and why when the guys are on the podium they mention sponsors. but yes, the 450 class is where the money is. the 250 class, not so much. I always wondered why more of the MX/SX riders didn't move into off road racing (GNCC/Worcs) after their MX/SX careers were over. Dowdy was/is a beast when it comes to off road, Hughes, Brown (still at it, he figured it out), etc. Plus it gives them another couple of years of good earnings.
Not bad, so you'd collect just under $50K for finishing last in every race. But still you're not guaranteed that since you have to make it into the main. If you watch the races the LCQ's still have plenty of guys that miss out on the main. But how much does it cost to travel to and enter each race?
supercross is in the big cities, so travel and accomodations can be done on the cheap. the canadian round (this year at least) would put a dent in it, and a few of the criss cross races (east to west coast) would hurt as well, but sometimes as a privateer you can get someone to take your bike and gear back and forth. For instance the Washougal WA round of the outdoors is usually a "one off" event because of back and forth (MN to WA to NY). so the non big players just get together to cut some costs. that being said you still have to be a pretty good rider to make a 450 main. they make it look easy but the consequences of small mistakes can be big. I would guess that the prime earning time for most of the riders would be a 4-5 year window. With the exception of Reed and maybe one or two others at least. Pretty sure John Dowd has the outdoor record, he qualified for Southwick well into his 40's and even made the podium when he was late 30's early 40's?
Dowd is 48 now. He qualified last year at 47. He was 43 when he finished 3rd over at southwick. His son Ryan is one to watch as he is just 18 and barely missed making southwick last year. They race at Winchester Speedpark in NH where I am the Finish Line Flagman. Aj Catanzaro, Jimmy Decotis, Robby Marshall have all come through the system here. There is a TON of talented New England motocrossers these days.
The races are heavily attended, so it makes sense that the purse would be decent. Still, I think it would be hard to turn a profit on Purse money alone.
Considering the contingency payments suddenly makes all those phony non-sips of energy drinks the guys take on the podium make sense. Those guys are athletes and fo sho they ain't putting that hyper caffeinated sugary stuff in themselves. Sort of like the old Indy car owner, when asked if he used his sponsor's oil product---"Yeah, but not enough to do any harm." Same for the insincere rattling off of thank you's to sponsors in the podium interviews, each one worth something. I am thinking the energy drink contingency, and the long list of other thank you's they rattle off, and the carefully displayed goggle strap names, and the hat they wear, all of it is worth real $. All of that, the purse, the salary, the bonuses, the endorsements, suggest serious firepower out in the market for all this stuff.
The companies look at that time as an actual dollar amount. How much would it cost to have your company name plastered and spoken across all those t.v.'s across the world, for that amount of time? That is how you "sell" your package to a potential sponsor. I do not know it very well....hence I was never able to sell my program. But it is very interesting and mind boggling
You know you have to qualify for the night program right? The guy that gets last in the LCQ beat half to two thirds of the guys that showed up at the start the of the day.
They sip em. It's just water in the can though. My buddy rides for Monster Kawi Team Green pro am, and has cases of Monster cans that look like the real deal, but are filled with water.
Don't ever underestimate the talent level. The guys making the show are massively talented, even the lappers. There's a local kid racing Supercross now, always qualifies for the show, usually makes the main, reliable top 20 finisher, starting to hit the top 10 this year. When I first noticed him as a little kid at state championship races, he was doing 60 footers many locals on 450's couldn't do. And he was like 7-8 years old, and he was on a 60. Incredible talent. His parents moved him to the lower 48, went to all the big amateur nationals, turned pro, and he has been doing this full time now like 15 years. He's deserved everything he has gotten, for sure, but he's not on the podium or being interviewed.
Not really. That's just for the few guys that make the main. Do you have any idea what it costs to run a program at that level? Or just to get to that level at all?
The Moto series showed some interesting insight into what it takes for current & upcoming pros. Alot more than I ever imagined. Even if there were no injuries, everything fell into place, you had a decent support team, and no mechanical issues.