But Wayne’s doesn’t have any business experience. The paddock is shrinking. It’s just a hobby store for him.
It’s more a statement that for the same effort and money put into road racing, you could make way more elsewhere. As for the hobby store comment, well what do you want? Who is getting into motorcycle road racing because they think it’s the best possible investment? Sponsors aren’t exactly kicking down the doors to get in. You can also accept that your passion business will make less than say an insurance brokerage, but still treat it like a business.
I was watching drag racing last night while waiting to pick up a pizza. Amazing to me the amount of cash that must be dumped into the drag bikes with little to no return on investment (that I could see). Basic sponsorship (if any) and nothing on or around those bikes can be inexpensive.
Reminds me of the old joke... How do you make a small fortune in motorcycle racing? Start with a large one.
I seriously doubt anyone (companies) are using their “we NEED a profit from this” money on sponsoring racing. The companies that sponsors racing are either directly involved so they need the exposure (bike part vendors, etc), they simply love the sport and have excess money, or they are so big that the money they devote to sponsoring doesn’t hurt anything, even if it is a complete loss (Monster, Red Bull, etc). They probably have ways to use it as a tax write-off.
I will say that Ben has not been seen much around. I have seen Neil Hodgsen, Josh Hayes, Kevin Schwantz, Josh Herrin and others around the tracks and around racing. Even Mat Mladin sponsored a team. All I have seen from Ben is sponsoring some bicycle racing team and opening a restaurant. I am a huge Ben fan and believe he would run up front quickly but I do not feel like he has given much back to the sport, and he does not have to as people have pointed out. But if he did maybe Yosh would have given him a test ride on their superbike, if not for anything else just to get his feedback.
I think Ben likes being famous as a former bike racer. I see no evidence that he intends to do anything else.
Not sure how or even if it's possible for a company sponsoring a race team to make a profit on that investment (highly doubt it, though). They do it for lots of different reasons, most of which have been mentioned already ie passion, advertising, etc. Another way companies benefit by sponsoring is by having access to the team's hospitality tent and VIP passes. They use these to impress potential or existing clients and customers. As in, "hey, thanks for selling so much of our poop. Here are some MotoGP passes." Or "buy lots of our poop its the best. here are some motogp passes where you can see our logo on cool bikes and be treated like a big shot in a fancy hospitality tent". Its the motorsport version of having a skybox for whatever stickball team at the local sports arena. Do MA teams have hospitality tents? If not, they should.
Question for those who actually know Ben.. He never seemed particularly passionate about actual motorcycles to me. His career? Yes, but not the actual machines we all love. Any truth to this assumption?
Don't know him but I do follow him on Twitter and he seem to always be riding (dirt) as long as he's not injured.
Ben was an unfortunate victim of the Valent-ego marketing juggernaut and got the short shaft on the Yamaha deal. Not to mention the Ben spies rookie rule that was dropped shortly after for the spanish wonder boy..... Unfortunately during his time in Motogp the options for factory seats with capable motorcycle was limited, and the Ducati wasn't a good option to showcase his ability. The bad luck mechanicals and some unfortunate injuries means you can shoulda, coulda woulda the shit out of his Motogp career if you want to. I don't think he ever got to really show his true potential.
This x 1000. Lin Jarvis has his lips attached to VR46's balls 24x7. A Spies/Lorenzo Yamaha MotoGP team would have been awesome.
Lin wanted marketing dollars. Period. Vale has that. As for the rest, I'm still bitter at Lin and Carmelo for the way Ben's intro/exit was handled. Fuck them.