"Daddy's money vs talent...." rant opinion

The sad part is...whole facilities get built attracting this type of customer.
My buddy just put an engine in some ferrari track day dudes 65' custom peterbuilt hauler. Total bill was close to $25k. I poked around the back and there were ~$15k+ worth of tires/wheels on racks. Im sure $800 track fees aint nothing to a customer like that!

 

One thing the people in that thread don't think of, is that most of the top level pro's have raced on their parents money at the beginning of their careers. Most of them start as a teenager, or even before that. What teenager makes enough money to race? I know the Hayden's weren't rich, but Im sure Earl spent a decent bit of money dirt tracking before any of them got a paid ride. In interviews, Ive heard them talk about how Earl would put off spending money on things around the house, so that they could spend that money racing.

 

Why is that sad? A lot of those facilities open up to trackdays/racing for people that normally wouldn't get access. Seems like everyone is better off.

 

So true. I have a feeling that without the "rich guys" there would be a lot less good roadracing tracks in the US. Barber and Miller were built by rich guys so that they could play with their toys. I haven't ridden Miller yet, but Ive raced at Barber, and Im sure glad mr. Barber wanted to build a place to mess around.

 

better to have a few facilities like Barber, Miller, VIR, NJMP, etc than a whole buncha Nelson Ledges.

 

The sad part for motorcycle racing is its generally not even considered... more like an afterthought. Theres alot more $$$ & fans in cars.

 

:up:

 

But in the back of your mind you need to remember a lot of the country club style tracks don't want you and your motorcycle at their track. They want the rich guy with his porsche, his ferrari or his aluminum falcon. The bike guys are a pain in the ass but fill the schedule until a car group wants that date.

 

I'm amazed everytime I go. Most of the guys can't drive, but they can afford the cool car so they do. We look very ghetto next to those guys (2500 and 30ft trailer), but I feel better when I whoop the shit out of them. And yes, our entry fees are about $600-700 per weekend to vintage race (3 20 minutes practice, 1 Q race and 1 main race). VERY expensive per lap

 

IDK, I see pretty fair amount of motorcycle events at Miller, Barber, NJMP, Beaver Run, etc. Wether motorcycles were originally considered when they built the tracks or not doesn't seem to matter much.

 

I don't see it as buying a ride. If you are going to pay for everything yourself, why not hire someone to do all that for you if you can afford it?

If I could hire a team to supply "A" level bikes/crew/set up so that I could just ride. I would.

I'd be the envy of the whole vintage crowd.

 

JB, that Corvette you race may not be a Ferrari or Lambo, but it looks pretty damn sweet to me! Its definitely cool that your able to stick it to the guys in more expensive cars.

 

know your history.......

mike "the bike" hailwood was extremely talented.

supporting him always was his dad, stan "the wallet" hailwood.

i'm glad stan was there for mike, and he got to race all those great bikes on the great circuits.

i'm not jealous of CC or CU. i think it is great that they are out there doing it.

 

I have no problem with parents supporting thier kids racing. I have spent a shitload of money supporting Kris's racing to give him the chance to succeed at it.

That being said it is very disturbing to me when the arguably most elite team in the paddock where other riders have made a living and developed into world class riders is reduced to selling seats to rich kids to keep operating. It says a lot about the state of the AMA right now IMO.

Don't get me wrong Clark is a tallented rider that is capable of doing well in Superbike as he's already proven. However there are better riders in the unemployment line needing rides...

JMO

 

It doesn't have the cool factor of a Ferrari, old Jag, Cobra or cars like that. But you still need to spend about 80-100k to have a car that is competitive which is what amazes me that there are a bunch of these guys around

 

I think some of the CC hate started there because some people thought he only won it, over Dustin Dominguez, because he had a bigger rig and setup.

I think Chris really proved himself last year though. If I remember correctly he had 8 top 10 finishes with a best finish of 6th. Money or no money it takes talent to finish that well.

 

as well as it takes talent to go from P21 to P10 on the start at the Macau GP ahead of some seriously deep talent and hold it there for quite a few laps before getting a mechanical....

 

^
It's unfortunate that he got knocked out by a mechanical. I didn't realize he was doing that well prior since the results just show DNF.

I think Chris will gain a lot of new fans this next year.

 

Also something else to think about...


On one end of the spectrum you have guys like Jamie Hacking who refuse to ride unless they are getting paid what they feel in commensurate with what they deserve.

On the other end you have guys willing to shell out their own money just to be out there on track and racing.


.......so I ask you, when it comes to fostering "competition" as that person put it on the other forum, who sounds like they are out there more for the competition? Its no secret that the fastest man in the game in AMA SBK stated very clearly that he treated his racing as a business/job first and fun/competition second.

 

2011 Macau Grand Prix video

There is Macau footage here: http://forums.13x.com/showpost.php?p=3710379&postcount=3866